The story - as I remember ...

Trona Railway interchanges with SP at Searles on the Jawbone Branch. Due to increased business, Trona made a deal with SP that allowed Trona to run the train with SP power from Searles to Trona and back. I think this is about the same time that Trona sold off their two Baldwin centercabs. Trona's AS616 (plus some other units belonging to the plants) do the switching in Trona. When the tunnel at Searles burns, SP borrowed a Trona AS616 to clear the Jawbone line of cars at Lone Pine so SP could steal some of the track material to rebuild the original shoofly over the tunnel. SP continues to run the Lone Pine local to Linnie until L-P closes their lumber mill, then the line is abandoned between Lone Pine and the US395 crossing just outside of Searles. The abandoned line is scrapped in two segments - Bartlett to Lone Pine fairly quickly (the depot at Lone Pine is a private residence). The balance was scrapped years later after efforts to establish a plant (similar to Trona) on Owens Lake fails. This was connected to Lake Minerals, that loaded the ill fated Duffy Street runaway though I don't know where they reloaded it.

Eventually, Trona tired of the cost and/or condition of the SP power. This resulted in the cancellation of the agreement and Trona leasing the red/silver SD rebuilds.


Questions:

What years did the SP power run through to Trona?

Did anyone get any photos or even know the number of the Trona engine that made the last trip to Lone Pine?

Thanks