Wow, this sure brings back memories for me. In the summer of 1997, I landed an afternoon job assignment, working from 3PM to 11PM with SATURDAY and SUNDAY off! I held this job for 3 months straight, starting July 1 and finishing September 30, 1997. One thing I did one of those weekends, was, after getting off at 11PM, I drove to Benson and rode the San Pedro and Southwestern tourist train from there to Charleston Siding and back. The train consisted of 2 units and 10 cars, the rear car being a flat that was converted to a viewing car. The other 9 were former SP Daylight Coaches, including 1 articulated coach, that is now owned by Pacific Railroad Society and stored, pending restoration at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris. The units were Chopped Nosed Geeps, both painted blue, one painted for San Pedro and Southwestern and the other for San Jauquin Valley Railroad. Maximun Authorized Speed back then was 40 MPH and we did track speed. The line was in excellent shape and rode extremely well. I rode the viewing car down and even with freight car trucks, it rode quite well, just like an SP Caboose on the rear of a train. I rode the articulate coach back, the same one now owned by PRS as mentioned above. At Charleston, the units cut off and ran around the cars to pull them back to Benson. Rail Hostorian and retired SP/UP condcutor/brakeman E.B. Gene Sorg, who is now in a retirement home in Norman Oaklahoma, worked this line when it was a through SP route, known as the South Line that went west from Anapra, New Mexico, in both Passenger and Freight Service in the 1950s and has some stories to tell. He said the maximun authorized speed back then for passenger trains was 79 MPH. It will be interesting to watch UP put the track back to run trains again and see just what kind of trains they run. I did not know they had pulled up the track South of Curtis since I rode it. Also, thinking about my very first vacation from the working world in April 1991, my best friend, who is now an Engineer for UP and I went and spent a saturday railfanning between Tuscon and Wilcox, and got to see the SP Curtis Turn at Mescal, that came out of Tuscon. Seems to me it was an Engine, Caboose, and one car of Coal. Little did we know, 4 years later, SP would sell the line south of Benson to San Pedro and Southwestern, let alone, 5 years later, merge with UP on September 11, 1996. Operate Safely!