Introduction and Background

Carrizo Gorge v2.1            27 May 2003

Click here if you are having trouble with the SDA v2.1 Patch from train-sim.com

San Diego & Arizona Railway (Desert Line)
For Microsoft Train Simulator
Location: San Diego and Imperial Counties, California, USA.
Route length: 69.9 miles (112.5 km)
Railroad: The San Diego & Arizona Railway (SD&A)

The line through Carrizo Gorge was operated by the SD&A, which used the route to run passenger and general freight service between San Diego and El Centro where the line linked up with the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Desert Line: Extends northeast from the International Border (Division) to Seeley, where it joins the Southern Pacific (SP) Line from El Centro. The Goat Canyon Trestle, built in 1932 as part of a realignment of the main line following a tunnel collapse, extends for 633 feet, 185 feet high. It is claimed to be the highest and longest wooden trestle bridge in the United States.

When John D. Spreckels built the SD&A, his silent partner was the Southern Pacific Railroad. The San Diego and Arizona Eastern (SD&AE) was the successor operator to the San Diego and Arizona. The name change took place on October 24, 1932 following the death of Spreckels. On that date, the Southern Pacific Railroad took over 100% ownership of the line and renamed it the SD&AE. That was the name under which it operated for the rest of its existence.

In 1975 the SP sold the line (except for the Plaster City to El Centro section) to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board. The MTDB hired Kyle Railways, founded by Willis Kyle, to operate the line. Kyle ran the line, still called the SD&AE,  until its final end in 1983. Click for more details from Pacific Southwest Railway Museum.

For most realistic running, download and run SD&A and SD&AE consists from my consists page. During the time that the SP owned the line,  Southern Pacific livery was a common sight..

Total length: 69.9 miles, Presently unserviceable due to fire damage to trestles and tunnels. That's about to change - Here is the web site for the Carrizo Gorge Railway. Click here and here for more information.

Portion Complete: This simulation extends the entire 69.9 miles from Division to El Centro rising 1466 ft and then dropping 3613 ft in elevation.

The SD&A is brought to you by John D. Spreckels. This MSTS simulation by Mark DiVecchio ( markd@silogic.com ).

The route is available for download at on my Download Page.

Operational Era

This route is an eclectic combination of eras on the SD&A. The Last Spike was driven on November 15, 1919 (thanks for jjschaible for a correction to this date). The line operated from 1919 to 1976 when on September 10, 1976, Hurricane Kathleen badly damaged it. It reopened in 1981 only to last until the summer of 1983 before being shutdown due to fire damage to several tunnels and trestles.

The presence of the Goat Canyon Trestle indicates operation after its construction in 1932. The fact that tunnels 8 and 16 are still open, indicates operation before their collapse in the 1980's. The presence of the DeAnza Springs Resort (Clothing Optional) along the line indicates operation in the mid 1990's although the line was finally put out of operation a decade earlier. Siding locations where I could not physically visit were taken from USGS maps last field checked in 1975.

I've hiked along this railroad from Dos Cabezes to Dubbers, over trestles and through tunnels. Read this special note from CZRY about hiking the line now that its being reopened.  I've driven the dirt roads around Jacumba, Sugar Loaf and Coyote Wells. It is an area of San Diego County that I love.

The Route

This route took me one year of fairly constant effort and still needs work. Fortunately, there is not much scenery in the area where the line runs. The line is complete with all sidings that I could identify, mileposts, speed limits and signals. The signals are not typical of SD&A operation (the only automatic blocks signals ever on the line were a pair around the Goat Canyon Trestle) but are rather done for MSTS activities. The points are automatic for all points on the mainline. Points off the mainline are manual. There are several real activities and several dummy activities so that you can explore the route from either end or points in between.(If you are still running v2.0, note: these activities are not meant to actually run. READ THIS if you want to make the activities work. Click here to see the list of  "real" activities already written for the SD&A.)

I've put "Place Name" signs all along the route so you can get an idea of where you are, but, of course, real railroad men didn't need such nonsense.

Path *.pat Starting Point
--------- --------------
Border Crossing Division
Campo Switching Campo East
Carrizo Gorge Switching Carrizo Gorge East
Clover Flat Switching Clover Flat
Coyote Wells Express Coyote Wells West
Coyote Wells Switching Coyote Wells East
Desert Line Run El Centro SDA Station
Dos Cabezes Switching Dos Cabazes
Dubber Switching Dubber East
El Centro Switching El Centro
Elgar Switching Elgar East
High Bridge View High Bridge East
Hipass Meet Hipass West
Hipass Switching Hipass West
Hipass Westbound Hipass East
Introductory Train Ride Division
Jacumba Switching Jacumba West
Plaster City Drop Off Plaster City East
Plaster City Switching Plaster City
Roster Roundup Coyote Wells
Seeley Switching Seeley
Slow Freight West Bound Coyote Wells East
SP HighBall El Centro North
SP Northbound El Centro South
SP Southbound El Centro North
Sugarloaf Switching Sugarloaf West
To Mexico Campo
Tunnel 21 Switching Tunnel 21 East
westward_freight El Centro SD&A Station
Wilsie Switching Wilsie West

Turn on Distant Mountains for the best effects.

This is a desert route, so it does not contain snow, winter, autumn or spring textures. Some night textures may be missing as well. In MSTS, the route will display as "Carrizo Gorge v2.1". Comments are always welcome. Please send me any activities that you develop and I'll include them here.

Mark DiVecchio
San Diego, CA, USA
markd@silogic.com
27 May, 2003

If you can help with the expenses to develop this web site:

Carrizo Gorge v2.1 patch           27 May 2003

MNA_DB01 ZIP 3,300,793 07-20-02 1:45p mna_db01.zip
SDA_DB43 ZIP 4,734,741 09-11-02 7:59p sda_db43.zip
10000GAL ZIP 799,649 02-02-03 11:52a 10000gal.zip
SPMP15AC ZIP 9,298,198 07-07-02 8:13p spmp15ac.zip
SPBOX ZIP 1,251,629 02-02-03 11:58a spbox.zip
SPCAB ZIP 855,901 02-02-03 11:58a spcab.zip
SP245479 ZIP 792,837 02-02-03 12:01p sp245479.zip
SP245828 ZIP 823,342 02-02-03 12:01p sp245828.zip
SPBWCAB ZIP 1,010,476 02-02-03 12:02p spbwcab.zip
SPGP9 ZIP 1,117,454 02-02-03 12:09p spgp9.zip
SP_TANK ZIP 438,715 02-02-03 12:08p sp_tank.zip
SP_BOX3 ZIP 737,972 02-02-03 12:54p sp_box3.zip
SPBOX5PK ZIP 8,339,234 05-29-03 5:36p spbox5pk.zip
SP_ALCS4 ZIP 3,908,389 03-03-03 10:23a sp_alcs4.zip See Note
SPC44-9W ZIP 1,071,870 02-12-03 9:25a spc44-9w.zip
SP_BOX5 ZIP 897,171 05-29-03 5:36p sp_box5.zip See Note

SPUSG ZIP 114,673 04-06-03 10:27a SPUSG.zip
SPEMPTY ZIP 135,863 04-06-03 10:25a SPempty.zip
SDAE101 ZIP 2,535,211 04-08-03 10:25a SDAE101.zip
SP3873 ZIP 666,319 03-29-03 9:47p SP3873.zip
SDA01 ZIP 2,034,437 03-20-03 9:20a SDA01.zip
SDAE104 ZIP 3,793,225 04-04-03 2:12p SDAE104.zip
SP1110 ZIP 1,270,308 03-20-03 9:21a SP1110.zip
SDA102 ZIP 2,379,812 04-01-03 8:25a SDA102.zip
SDA50 ZIP 2,876,112 03-20-03 8:22a SDA50.zip
SP-GP9-2 ZIP 1,153,416 04-02-03 9:08a sp-gp9-2.zip
SDACOACH ZIP 1,045,417 03-31-03 8:45a sdacoach.zip
SDA670~1 ZIP 436,839 04-04-03 10:54a SDA6700Baggage.zip
SDA_BC ZIP 1,101,395 03-31-03 8:32a sda_bc.zip
SDAE1126 ZIP 1,338,413 03-28-03 8:41p SDAE1126.zip
SP1133 ZIP 908,758 05-29-03 5:03p SP1133.zip

Installation (built using Route-Riter):

Installation of v2.0

This route requires about 163 Mb of disk space and requires that you have have all 6 default MSTS routes installed. The file sda20.zip contains the route. You can download it from my Downloads Page.

1 - In your your Train Simulator\Routes folder, create a new folder named "SDA20".  Unzip the zip file "sda20.zip" into that new folder. (Before unzipping the file, make sure the "Use folder names" has a checkmark in front of it.)

2 - Go to the newly created SDA20 folder and find the file named InstallMe.bat. Double click on InstallMe.bat.  This will open up a DOS window and copy many files from the default routes. Be patient, this process takes several minutes. When the batch file is complete, the DOS window may close, if not simply click on the "X" in the upper right corner of the DOS window.   

3 - Start MSTS and select "Carrizo Gorge v2.0". Go to Explore Route and pick a starting  point for your adventure.

Installation of v2.1 Patch

Special Note: the original name of  this file was sda21_patch.zip. If you have trouble installing it with its name as found on train-sim (they renamed it using the 8.3 filename format  = "sda21pat.zip"), please rename the file to "sda21_patch.zip" and try again.

Installation of v2.1

This route requires about 163 Mb of disk space and requires that you have have all 6 default MSTS routes installed. The file sda21.zip contains the route. You can download it from my Downloads Page.

1 - In your your Train Simulator\Routes folder, create a new folder named "SDA21".  Unzip the zip file "sda21.zip" into that new folder. (Before unzipping the file, make sure the "Use folder names" has a checkmark in front of it.)

2 - Go to the newly created SDA21 folder and find the file named InstallMe.bat. Double click on InstallMe.bat.  This will open up a DOS window and copy many files from the default routes. Be patient, this process takes several minutes. When the batch file is complete, the DOS window may close, if not simply click on the "X" in the upper right corner of the DOS window.   

3 - Start MSTS and select "Carrizo Gorge v2.1". Go to Explore Route and pick a starting  point for your adventure.

Route builders have permission to use any of my objects, indicated by the prefix "SDA1_" in their routes as long as the route is distributed for free and credit is given to me in the README. They may not be used in any commercial project or distributed singly without my written consent.

You have my permission to upload this route onto any web site as long as you upload the ZIP file unchanged. I would appreciate an email note letting me know that you did that.

This route is provided "as-is" without any warranty of any kind.

My thanks to all route builders and scenery builders who preceded me. Credit with thanks given for all shapes and textures downloaded from train-sim.com (see the readme.txt file included the route):

http://www.train-sim.com/

and UKTrainSim:

http://www.trainsim.com/

Here are some comments about the stations and points along the route (click on the image for larger image):

• Division (MP 60.07) - Just north of the border with Mexico. I've never been here. Tried to model it from satellite photos. I included a gate across the entrance of the tunnel since Customs must inspect every train that crosses the border.

• Campo (MP 65.8) -  Modeled as it appeared in the 1950's well before the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum (PSRM) opened. The town of Campo is much larger now.

• The Buffalo Soldiers of the 28^th Cavalry was located at Camp Lockett near Campo. The 28^th trained and then served as border patrol from Camp Lockett before being shipped to North Africa in 1944.

• Clover Flat (MP 71.9) - Modeled from an old PSRM photo . The tourist train from the Campo home of the Pacific Southwest Railroad Museum does weekend runs to a new siding called Miller Creek near Clover Flat. The siding at Miller Creek was constructed by Museum volunteers in the 1980's. I've also been told by a long time member of the PSRM that the water tower was actually at Miller Creek (where water was available). That means my modeling of the water tower at the Clover Flat siding is not exactly correct.
  

I received this email from Dave DiGiorgio, Chief Operating Officer of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum

I was just looking over your SDA page and it looks like you did a great job on your MTS skin.  I just have one correction from your web page if you are interested.  Your site says..     - Clover Flat (MP 71.9) - Now called Miller Creek. Modeled from an old PSRM photo . The tourist train from the Campo home of the Pacific Southwest Railroad Museum does weekend runs to this siding. Clover Flat is not now called Miller Creek They are different places. They are pretty close though.  Miller Creek is roughly around MP 73.5 and the water tank used to be at the east end of the now Miller Creek siding, and was located about MP 73.8.  I am not aware that there was ever a water tank actually at the Clover Flat siding, but I am not positive about that.  The footings are still in place at Miller Creek for the water tank, and at Clover Flat, the switch ties are still in place where the siding used to be.  The old time tables list there being water at Clover Flat, so either there used to be a tank at Clover Flat siding, or they just considered the now Miller Creek as part of Clover Flat, but we have both stations listed now. Certainly not a big discrepancy, but I thought you might want to know.  Your skin looks very good, maybe someday I will try out MTS again, and load up your skin.  I quit playing it shortly after it came out, since the train operation was not authentic at all, and it frustrated me.  Have you ever been out to Campo and on our trains?  If not, I would be happy to invite you out for a complementary train ride to Miller Creek and back. Dave DiGiorgio Chief Operating Officer Pacific Southwest Railway Museum

• High Bridge (MP 77.27) - This bridge carries the SD&A over US 80 (now CA Route 94) between Campo and Jacumba. The second screen shot was taken by Brian A Elchlepp.
  

• Pueblo (MP 78.2) - I don't know if this ever was a real station. Its on the Campo Indian Reservation. I've never been there.

• Hipass (MP 84.5) - I've never been here. Modeled from satellite photos. From recent PSRM photos , the wye is no longer there. Photo shows the phonebooths found in many places along the route.

• Jacumba (MP 92.9) - Modeled from photos from the 1970's, from old SD&A documents and from my photos.

• Titus (MP 94.0) - I've never been here. Modeled from satellite photos. Named for Harry L. Titus, Spreckels' chief counsel.

• DeAnza Springs Resort - Just before Dubbers near the I-8 bridge is the DeAnza Springs Resort. Another view is here.
  

• Dubbers (MP 96.0) - Modeled from my photos. Named for A. Dubbers, SD&A's Division Engineer at Carrizo Gorge.

• Carrizo Gorge (MP 100.7) - Modeled from Topo maps from the 1970's. This station is really different in the real world today. Looks like the siding was moved a mile from what the maps show.

• Goat Canyon (Tunnel 15 Spur) (MP 102.3) - The Goat Canyon Trestle, built in 1932 as part of a realignment of the main line following a tunnel collapse, extends for 633 feet, 185 feet high. It is claimed to be the highest and longest wooden trestle bridge in the United States.

• Dos Cabezes (MP 109.7) -  Modeled from my photos. I  modeled a building there but from the ruins of the area, I can't be sure. I put the freight platform there for activities. I don't think there was a real one there. Dos Cabezes is Spanish for "two heads"; supposed pair of rock formations that resemble heads.

• Sugarloaf - Modeled from my photos. I believe this was a mine but I don't know for sure. Today there are a few foundations and a concrete lined pond there.

• Coyote Wells (MP 122.5) - Modeled from my photos and old SD&A maps. The wye and tanks are no longer there.

• Anza Borrego Desert - Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Here are SD&AE GP-9 numbers 101, 102, 103, and 104 pulling a long east bound freight through the desert. The screen shot was taken by Brian A Elchlepp.

• Plaster City (MP 130.0) - A rough cut at the US Gypsum Plant. The track is from from old PSRM documents and now you can't get close enough to take pictures. A narrow gauge railroad from the Plaster City processing plant to the gypsum mine about 30 miles away. Another link here .

• Seeley (MP 139.8) - Modeled from my vision about what an old time small western town would look like.

• Canals - With water from the Colorado River, the Imperial Valley has been turned from a desert into a lush farmland. Here is the SD&A #43 crossing over the Central Main Canal just west of Seeley.

• New River - In 1905, a temporary diversion of the Colorado River, constructed to replace water from the blocked Imperial Canal, is breached by floodwaters. This breach became the New River and the Salton Sea was born.  More Info .

• Wilsie (MP 145.1) - All that is left here is a siding. Old SD&A documents show that a packing plant used to be here.

• El Centro (MP 147.84) - The track is from old SD&A documents. The buildings are from Enocell. His buildings give the flavor of what used to be. The Holten Interurban Railroad provides service from Holtville to El Centro. It enters the SP main line via a wye. I've not included that part of the line in this route.

And

The consist down in Carrizo Gorge near the southern entrance to Tunnel 8 looks like a piggyback trailer car. From what I could see of the derail, it was carrying two Coors trailers.

The two box cars over the side of the Gorge, north of Goat Canyon are SP box cars. They are empty.

The southern terminus of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail is just south of Campo. I modeled it and the point where it crosses the SD&A. Look for the sign.

Route Overview

Special thanks to:

    TSTools for markers and milepost locations http://www.ts-tools.com
    USGS for DEM data and maps
    DEMEX for the terrain and Distant Mountains http://www.dem-ex.com
    Train Sim Modeler for all the new objects
    TGATool for textures
    Route Riter for getting the Distribution Package ready.
    Michael Vone for his great book on Route Building
    SeaView for the outline of installation instructions
    Robert Hanft's book "San Diego & Arizona: The Impossible Railroad"
    Ron Picardi for his Viaduct Bridge Kit which I used for the
        High Bridge over US 80 (Now CA Route 94) rpicardi1@chartermi.net 
        Chain Link Fence Kit,
        and his Grain Silo Kit.
    Enocell aka Teemu Saukkonen for his buildings which I used at El Centro
        enocell@hotmail.com, teemu.saukkonen@kolumbus.fi
    Dickey Tarkington
    Cal R. Rasmussen (calr on train-sim.com) McDonalds/ Road Construction Objects
        cal.rasmussen@verizon.net
    Don Brynelsen for western town buildings
    Gary Sprandel  for 1920's Era Concrete Bridge jaidite@aol.com
    Rich Garber for too many scenery objects to list
    Eucalyptus Trees by James Hart email: jahart@mira.net

My thanks to all route builders and scenery builders who preceded me. Look in the route ZIP file for all the readme.txt files with thanks given for all shapes and textures used.

CAMCFG.DAT

• In the "head-out" view (Shift-1), after pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can rotate the camera vertically and horizontally, by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button.

• In the "front-tracking" (2) and "rear-tracking" (3) views, after pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can rotate the camera vertically and horizontally, by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button (while still moving the camera around the train with the arrow keys).

• In the " track-side" (4) view ("spotter cam"), you can rotate the camera vertically and horizontally (by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button), and change its height and distance (with the left- and right-arrow keys).  After pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can move the camera vertically and horizontally (but not rotate it), with the arrow keys.

• In the "passenger" view (5), after pressing Ctrl-Shift-9, you can rotate the camera vertically and horizontally, by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button.

• The "coupling" view (6) is not changed.

• In the "yard" view (press 7 while in any station), you can move the camera anywhere you wish in the entire route (with the arrow keys) and rotate the camera freely, by dragging the mouse while pressing its right button;  note that the yard camera becomes independent of where your train is located:  you can explore the entire route as if in a helicopter (but the height above the ground is limited).

• The "derail" view (automatic) is not changed.

Links of Interest

Pacific Southwest Railway Museum

Carrizo Gorge Railway

San Diego Historical Society

San Diego and Arizona Railway (history)

San Diego and Arizona Railway (gallery)

San Diego Model Railroad Club HO layout

Model Craftsman, the Magazine of Mechanical Hobbies March 1938 pp 4-6 A Real Railroad To Model - The San Diego & Arizona Eastern by J.W. Grosdidier

San Diego and Arizona Railroad "The Impossible Railroad"

Formidable Places: Building a Railroad in Carriso Gorge  by John A. Wilson

John D. Spreckels (1853-1926) 

Wikipedia

Bounding Box Fix

This route uses 10d points  throughout. If you have not applied the "Bounding Box" fix, doing so may stop these points from causing broken couplers. Edit these four files in the Global/Shapes directory:

    a1tpnt10drgt.sd
    a1tpnt10drgtmnl.sd
    a1tpnt10dlft.sd
    a1tpnt10dlftmnl.sd

Use a Unicode editor like Wordpad and remove the line containing:

	ESD_Bounding_Box(.....)

SD&AE ?

My SD&A MSTS Simulation at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum

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