Trona Railway

The railroad was built by the American Trona Company in 1914, to bring the mining company's potash to an interchange with the Southern Pacific Railroad.[http://www1.iwvisp.com/svhs/SVTimeLine.htm Searles Valley Historical Society.org: Searles Valley History Timeline] The company and its Trona Railway has had various subsequent owners, including American Potash & Chemical Corporation, Kerr-McGee Corporation, IMC Global, Sun Capital, LLC, before the current ownership of Searles Valley Minerals, Inc. On Dec. 27 2007, Karnavati Holdings, a subsidiary of Nirma Limited, acquired all of Searles Valley Minerals, Inc.{{CN|date = March 2024}}

In the 1920s, the Epsom Salts Monorail delivered epsomite to the Trona Railway at Magnesium Siding, about {{convert|11|mi|km}} south of Trona. This unique system extended {{convert|28|mi|km}} eastwards into the Owlshead Mountains, was in use from 1924 to 1926, and was dismantled in the late 1930s.{{cite web| first=Richard H.| last=Jahns| url=http://www.dzwirner.ch/resources/Eisenbahn/Monorail/Epsom.pdf| title=The Epsom Salts Line - Monorail to Nowhere}} (Republished in Trains and Travel, October 1951)

File:Trona Railway Route.jpg

The idea of building a standard gauge railroad to replace mule-drawn wagons came from Stafford W. Austin, the receiver of the American Trona Corporation. The railroad would connect Searles Valley with a lower cost connection to the markets within the United States and to ocean ports for exports. On 27 September 1913 the wife of Joseph Hutchinson broke ground with an old fashioned plow, to start the construction of Trona Railroad. The work force of 400 included American, Chinese, Greek, Hindu, Mexican, Irish, Norwegian and Swedish workers. They finished the task within 6 months despite battling occasional sandstorms. The construction was event-free, apart from one runaway tank car down the track from Searles Station. This struck the construction train and derailed several cars without causing injuries. The construction of the {{convert|31|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} track was completed by end of March 1914, and the first excursion was conducted in May 1914.{{CN|date = March 2024}}Myrick, David F. Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Volume II, The Southern Roads, p. 802, University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nevada, 1993. {{ISBN|0-87417-194-6}}

File:Baldwin steam locomotive of Trona Railway 02.jpg

The operation began with two new oil-fired Baldwin 2-8-0 steam locomotives. The locomotives weighed 104 tonnes each and their boilers produced steam at 200 pounds pressure. When they were coupled together, they had a combined pulling capacity of 500 tons.{{CN|date = March 2024}}

In addition to carrying inbound fuel oil and outbound fertilizer and chemical products from the new chemical plants in Searles Valley, the Trona Railway also carried passengers to and from Trona. Regular passenger services continued until 1937. A self-propelled coach for pupils of Westend, South Trona and Borosolvay to attend the school in Trona ran up to 1941. This coach was sold in 1941 to the California Western Railroad as their number M-200 for the Skunk Train from Willits, California, to Fort Bragg, California. It was sold to the Niles Canyon Railway in 1975.{{CN|date = March 2024}}

In 1914 Searles Lake was one of only two known potash deposits outside of Germany. By 1916 potash was transported via the Trona Railway to farmers, who needed fertilizer, to feed the nation during World War I.{{CN|date = March 2024}}

The name Three Elephant Route was created, because many of the railroad's employees were British and did not understand why the company should hold on to its heritage of 20 mule teams. As the story goes, they felt that three elephants could have done the job as well, if not better, than a herd of mules. The slogan was used as a brand and logo, which adorned Trona Railway equipment into the late 1940s.

File:Trona Railway, 2017 (02).jpg

File:MJH 7285.jpg

In April 1949 the Trona Railway purchased two new Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 locomotives (numbered 50 and 51) to replace the three steam locomotives that were operating at the time. These weighed 180 tons each and had 2000 hp motors. These locomotives were unique in that they had center cabs, not the traditional cabs in the front. Locomotive No 52 was a smaller Baldwin AS 616 that only developed 1,600 hp. Eventually, two more AS 616 locomotives were added to the fleet to bring the total to five. A small diesel-electric locomotive called Dinky was used for switching in the rail yards. A crew car was used for safety inspections of the rail track and to bring employees to the site of track maintenance.{{CN|date = March 2024}}

The Baldwins were sold in late 1992, replaced with six leased EMD SD45-2's, all painted in red and silver similar to the earlier Baldwins. These in turn were replaced in 2004 by the current fleet (as of February 2021) of seven EMD SD40-2 and EMD SD40T-2 locomotives, all of which remain in the faded color schemes of their former owners, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific, in which one of these locomotives still wears the SP's "Kodachrome" scheme from the attempted merger between the SP and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.{{cite web|url=http://www.trainweb.org/rosters/TRC.html|title=Trona Railway – TRC|website=TrainWeb|date=2022-01-23|access-date=2022-02-06}} At least one EMD SW1200 switcher is also on the roster.Lawrence, E., "Trona - Jurassic Park for old EMD's," Trains Locomotive annual 2021

The main line runs from Trona to the interchange with the Union Pacific's Lone Pine Subdivision at Searles, a distance of {{convert|30.6|mi|km}}. It has a maximum grade of 1.9% and has gentle curves, which permit a maximum speed of {{convert|70|mph|km/h}}.

The railroad handles 18,000 cars annually (1996 estimate). Commodities hauled include:

• Sulfuric acid
• Soda ash
• Potash
• Salt cake
• Borax
• Coal
• Minerals
• Material for the U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake

• United States Potash Railroad: a potash railroad in New Mexico

{{Reflist}}

{{Portal|California|Railways}}

• {{cite book | author=Fickewirth, Alvin A.| title=California railroads: an encyclopedia of cable car, common carrier, horsecar, industrial, interurban, logging, monorail, motor road, shortlines, streetcar, switching and terminal railroads in California (1851-1992)| location=San Marino, CA | publisher=Golden West Books| year=1992| isbn=0-87095-106-8}}
• {{cite book | author=Stindt, Fred A. | title=American Shortline Railway Guide|edition=5th| publisher=Kalmbach Publishing| year=1996|location=Waukesha, Wisconsin| isbn=0-89024-290-9}}
• {{cite book | author=Walker, Mike| title=Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - California and Nevada|edition=Post Merger| publisher=Steam Powered Publishing| location=Kent, United Kingdom|year=1997| isbn=1-874745-08-0}}

{{California railroads}}

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Category:California railroads

Category:Mining in California

Category:Mining railways in the United States

Category:Mojave Desert

Category:Searles Valley

Category:Transportation in San Bernardino County, California

Category:Railway companies established in 1914

Category:1914 establishments in California

Category:Potash