San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway
Short-line American railroad founded in 1906 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company (reporting mark SDAE) is a short-line American railroad founded in 1906 as the San Diego and Arizona Railway (SD&A) by sugar magnate, developer, and entrepreneur John D. Spreckels. Dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved, the line was established in part to provide San Diego with a direct rail link to the east by connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad lines in El Centro, California.
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Overview | |||
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Parent company | San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (1979-present) Southern Pacific Transportation Company (1932-1979) | ||
Headquarters | James R. Mills Building 1255 Imperial Avenue San Diego, CA | ||
Reporting mark | SDAE | ||
Locale | California and Mexico | ||
Dates of operation | 1932–Present | ||
Predecessor | San Diego and Arizona Railway | ||
Technical | |||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | ||
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The SD&A's 146.4-mile (235.61 km) route originates in San Diego, California, and terminates in El Centro, California.
The SD&AE uses about 108 miles (174 km) of the original SD&A system, broken into four segments:[1]
- Main Line: Runs 15.5 miles (24.94 km) from Downtown San Diego south to San Ysidro. Also used by the San Diego Trolley's Blue Line.
- La Mesa Branch: Runs 16.1 miles (25.91 km) east to the city of El Cajon. Also used by the San Diego Trolley's Orange Line.
- Coronado Branch (currently unused): Splits from the Main Line in National City and runs 7.2 miles (11.59 km) south to Imperial Beach.
- Desert Line (unused since 2008[2]): Runs 69.9 miles (112.49 km) from the Mexico–United States border near Tecate to Plaster City.
SD&AE took over the SD&A's operations in 1933 after financial troubles led Spreckels' descendants to sell their interests in the railroad to the Southern Pacific. Throughout the years, natural disasters and vandalism rendered sections of the line unserviceable, and portions of the line have been sold to various interests.
In 1979, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) bought the SD&AE from Southern Pacific to establish the San Diego Trolley, an intra-county light rail passenger line. The remaining track into Imperial County is available for freight service, as part of the sale condition to MTS by Southern Pacific.
As of 2021, the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad has exclusive trackage rights on the SD&AE Main Line and La Mesa Branch to move railcars from the end of the BNSF Railway in Downtown San Diego to industrial customers in the San Diego area and the Mexico–United States border at San Ysidro.