This is a history of the abandoned Rice to Ripley branchline owned and operated by three railroads: the California Southern, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and the Arizona and California. I made another history at Abandonedrails.com, but it contains errors and the webmaster couldn't get to update it soon (as of early 2015 at least). The history here is more complete and contains sources.
The Rice to Ripley branch line was constructed by the California Southern Railroad (unrelated to the National City to Barstow railroad) in 1915-1916 from Rice to Blythe. It was the only railroad built out of a group of dream railroads that would serve the Palo Verde Valley (World War I stymied those efforts). The Southern Pacific proposed a branch to the area from Glamis, but the plan dropped. The constructed line was surveyed to cross an opening between the Little Maria Mountains and the Big Maria Mountains, where the line's summit is based. The first train to serve Blythe came on August 8, 1916. A load of hogs was the first shipment out of the valley, bound to Los Angeles (Palo Verde Historical Museum and Society; I am a visitor and a volunteer); overnight passenger service to Los Angeles soon followed. This railroad line was necessary to conquer the remote access of the Palo Verde Valley. In 1921 Santa Fe began leasing the CSRR's 50-mile (or 49-mile) rail line. Santa Fe built a depot for Blythe in 1925-1926 by the request of a newspaper editor. (Myrick, Pg. 239) Dieselization was announced to the line's "Alkali Special," on the first run of regular diesel power on February 16, 1951. This was preceded by the use of streamlined diesel sets that pulled long produce trains, as recorded back in June 1949.
In 1920 (or 1921), the extension to the new town of Ripley, named after Santa Fe Railway president Edward Payson Ripley, was completed. This extension was built either to serve this town or as progress for an incomplete San Diego shortcut. (Glischinski, Pg. 30) The extension to Ripley saw struggles to keep it feasible, but it survived until the demise of the line in 2009-2011. The year of 1922 happened to curse the town forever by a disastrous flood; it never recovered and grew to a resort location afterwards. The Ripley extension was rebuilt late that year. In February 1934, it was reported that declining revenue led the Santa Fe to schedule discontinuation of service to Ripley on March 4. It was ironic for that to be planned when the town honored a railroad president, but ultimately, it wasn't the time the railroad extension to Ripley was given up.
In 1920 (or 1921), the extension to the new town of Ripley, named after Santa Fe Railway president Edward Payson Ripley, was completed. This extension was built either to serve this town or as progress for an incomplete San Diego shortcut. (Glischinski, Pg. 30) The extension to Ripley saw struggles to keep it feasible, but it survived until the demise of the line in 2009-2011. The year of 1922 happened to curse the town forever by a disastrous flood; it never recovered and grew to a resort location afterwards. The Ripley extension was rebuilt late that year. In February 1934, it was reported that declining revenue led the Santa Fe to schedule discontinuation of service to Ripley on March 4. It was ironic for that to be planned when the town honored a railroad president, but ultimately, it wasn't the time the railroad extension to Ripley was given up.
For most of its existence, the line sourced outstanding levels of traffic carrying produce and other agricultural products from the valley. For example, an Interstate Commerce Commission report from 1956 states that the seasonal perishable train (The PVX), bound to Chicago, "averaged 69 cars," longer than the usual length of the GFX trains from California's Central Valley (although the PVX was seasonal and the GFX was year round). One week in the spring of 1954 had seen 191 carloads of lettuce, the majority percentage shipping to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The three weeks prior to approx. April 8, 1954 saw 708 carloads of lettuce shipped. In the summer of 1959, cantaloupe shipments reached 2333 cars in the growing season. In 1970, a derailed train primarily hauling lettuce had 77 cars, with at least one of the cars appearing in the picture being a newer and longer SFRC car as opposed to a 40 ft SFRD car. And the railway agent of the Blythe yard once recalled "as many as 135 cars" at one unspecified time. But as of 1977 the train length might be 35 cars "on a good day." Off-season reefer traffic cars were dropped off to Rice or Cadiz to be picked up by other trains, while the PVX trains ran directly to the transcon line between Los Angeles and Chicago. White ice was produced in Blythe and had been shipped to Winslow, Arizona in the summer of 1949 for the reefer trains stopping there.
Grain and livestock traffic was heavy too. The Blythe-Ripley included the Union Feed Yards south of Blythe, which at one time was the largest feed yard in the country. There was a nearly four-mile spur originating from the curve near the valley's northern edge that served Riverview Farms to the east from 1954 to 1982. (Myrick, Pg. 240) Information referring to this spur is extremely scarce. You can see big pictures of those feed yards in the Palo Verde Historical Museum. Many pictures of these cattle farms are inside the Union Bank in Blythe, albeit in an employee area.
Grain and livestock traffic was heavy too. The Blythe-Ripley included the Union Feed Yards south of Blythe, which at one time was the largest feed yard in the country. There was a nearly four-mile spur originating from the curve near the valley's northern edge that served Riverview Farms to the east from 1954 to 1982. (Myrick, Pg. 240) Information referring to this spur is extremely scarce. You can see big pictures of those feed yards in the Palo Verde Historical Museum. Many pictures of these cattle farms are inside the Union Bank in Blythe, albeit in an employee area.
Furthermore, the line had freight traffic from the town of Midland's United States Gypsum board plant (established in 1925) located near the aforementioned mountain opening. Almost everyday a train hauled water inside several tank cars from Blythe to Midland. More on that can be read in one of my forum threads at Trainorders. The plant closed in December 1966, and Midland, which depended on its mining industry, was shortly abandoned. The plant was demolished, some houses were relocated to Parker, Arizona, and 22 of them in Midland were burned down for firefighter training. However, the 1987 ATSF CLIC book that covers the line displays two sidings in Midland; they served the Figueroa Brothers pit.
In Inca Siding, few miles south of Midland, was the site of a grinding plant where gypsum from the Utah Construction Company mine was processed and shipped as agricultural gypsum to the Fresno area; this was the plant the large bin standing as of February 2015 was part of. Mining in the UCC mine began in 1947 by the American Gypsum Company, and UCC acquired an interest with that mine in 1948; it was closed in 1950. (Gypsum in California, 1952) In 1952, the Blythe Manganese Company completed its mill in Inca where manganese from the Blackjack and Arlington mines were processed onsite before shipment. Both facilities in Inca Siding also required water from tank cars. It is unknown when the manganese mill was abandoned, but it was as of January 1980. (Skillings' Mining Review, October 8, 1988) Between 1979 and the late 1980s, the Fannin Superior Gypsum company (or Superior Gypsum) ran the old UCC mine and resumed gypsum haulings. (Mineral Commodity Report -- Gypsum -- 1984) The company's siding in Inca is seen in the same 1987 Santa Fe CLIC book. There is a mention of a manganese mill near Ripley as of several years before 1934, and 1953. (Mineral Information Service, December 1, 1953)
For 25 years, the Santa Fe also ran a piggyback train or trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) service terminating at Blythe that carried perishables from the valley and the nearby Yuma, Imperial, Parker, and Coachella areas. Right before it ended, it seemed to be the only rail service in the line carrying perishables. The shutdown of the piggyback ramp occurred in August 1989, due to a decline of profit, the train switching environment (Gustafson & Serpico), and outdated circus-style flatcars that it only utilized. (CPUC) The discontinuation of piggyback service triggered a backlash from the economy of Blythe and local politicians. According to Don Edmisten of the California Public Utilities Commission, trains served the line two times a week (as of late 1989), and believed the railroad wants the piggyback customers to utilize major facilities in cities such as Phoenix and Los Angeles, due to higher capacity and lower loading costs, a less affordable option for the customers. There were even rumors of Santa Fe abandoning the railroad in Blythe, which never happened. Despite of CPUC ordering the railroad to reverse their action, the railroad never reopened the piggyback ramp.
Santa Fe sold the line to David Parkinson in 1991. When the newly-formed Arizona and California started operations, they revitalized the Rice to Ripley line by re-initiating service with old customers and creating new service. The railroad proposed restoring operations on the piggyback ramp in 1991, but something else feasible was picked. (I don't know if they revived piggyback trains) They converted an old perishable facility into an intermodal container loading facility in order to haul Sudan grass from the valley to the Port of Long Beach, to feed cattle in Japan. About four miles of unused tracks in Blythe were ripped up in the process. (Pacific Railnews Jan. 1993) The Sudan grass belonged to Toshin Trading, which inaugurated in Blythe in 1986. The ARZC leased 25 new Gunderson Husky-Stack cars in 1993 to carry these containers double-stacked in the entire rail trip. Image descriptions from railcarphotos.com say that these cars were no longer ARZC property in 1998. Intermodal service in the line persisted, however. I have memories of well cars parked on the sidings north and south of Hobsonway. The railroad line even continued to be a source of gypsum, especially from Inca, with the freight bound to Bakersfield. (Myrick, Pgs. 256, 260)
One known movie filmed in this line is Joseph Kahn's Torque; a train consisted of streamlined equipment visited the line and Blythe in October 2002, and filming occurred south of Midland. In 2010, Justin Lin's Fast Five's train scene was filmed in the line close to Rice.
May 2, 2006 saw the destruction of the Blythe depot caused by fire, possibly from electric sparks. Inspectors of the line were alarmed by the poor state of the line, down to three customers as of May 2007 due to declining rail business, and trains ran up to 10 miles per hour. An embargo was applied a week before Christmas 2007. This was when the last train departed from Blythe, which pulled the remaining freight cars out of the line. The embargo was briefly lifted in December 18-21, 2008, but no trains came. The railroad filed a petition for abandonment on the entire line in March 12, 2009, with the intent to keep the first four miles for freight car storage. The Surface Transportation Board ruled in favor of the ARZC over the "Committee For Preservation of the Rice-Blythe-Ripley Rail Line", composed of the city and former customers, on June 30, 2009. According to a case document, over a week later the owner of the Bountiful Grain & Craig Mountain Railroad from Idaho arrived at the scene to purchase the line. Despite his effort to submit documents for the purchase of the line, an offer of financial assistance was ultimately dropped after an agreement couldn't be reached between BG&CM and ARZC on the December 18, 2009 deadline, preventing any further hope to restore the line. There are STB documents about a company called San Pedro Trails acquiring the line from the ARZC for interim trail use. Company listings and other sources suggest that it was also a subsidiary of the railroad's parent company, RailAmerica.
The tracks beyond the first four miles from Rice were pulled into rail and tie piles in Memorial Day weekend, 2011. Its vandalized crossing structures were chopped off in November that year and were trucked away as of December. The track materials departed starting in November/December and continued for months. These rails and ties went to such locations as (possibly) A&K Railroad Materials retail yards, the Blythe Ace Hardware (Inland Builders Supply) inventory (ties), or New Mexico to build a temporary railroad line where train scenes from Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger were filmed. A Blythe city meeting agenda in June 2011 mentioned interest to spare a 300 ft portion of the line, just north of the former station site and south of Hobsonway. A&K donated this track portion, and the crossing infrastructure in Hobsonway, to the city in June or July 2011. The track, complete with remains of a turnout and a switchstand, is intended to display at least one railcar, but it is empty as of July 2016. Satellite images from Google Maps reveal that the last 0.4 mile of the line in Ripley and few sidings in southern Blythe have been spared by their respective land owners. In March 2015, the middle Hobsonway crossing signals received "Exempt" signs, so large vehicles such as buses no longer stop for them.
Some niche surviving rail equipment relevant to this railroad line include the Torque train locomotive (An EMD E8 built as CNW 5022, now in the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler AZ), a speeder at the Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow (owned by actor Michael Gross at some point), and one of the locomotives for the Midland narrow gauge railroad in the Colorado Railroad Museum according to here. But Blythe, given its rich railroad history as proven here, deserves to one day join the ranks of the many places displaying railroad equipment.
Some niche surviving rail equipment relevant to this railroad line include the Torque train locomotive (An EMD E8 built as CNW 5022, now in the Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler AZ), a speeder at the Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow (owned by actor Michael Gross at some point), and one of the locomotives for the Midland narrow gauge railroad in the Colorado Railroad Museum according to here. But Blythe, given its rich railroad history as proven here, deserves to one day join the ranks of the many places displaying railroad equipment.
Other resources include:
David Myrick's Santa Fe to Phoenix - Railroads of Arizona Vol. 5
Steve Glischinski's Santa Fe Railway (1997)
Testimony of D. A. Baumgartner, Interstate Commerce Commission on Transcontinental Divisions. Sep. 5, 1956
Surface Transportation Board
Palo Verde Valley Times (Feb. 15 1934, Jun. 16, 1949, Jul. 14, 1949, Feb. 22, 1951, Apr. 8, 1954, Jun. 25, 1959, Mar. 26, 1970, Aug. 25, 1977, Nov. 10, 1989, Dec. 1, 1989, Mar. 2, 1990, Jun. 19, 1991, May 5, 2006 and May 25, 2007 issues)
Movie-trains.com
Cinemareview.com
Vredenburgh.org
Parkerpioneer.net
Joc.com
Houston Chronicle
Lee Gustafson and Phil Serpico's Santa Fe Coast Lines Depots: Los Angeles Divsion
barstowrailmuseum.org
(This post's name comes from the words in a CSRR logo found in a timetable letter Serpico shared with me. There are parentheses in the title because the "the" is left of the two unparenthesized sets of words, which diagonally branch off. The "to" is in the right side, seeming to be where the unparenthesized words lead and merge to at the other side of the logo, but including "to" after "opportunity" is uncertain. I do not know the intended way to say the words in the logo. The same logo can also be seen in his book mentioned here. There is another CSRR logo found in the a document in the Palo Verde Historical Museum's railroad filing folder)
barstowrailmuseum.org
(This post's name comes from the words in a CSRR logo found in a timetable letter Serpico shared with me. There are parentheses in the title because the "the" is left of the two unparenthesized sets of words, which diagonally branch off. The "to" is in the right side, seeming to be where the unparenthesized words lead and merge to at the other side of the logo, but including "to" after "opportunity" is uncertain. I do not know the intended way to say the words in the logo. The same logo can also be seen in his book mentioned here. There is another CSRR logo found in the a document in the Palo Verde Historical Museum's railroad filing folder)
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