This photograph shows Southern Pacific 2353 departing Santa Fe Station.  From here the train would travel across the border to Mexico through towns such as Tijuana and Tecate before passing back into the United States just west of Campo.  Passengers would have enjoyed the same views as today while going through the backcountry near Campo. Heading east, they went through Jacumba, the spectacular Carrizo Gorge, and on to Imperial Valley. At El Centro passengers could connect to other points east.  Passengers to Yuma would enter Mexico once more over the Inter-California Railway after a crew change in Calexico. At Yuma, through passengers were then switched to Southern Pacific’s Golden State.

2353, a classic 4-6-0 “ten wheeler,” was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1912. This locomotive is special to Pacific Southwest Railway Museum for many reasons.  2353 spent time operating on these very San Diego & Arizona Eastern rails from 1927 until being retired in 1957. In 1986, the locomotive was donated to the museum, where volunteers spent the next 10 years restoring it to operational order. From 1996 until 2001 the locomotive pulled museum excursions. It was removed from service after the formation of a crack within its firebox.

San Diego & Arizona Eastern train Number 452 crosses the spectacular 185 foot-high Goat Canyon trestle in Southern California’s Carrizo Gorge on April 17, 1966.  (Photograph by Gordon Glattenberg)