UPDATE: Operations will be under the Pacific Sun RR currently based out of Oceanside, which currently owns two GP40s and two GP35s.
Were I to guess, it would be that Watco is replacing UP for contract switching of the plant, probably because Watco will do it for less. Even though a lot of product leaves the plant on trucks for (probably) Southern California and Arizona, there has always been a significant amount of product shipped by rail, which is why UP kept the line from El Centro when it abandoned the rest of the SDA&E in 1977.
I notice on Google Earth that about half of the former employee housing area is truck parking and loading and the other half seems to be solar panels, as are a lot of the former ag fields covered as well in the valley.
Fifty years ago the motive power on the NG line was a pair of engines that had been in use in Hawai'i moving sugar cane to the processing plants. Trains had a nice article a few years ago about the railroad and what it took to keep things moving. At that time, the mechanical guy was the younger brother of one of my high school classmates and fellow bus riders on the 15 bus for four years. I suspect that the mechanical guy is now enjoying retirement, at least I hope he is.
EDIT: The Trains article appears to be in 2009, USG narrow gauge freight, Oct., pp. 38-41.
Watco just announced a new switching operation in Plaster City, Ca. Any additional info will be appreciated and I will post any more info I find out here.
Plaster City is currently served by UP and Baja California RR as part of the ”Desert Line”, which has been undergoing repairs for several years.
The USG plant is also home to N. America’s last remaining industrial narrow-gauge railroad which uses a couple of 3ft. MLW/Bombadiers.
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