i was just curious if any of the old sunset railway is still in operation, or has it been abandoned. If any of it is still being used, what kind of commodities travel on the line?
Levee to Taft went in December 2008 (16.3 miles) after San Juaquin Valley RR quit on it and UP sent in the papers for BNSF/UP. SJVR still ocasionally runs on the other half between Gosford & Levee. Mostly oilfield & refinery (tank-car liquids) and an occasional rare Ag move out of one of the surviving packinghouses, most of those switches are gone)
Activity on the Sunset seems to be picking up. A new (crude transload?) facility has been built near the end of the south branch and the trackage and ballast looks to have been refreshed in the last two years. Reportedly the Kern Jct wye is being upgraded due to this customer and/or the Mojave sub ABS to CTC conversion.
I always see 'cotton hoppers' parked just west of I-5 on the north branch, probably just for a seasonal haul.
Links to my Google Maps ---> Sunset Route overview, SoCal metro, Yuma sub, Gila sub, SR east of Tucson, BNSF Northern Transcon and Southern Transcon *** Why you should support Ukraine! ***
Delta Trading and Crimson Renewable Energy at Gulf
Taft Manufacturing and Plains All American Pipeline at Levee
The line past Levee may have been formally abandoned in 2008, but it had been many years since a train went past there. I was there in 2004 and there were ties across the tracks, on top, (and I think a red sign in the middle of the tracks) a few hundred feet past the Taft Manufacturing switch. Due to the new Plains terminal, the end of the track has been extended.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
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