1966-1967

The line in use at Sullivan’s Curve. Santa Fe’s Super C is overtaking helpers on an SP freight as both head toward the summit of Cajon Pass. Super C is eastbound by timetable direction, while the SP freight is westbound (heading toward San Francisco).

In 1966 and 1967, Southern Pacific provided a rare spectacle for me – construction of a brand-new main line.

In 1876, the railroad completed its San Joaquin Line from Central California over the Tehachapi Mountains to Los Angeles, then it proceeded to build the Sunset Route east toward El Paso and New Orleans. However, by the middle of the Twentieth Century, the Los Angeles area had become a bottleneck for traffic to the southeast, so SP planned a bypass.

The new 78-mile line headed east from the old San Joaquin Line at Palmdale, ran across the Antelope Valley (western Mojave Desert), then crossed the San Gabriel Mountains into the east end of the Los Angeles Basin through Cajon Pass, where it paralleled the existing Santa Fe main line.

The cutoff was completed on July 12, 1967, just short of 50 years ago. It was dark territory then, with train order offices, but CTC was installed by 1980. West Colton yard opened in 1972, and I was fortunate to ride an Amtrak excursion over the line on October 23, 1983.

The Cutoff is now operated by Union Pacific. UP’s Salt Lake Route also has trackage rights on the adjacent Santa Fe line over Cajon.

Click on photograph to open in viewer


Gordon Glattenberg – Photographs and text Copyright 2017

3 thoughts on “Construction of Southern Pacific’s
 Colton-Palmdale Cutoff”

  1. Did the Fly-Over at Bench exist already when the line was built, or was it built when the Palmdale Cut-Off was built. I/E: Did the Santa Fe 2nd Sub cross at a level crossing like at Old Colton.

    1. Arlon, I forwarded your question to the author of the article, but unfortunately he is not sure of the answer. Sorry we could not help. Perhaps someone else will see your question and be able to answer it.
      Thanks.
      Edd Fuller, Editor

  2. Sometime in 1968, I think, SP commissioned a nice 35mm sound movie about the construction of the Cutoff and during my tenure as regional rules instructor in Roseville between 1990 and 1994, I was able to obtain an original copy of this movie. Today, it is buried somewhere in the 900-square foot air conditioned house in my back yard that serves as the repository for 60 years of collecting railroad paper and many other documents, things, and items. Actually, I was able to acquire a large quantity of SP-produced VHS PR video tapes in 1993 and 1994 through the Public Relations Dept in San Francisco before the Roseville office was relocated to Denver in the Fall of 1994.

Comments are now closed.