Newsletter
Coronado Line sees 1st train in years
Passenger trains
last operated on the Coronado Branch Line
in 1932, said Richard Hamilton, vice
president of the San Diego Electric Railway Association.
No trains have run over this line since 1969 athough some cars have been
delivered over the years to remaining customers including Western Salt,
Rohr and San Diego Gas and Electric. This has dwindled down to one
or two cars per year.
After extensive clean up of the tracks, a trip
was made recently over the remaining trackage, using a rail bus on loan
from the San Diego Railroad Museum in Campo.
In the early 1990s, the city of National City
received a $1.4 million federal
grant to restore the building and convert it to
an electric railway museum. The
restoration suffered numerous delays over the years,
however, including a fire
caused by subcontractors this summer that may push
back the museum
opening to next summer.
The electric railway association, the San
Diego Railroad Museum and the Carrizo Gorge Railway,
plan to reopen the
Coronado line for regular passenger service in
the near future. The proposed
train would allow riders to experience what it
was like to ride on the Coronado line 100 years
ago, when it looped around
the bay from San Diego to the Hotel del Coronado.
"They have shown that by simply using volunteer
labor they can create an
attraction with the facilities that now exist,"
said National City Councilman
Mitch Beauchamp.
For many years, Beauchamp has been a leading proponent
of reopening the
line. He hopes one day to see a tourist train with
a steam engine, possibly with
onboard dinner and entertainment, running from
National City to Imperial
Beach. The efforts of these organizations may have
brought that dream one step closer to reality.
