As a regular USA tourist from New Zealand, I for one would love to pay money to ride this line. Incredible history and landscapes. It's a shame that the railways with the best scenery and history are often the first to be forgotten about.. Great video!
58 year old Michigander here, always wanted to do this for years, got all the parts and building mine right now, thanks for sharing your ride with us 👍 You just gave me the push to get it done ✌
In June 2016, Baja California Railroad secured a 99-year lease with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (SDMTS) to rehabilitate and operate an additional 112.75 km (70.06 miles) of track in the United States between Campo, California and Plaster City, California. The line, with 57 bridges and 17 tunnels, will be rehabilitated in three phases: Phase 1, Campo to Jacumba Hot Springs, California; phase 2, Dos Cabezas (near Ocotillo Wells, California) to Plaster City; and phase 3, from Jacumba to Dos Cabezas.[3] Each year the railroad pays SDMTS a million a year to retain its lease. No work has been evident.
If health and safety could pass this for the public to use it would be a great attraction.I’m sure a lot of people would pay to take a ride on one of those carts.👍👍
At 26:29 is a flange oiler not an electrical box. There is a plunger mounted against the rail that the wheel treads push down activating a pump in the box to pump high graphite content grease through the hoses to lubricate the flanges of the wheels against the rails for the sharp curves. I have noticed several of them along the track and they are common in high curve territory of railroads or just before sharp curves.
I would love love love to do something like this. To relax and look at the scenery. I might even bring some gear to camp for a night or two, then head back later. So relaxing and therapeutic. All the rails around where I live are active.
From India. 1. Track looks neat and clean without weeds. 2. It would be ideal to have roof for your cart. Did not see even a single tree. 3. Form a group of travelers. 4. Attract more tourists to increase revenue.
I can almost guarantee that if you were to stay in any one spot for more than about 10 minutes some Karen would come up and tell you you weren't allowed to do that.
Just driving over the coastal range from San Diego to El Centro is impressive. It’s amazing that they were able to construct a railway in the early 1990s
@@therocketscientist0000 If you have a better camera.... Oh and you might want to integrate a cooler in the railcar. Like this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Sm3hENvUiHQ.html
@@adamlato253 If you want to find abandoned railroads near your location, there's a book called "Right-Of-Way" "A Guide to Abandoned Railroads in the United States" by Waldo Nielsen. That might help you.
With the rising costs of steel, I figure sooner or later, that track may become one of the ghosts of history. Nice to be able to see it while it's still around.
It’s very difficult to scrap rail. Most places won’t even take it and will call the cops on you if you try to scrap it because they don’t want to get in trouble. Railroads won’t do it unless they are truly abandoning the line. Most are at least kept in place to keep ahold of the right of way.
I did something like this in Taumaruni, New Zealand. Only they use pedal carts, not motorised. We cycled for about 15 miles - the scenery was amazing. You can do the full 60 miles if you want.
Back in the 70’s I rescued a guy that went off a train trestle years ago i seen a motorcycle hanging off the edge so after i got to the other side i walked back and called out and sure enough a guy was laying in the rocks below the trestle i climbed down to him which he replied you were the only one to stop he had broken pelvis I went back up and rode my motorcycle till i found someone to call 911
At 21:07! It is NOT a meter. It is a Wheel Flange Greaser (You can Google the word), that applies grease on the wheels just before curves to avoid wear and squeaking on the flanges. It works by the wheel actuating a little piston that presses a small amount of oil on the wheel flange as it passes the oiler. This one is long out of use and probably not working or complete. You can see some broken off tubing between the rails. 🙂
At the 25:25 minute mark you said "military helicopter". Don't mean to argue with you, but. If you meant to say "Navy F-18", then you needed to edit your video. Either way, they saw you. It's unlikely they were inspecting the bridge. The railroad would be doing the inspection. Interesting video, thanks for sharing. Bob
The line right behind my house stretches from Wichita, Kansas to Towner, Colorado. The Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad or just the K&O. Consequently, I used to dispatch for them, as well as for the Southern Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad, the Baton Rouge Southern, the Alabama Southern and a couple other Class 3's. They go through my small town at 10 MPH. Making a speeder wouldn't exactly be a dangerous thing to do, just because they run on a regular schedule, they travel very slow, there's 2 crossings here that make their approach extremely audible and I'd only want a "speeder" for going from my backyard to about a half mile to the west, where there is a small timber bridge and just past the bridge is an awesome wooded area that I've camped in several times. Just a small track "vehicle" of sorts to make it easier to bring my camping gear with me. A vehicle that is incredibly lightweight and can be removed from the tracks with zero effort. As far as the Darwin Awards, that is typically reserved for those who have absolutely no clue what they're doing or how particular things work, like the railroad. I'm not trying to portray myself as some sort of railroad genius and yes, traveling along actively used railroad tracks is not only trespassing but also inherently dangerous. Just know that my idea for a speeder is just that, an idea, that hasn't even progressed to the sketch on a napkin stage. If I were to move forward with it, before even utilizing it, I would drive 5 miles West, along the tracks and 5 miles east, along the tracks to verify there was not a train on it. Only then would I consider making a half mile trek. I absolutely wouldn't be looking to do a cross state journey on a dangerous vehicle, utilizing a "road," that is used by vehicle that weighs thousands of tons.
@@skuzlebut82 A railway worker, or former railway worker, should know better than most what a bad idea this would be. Trains don't always run to schedules. The railway that passes my flat gets 8 trains a day, 4 each way. That's been the case for many years. Being a single line makes the traffic patterns even more predictable but random trains still appear from time to time. I've met them when walking beside the track. It sounds like you've given this some thought and at least you know how the railroad works, in theory. You make a decent case for your plan but it's still a bad idea and, as a former rail worker, you know that.
We're about the same age it looks like. Please teach yourself to refrain from saying "Fathers" name in vain. Practice saying, "God help me." I'm sure you'll find things like forgetfulness and other senior moments will get fewer day by day. Loved the video. My dad and I always wanted to do railriding. Maybe my son and I will get to see this come to pass and I can scratch that off my "Bucket List". Good luck and God bless. Happy Railriding.
@@therocketscientist0000 ew. Don't apologize to a religious freak. Tell him to pound sand and watch someone else's video. (Yes i know I'll be the one being reprimanded for saying this, but i shouldn't. No one should cater to religious peoples demands)
Wasn't that a great trip?! Great Video, Thanks! Although I've been up and down "The Impossible Railway" from Jacumba to the water tanks a dozen times or so on my mountain bike, I never got tired of the scenery. Use to live in Pine Valley, so it wasn't much of a trip to the trail head. You should have gone all the way to the top, there use to be a nudist camp on the east side of I-8. Great views there too! LOL!
There is a book out there by Aldo Nielsen called "Right-Of-Way - A Guide to Abandoned Railroads in the United States". You may find it helpful in finding a railroad for you to ride on. Thanks for your support!
I am sure you have been asked a million times, but do you have a set of plans for the rail cart? I think this would be a very cool project to build! Love the videos!
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FQTYJQku_Ao.html No plans, but maybe with the attached video you can do your best. I winged it as I went along.
@@therocketscientist0000 Wow! That's great👍.. well have fun, one day they will take this away from us too, with all our other freedoms. God bless 🙋♀️🙏 Be careful!
We got all the way to the Goat Canyon Trestle way before the collapse of tunnel 16. This video was taken in 2016. We went all the way from Ocotillo to Jacumba Hot Springs with no problems. Nobody can do that now (2024).
Oh sorry to hear that. Could you sleeve the axle at the week point and run that sleeve in a larger bore bearing block or add a bearing block off a bracket on the outside of the wheels? Hope you get it fixed soon.
I got 12 rides out of the first axle and 4 rides out of the second axle. I now see where my original design had some flaws. But you learn from your mistakes. If I ever build another one, these problems would not exists.
Sorry about the motion. When I filmed this, I had no idea that it would end up on RU-vid, I'm not a professional photographer, just some video of my life experiences.
These videos were never intended to be on RU-vid. I just took video for the fun of it. If I had known that I would be posting these in the future, I would have done better. But their fun anyway. Thanks for watching.
Are these the tracks between San Diego, the Borrego Desert and Imperial CA? I used to fly between San Diego and Imperial and always wondered about those tracks and tunnels. I remember seeing the rail cars on a siding also. Never saw anything or anyone on or near the tracks. Now I want a Speeder.
That was a great ride! Spectacular country Wow! And l thought we had rugged countryside here in Australia! Where was this California?? Obviously an unused line, l reckon you should put 12 volt battery & a car horn in it so you can warn anybody if they are inside those tunnels & l hope no one else is coming in the opposite direction with a similar machine! Well done & thanks for the beaut ride sir.
Filmed in Southern California. I did add a battery & horn, take a look: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UcM3ORZH08E.html Two of us were on the same track one time, check this out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-599xKH564bM.html
@@therocketscientist0000 My thoughts exactly.. one could travel a long way in Australia.. How fast could you conceivably go on one of these.. I think I heard in another video years ago that if u had non metallic wheels, they didn't know anyone was on the tracks.. thx for taking us along on a great video... take care my friend...
This was 100 miles east of San Diego. I did put a 12 volt battery on the cart along with a LED light bar and a air horn. Check out my other videos and you can watch me do all that. Thanks for your support.
How do you find abandoned track? My fiancé and I have been looking, but it's difficult to figure out whether they're truly abandoned or just out of service.
Tunnel 16 is gone June 2023 tons of rock and dirt block the entrance. I hope nobody was there when it came down nobody would know if somebody got buried alive.
@@ansett5 I agree. Authorities have been trying to revive the line for decades with no progress. FYI, I visited Northern Queensland in 1975, nice place.
