Carrizo Gorge Railway, Inc. ( reporting mark CZRY ) was a railroad operator on the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (SD&AE) from Tijuana, Mexico , to Plaster City, California (Tijuana Tecate Short Line and Desert Line).
16-601: In March 1984, the Metropolitan Transit Development Board signed an agreement with the shortline holding company Railtex to resume freight service on the SD&;AE line from San Diego; Kyle Railways discontinued freight operations in 1983. The new railroad, the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad (SDIY), which commenced operations on October 15, 1984, did not want to invest the $ 5.5 million necessary to repair
32-758: A Southern Pacific train-crew brakeman in 1965 and rose to superintendent of Southern Pacific's San Antonio Division until he became deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration in 1975. Seeking to broaden the revenue base, he purchased the San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad . Operating the railroad the company quickly developed a formula for a series of successful takeovers, including: In 1986 it acquired its second short line, Austin & Northwestern Railroad .In 1989 it sold its rail car business to Chrysler . By 1991 it operated 1,500 miles of track in 12 states with 60 locomotives. RailTex went public in 1993 trading on Nasdaq under
48-451: A $ 1,000,000 yearly payment for the rights to operate freight trains, or 15% gross revenues, or any qualified value. With this lease, the operating rights of CZRY ended. Carrizo Gorge Railway never owned any locomotives, but leased from various places. The railroad leased several locomotives from its employees and stockholder's interests from East County Dirt Works (ECDW). After the Desert line
64-502: A bend in the tracks, trains would occasionally derail, accidentally dumping some of the pink granite. The rocks which remain are a local point of interest. The line was converted to 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge and by 1892 the railroad was extended to Llano. In 1901 the Texas legislature approved the merger of the Austin and Northwestern and
80-581: The Houston and Texas Central Railroad . As a condition of the merger, a new passenger terminal was constructed at Austin, and the line was extended from Burnet to Lampasas in 1903. The Texas and New Orleans Railroad absorbed the line in 1934, and it was later absorbed into the Southern Pacific Company . In 1986, Southern Pacific elected to abandon the entire 163-mile (262 km) Giddings to Llano line. The City of Austin and Capital Metro purchased
96-529: The Texas and Pacific Railway at Abilene . Construction reached Burnet, Texas , by 1882 and the line was later extended to Granite Mountain by 1885 - when the railroad was contracted to haul pink granite for the new Texas State Capitol building in Austin. The company later extended its line 2.3 miles (3.7 km) to Marble Falls by using the charter of the Granite Mountain and Marble Falls City Railroad. Due to
112-566: The SD&AE Railway Company. In 2000, FNM , owner of the Tijuana-Tecate segment, was privatized, transferring the administration to the State of Baja California. On July 1, 2000, CZRY won the bid by the Administrator of the Tijuana-Tecate short line to operate as a technical-operational entity for rail service of the federally owned 44 miles from border to border, after SDIY exited operations of
128-522: The U.S. and Mexico, mainly lumber for import. Rail car storage is another source of revenue on the east end of the Desert Line. In October 2008, facing deteriorating conditions in the Desert Line and preparation for transportation projects in Baja California, the railroad embargoed the line from Plaster City to Campo for all revenue freight. CZRY discontinued operations of the Tijuana-Tecate segment in
144-467: The collapsed tunnels and bridges in the Carrizo Gorge . CZRY Shareholders Gary Sweetwood and Benny L. Wright of local construction company East County Dirt Works, however, believed that the investment would be worthwhile and negotiated trackage rights on the line. The agreement required a fee of 6.9% imposed by SDIY, for the gross revenues from any freight on the SD&AE's Desert Line and a fee of 2% by
160-469: The end of 2011. The contract was renewed in favor of Baja California Railroad, Inc. by the government of Baja California. In December 2012, SD&AE, owner of the line, entered into a 50-year operating lease with the Pacific Imperial Railroad company for freight trains. The lease requires that certain operating goals and repairs be completed in a specific time frame. The lease also calls for
176-502: The public company was a leader in making unprofitable lines shed by Class I railroads into viable transportation routes. The company was taken over by RailAmerica in February 2000. RailTex was founded in December 1977 by Bruce Flohr as a business that leased rail cars. Flohr had invested $ 50,000 of his own money and had investor help for another $ 50,000 from investors. Flohr had started as
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#1732863255400192-418: The railroad for $ 9.3 million, with the intent of using the right-of-way as a mass transit corridor. Capital Metro commenced Capital MetroRail commuter rail service in 2010 on 32 miles of track, running from Leander, Texas to Austin. The operating history of the Austin and Northwestern Railroad, subsequent to Capital Metro's acquisition of the railroad, is as follows: In 1997 a 30 mi stretch of
208-619: The segment. The CZRY later reopened the Desert Line in April 2004. Sand hauling was the primary business for the CZRY from 1999 to 2005. The sand was used in making ready-mixed concrete for the construction markets in San Diego County , as it was loaded from Lindero to Campo and later from the Imperial Valley desert near Silica to Campo until 2007. There was also minor traffic of other goods between
224-580: The sign RTEX. In 1996, RailTex was part of a consortium with Companhia Vale do Rio Doce that was awarded a concession to operate the 4,400-mile Center Eastern Network in Brazil . Later the same year, in a consortium with GP Investments it won a further concession to operate the Southern Network. The Brazilian interests were sold in 1999. In February 2000, the company was taken over by RailAmerica . It had 26 railroads over approximately 4,100 route miles in
240-468: The southeastern, midwestern and New England regions of the United States, as well as Eastern Canada and Mexico. Austin %26 Northwestern Railroad The Austin and Northwestern Railroad began construction on a rail line west of Austin, Texas , USA , toward Llano on April 20, 1881. The railroad was originally built as a 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow gauge line with plans to connect to
256-507: Was reopened, CZRY leased Union Pacific power, such as GP38-2 's and GP60 's. Union Pacific went to court to collect for non-payment of the lease and a return of the locomotives. They were later returned to Union Pacific after the enactment of the embargo. Railtex RailTex was a transportation holding company that specialized in owning and operating short line railroads across North America . Based in San Antonio , Texas ,
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