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The 2004 Three Kings Train to Tecate 1/11/2004

Think for a moment as you live in the greatest country on planet Earth. Our children have houses full of toys and each year they receive more. This situation reaches from our border with Canada all the way to our border with Mexico. We are indeed blessed to be living in such a great nation. That happiness at home, though, ends at our border with Mexico. Just southwest of Campo, there is a town called Tecate, best known for the beer they produce. The economy here is very poor and there has always been a need to provide gifts to all the boys and girls who would not get anything for Epiphany, the time in Mexico when gifts are given. Epiphany was the time in our history when the Three Kings, or Wise Men, brought their gifts and offerings to Baby Jesus. This is the purpose of the Christmas Train to Tecate.

Life plays cruel tricks to people and how they react shows what kind of true character they have. Jack and Clare Stewart were the parents of Bekki Stewart, who died in a car accident in 1996 when she was only 36 years old. At Thanksgiving dinner that same year, Jack and Clare gave everyone twenty dollars to be used to make a child happy at Christmas in the memory of their beloved Bekki. The people purchased gifts with the money and they were then given out to a needy family.

At Thanksgiving dinner in 1997, each member of the family was again given twenty dollars. Someone in the family had taken the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum's excursion train from Campo to Tecate and remembered seeing the poor children playing along the tracks and the idea of using the Museum's excursion train to pass out candy canes using the money the family had put together was conceived. The Museum offered the use of their train between Campo and Tecate for the delivery of the gifts; thus the Christmas Train was born. They wanted to go in December but it was discovered that in Mexico, Epiphany was on January 6th, 1998, the most important gift-giving day in that country. The date of the first Christmas Train was then set for Saturday January 10th, 1998 and the volunteers included Three Kings in costumes. Because they took the Three Kings, it has become known as the Three Kings Train in Mexico and always arrives each year on the weekend closest to January 6th.

People in the United States learned about the Christmas Train and its purpose, donations and volunteers came pouring in to assist the effort. This gift-giving has evolved from the throwing of candy canes from the train, which was not a safe way of doing things, to packing gift bags and fruit for the children of Tecate. Volunteers were busy collecting toys and working with the American and Mexican Customs, the International Border Rail Institute, the Mountain Empire Historical Society, City of Tecate and Tecate DIF, the Snyder Smart System, the San Diego Railroad Museum and the Carrizo Gorge Railway, to provide the Three Kings Train for the children of Tecate on January 11th, 2004.

How did I have the opportunity to ride this special train? My Carrizo Gorge story from December had been featured on Trainweb.org and I had posted it on Railroadnews.net and Trainorders.com. One day, I received an e-mail from Charlie and Margaret of the "Christmastrain.org" as they read my story and asked me if I would like to come along and write a story about the Three Kings Train. I asked if Richard Elgenson could join me and take extra pictures, which they agreed to so I went to the post office to get a rush delivery of a passport and ten days later, it arrived. I booked a hotel room in El Cajon for the night prior to the trip, before battling a nasty cold that made me miss three days of work.

There were 2,194 gifts donated for boys, 2,530 for girls and 863 for babies, which exceeded all expectations and gifts were made up at Specialty Produce. Russ and Sons Trucking donated a 44 foot trailer for storage and then trucked the trailer to Campo on the Friday before our trip. A most wonderful crew unloaded about 300 boxes of gifts into a railroad box car donated by the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad. Later in the day, the Carrizo Gorge Railroad arrived and made up the train for the delivery of the box car to Tecate on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM, where it would be met by Mexican Customs and the City of Tecate to accept the gifts. The gifts would then be loaded into another truck and taken to the Tecate police station for storage until Sunday morning, at which time the truck would be taken to the stadium, unloaded and readied for the volunteers' arrival.

While all that was taking place down south, I was at Fullerton for the Let's Talk Trains show, which was celebrating my 775,000th rail mile before attending a surprise 75th birthday party for my mother. Richard picked me up almost at 8:00 PM and we drove to the Best Western Lamplighter Inn & Suites for the night.

The next morning, after a continental breakfast, Richard and I drove to Campo and parked just as the train was reversing into station.

This special train consisted of Carrizo Gorge GP9 5911 (ex. San Diego and Imperial Valley 5911, exx. Kyle Railways 5921, nee Denver and Rio Grande Western 5921), Pacific Southwest Railway Museum coach 753 (ex. Erie-Lackawanna 3585, exx. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western 2585), Pacific Southwest Railway Museum coach 751 (ex. Erie-Lackawanna 3583, exx. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western 2583) and Carrizo Gorge coach 5601 (ex. Amtrak 44-seat coach 5601, exx. Seaboard Coast Line 5601, nee Atlantic Coast Line 201).

Our train after it reversed into the Campo Depot.

A baggage cart with bags of stuffed animals which were loaded onto the train; after which I checked in.

The volunteers decorating the outside of locomotive with the stuffed animals, bows and ribbons.

The fully-decorated engine.

The door of the car welcoming us aboard the Three Kings Train to Tecate. We departed Campo on time at 9:00 AM and this would be Richard's first train ride into Mexico. We entered a narrow canyon to the west of Campo and crossed Campo Creek then the valley opened up as we ran along the northern side of the valley.

California Highway 94 grade crossing south of Campo.

We proceeded to Mexico on a very beautiful day.

Passing the Chicken Ranch signpost.

Mexico was just over that hill.

Dog Patch signpost.

Passing through Division.

Crossing lower Campo Creek.

Looking out of Tunnel 2 towards America.

Exiting Tunnel 3 into the Mexican daylight.

Exiting that tunnel's portal, looking back at the speeder which was following us for safety and Tunnel 3 1/2. The east end of Tunnel 3 was daylighted in 2001. Here we reached the sand loading siding and passed very primitive homes with no running water or electricity. Seeing some children here, I hoped in my heart that the some of them would leaving those homes and make it ino town.

Crossing Tecate Creek.

Passing the Lindero signpost.

Travelling further into Mexico.

Descending towards Tecate.

Dad and his child after they picked a gift thrown by a King.

Almost into Tecate and our final destination. The mileposts were now kilometer posts since Mexico is on the metric system. We entered the valley of Tecate Creek and followed it down along the southern edge of a ridge into Tecate.

As we approached, our Three Kings changed from their daily selves into their costumed characters for the day. King One was radio personality Enrique Monrones, King Two was San Diego Police Department Assistant Chief George Saldamando and King Three was Tijuana-Tecate Railroad manager Mitch Beauchamp. The train's horn attracted children and families to the tracks and the children had placed pesos on the rail to be run over by our train. One of the Three Kings threw out gifts to some of these children from the rear car and the Tecate Police joined in the festivities by providing grade crossing protection, as well as escorting our train into town.

Our train came to its stopping location opposite the Estadio Manuel Ceceẽa, which stood across Tecate Creek from our train. Security detrained first to create a path for the Three Kings, who led a procession from the train into the stadium.

Sonora, Baja Califiornia Railroad Tecate station, built circa 1916. This is the one of the best examples of Prairie Style commercial architecture in the cross-border region, and was possibly designed by either John Lloyd Wright or Eugene Hoffman. The station is threatened by neglect and encroachment by the Tecate Brewery. Initially the station was part of the Spreckels San Diego-Arizona Railroad that was to hook up to transcontinental Southern Pacific Railroad at Seeley, California.

We passed the line of families who followed a safety tape path from the entrance of the stadium into the dirt parking lot where it snaked its way south to north similar to an accordion. This was one of the most impressive sights that I had seen. A line where no one was cutting in, pushing or shoving, just thankful people each waiting their turn. The smiles on the children's faces were amazing as they watched the Kings entering the playing field. This stadium was once the bull fighting ring until several years ago when some of the stands collapsed and the City of Tecate turned it into a baseball stadium, which is also used for soccer matches.

Around the perimeter of the infield dirt were nine tents which were set up with boxes of gifts at the rear and tables at the front, where gifts would be placed for the Kings and others to distribute. The tents, in order of what was given out, were: 1. bebés (babies): stuffed animals, diapers, play toys and bottles. King One was stationed here. 2. Rest area for volunteers. 3. Niñas (girls): toys, crayons, school supplies and candy. King Two was stationed here. 4. Help area. 5. Niños (boys): toys, crayons, school supplies and candy. King Three was stationed here. 6. Second rest area. 7. Toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap. 8. Candy canes. 9. Colouring books.

At the stations without Kings, volunteers handed out the gifts, which were given to all children as the items would assist them in their daily lives.

On the pitcher's mound was a stage where musicians and clowns performed for the crowd as they waited for their turn.

Promptly at 11:00 AM on this bright beautiful sunny morning, the first of the children and families entered the playing field to receive their gifts. As the children approached the first King, even if he was not going to be giving them anything, they would light up with a big smile and a glow. Some hugged him while others just smiled or shook his hand. They would then proceed to the King who would give them their first gift and it would be repeated. This process was continued until every child had received his or her gifts and was really a truly special event to watch. I was amazed at how many children wanted me to have a picture of them on this great day.

Another King giving a boy a gift.

The children made their way past all the gift-giving stations.

After the last one, some children could not wait to open their gift bags.

A few of the very happy children!

All through the late morning and into the mid-afternoon, the children came.

It was a fantastic event just to watch.

An opportunity to witness happiness brought to children by many people's kind donations.

The stage was active throughout the whole event.

In through the gate by first base.

A lot of happiness was provided on the way along the gift-giving path.

Out through the third base gate. A special thanks to the over 300 volunteers who made the event possible.

After noon, Richard and I walked into town for lunch and while I was not really hungry, joined in for some Coca-Cola. We ended up at Taqueria La Placita where Richard ate a chicken enchilada after he tortured himself with hot peppers and the like. What some people will do for pleasure. This very nice restaurant was located on the east side of Tecate's town square.

By the time I returned to the stadium at 1:30 PM, the last of the families entered the stands and only two sections had families still at them.

Children receiving their gifts.

A King giving a girl a gift. At 1:54 PM, the last family stood up and was now on their way to the field and at 2:05 PM, this last family stepped through the gate which closed behind them and proceeded to get their gifts. Five minutes later, the seventh annual Three Kings Train gift-giving was over. After the volunteers cleared up, we all returned to the train for the journey back to Campo, which departed at 3:30 PM.

Everyone who saw the Three Kings Train waved with large smiles on their faces and it had been a great experience to witness this moving event. Thank you to all those who made this happen, not forgetting the gatekeepers, those hard- working crowd-control people in the stands and the volunteers who spent their day shuttling the gifts from the boxes to the tables or the passers to the gift givers. Everyone together made this a successful day. We reached those poor homes on the way out of Tecate on the hillside and as we came around one of the curves, standing in a doorway of a house were three small children waving their gift bags at us. What I had hoped this morning in my heart had come true, thanks to everyone's hard work today!

The Tecate police prepared to escort the Three Kings Train out of Tecate.

Climbing out of the Tecate Valley. The speeder following us then stopped to spike the switch for mainline running only.

The beautiful Mexico landscape.

A scenic view.

Still climbing to the border.

Curving towards the sand loading siding. The train curved along the hillside high above Tecate Creek and made its way to the sand spur where our engine crew, with Bob as our engineer, had spotted that someone had lined the switch into the siding. Bob had stopped the train with plenty of space and after the conductor had realigned it, we proceeded into Tunnel 3 1/2.

The portal of the remains on Tunnel 3 just ahead.

At the USA/Mexican border looking back into Mexico.

Exiting Tunnel 4 and back in the the United States of America.

The Three Kings Train after crossing Lower Campo Creek which meant we were at our final destination. I returned to my seat in coach 5601 and filled out my US Customs Form then relaxed looking out the window thinking about all I had been a part of today. We returned to Campo and had to wait to be taken through Customs in groups of ten at a time. Our coach was the last car, but it was quick with just having to hand the agent one's driver's license and you were checked off. With that done, we were free to go on our way. Richard drove us on Interstate 8 to Intertate 5 and back to my home in Santa Ana, ending our Mexican adventure, one that I will never forget.

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