I had been a member of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum for years and as hoping for an excursion through the Carrizo Gorge to be announced in order. The Museum had started operating a "Ticket to Tecate" trip from Campo, the museum's location, but that was not a long enough trip for my liking. I had booked an all-private car train, but for one reason or another, it never ran, so I decided that if the Museum offered an excursion out of San Ysidro and over the Redondo balloon curves, I would ride.
That was how I found myself standing in San Ysidro on February 24, 1996. I rode Amtrak San Diegan 578 and had been fortunate to be invited to ride in the locomotive to get to San Diego, then rode the San Diego Trolley last night stayed at a Motel 6, bought another all-day Trolley pass and rode to the end of the line to be ready for today. The main reason for this trip was part of the goal of riding sober in every state in which I had drunk, so why not add the Mexican states as well? I never drank on my last journey on the Tijuana and Tecate, but with those other trips, I drank on the Sonora Baja California which originated and finished in Mexicali, Baja California. It seemed to be a natural place to start and a visit to the Tecate Brewery was included with my ticket. I also wanted to prove to myself and my parents I could remain sober while travelling in Mexico.
I was standing on top of a hill overlooking the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad yard waiting for the power to come down to our train. On a local bound for Mexico was San Diego and Imperial Valley GP7u 2168, ex. Santa Fe 2168,\ nee Santa Fe 2800, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952, which stopped at the border gate then entered the country.
San Diego and Imperial Valley GP38 5537, ex. Conrail Leasing 342, exx. Pittsburgh and Lake Erie 2037, exxx. Conrail 7766, nee Penn Central 7766 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969, which would lead our train.
We had a consist of SD&IV GP38 5537, five Lackawanna coaches, a United States Army kitchen car and an open platform observation car. I boarded and chose a seat on the right in one of the coaches then after everyone boarded, we sat for forty-five minutes waiting for Custom agents to open the gate so we could enter Mexico. Once on the move, I went to an open vestibule as we crossed into the country and the engineer was really blowing his horn at every opportunity and the locals were waving. We crossed the Tijuana River and past Arguello, we found the previously-seen local inside an industry so we had the railroad to ourselves. There was talk on the train of this line being opened to the east and a new railroad to be built from Ensenada to Tecate, to take advantage of the port there and the North American Free Trade Agreement. A copy of the plan was there for anyone to look through and I saw what great potential this would have.
We passed Garcia before crossing the high bridge over the Tijuana River and entering tunnel number one, then crossed San Ysidro Creek, passed the Rodriguez Dam and plunged into tunnel number two. We then entered the Redondo Valley and at Maquinaria, I saw a brand new container facility that would definitely benefit from the reopening of the line east. The biggest difference from my last time here was how much economic development had occurred. Our top speed was thirty-five miles an hour and we kept up that pace until Redondo then passing the former station, this was where the show began as we proceeded up the Redondo balloon curves then twisted and turned up the middle level to the upper balloon curve, where we looped back to the northwest and again, I felt most impressed with the engineering of this route. We went around Rita Curve and continued our climb through La Puerta (the Door), crossed Tecate Creek, ascended its canyon then went across the Tecate Valley, arriving at Tecate ten minutes early, where all the passengers detrained for a two-and-a-half hour layover.
TecateI had a brewery ticket but I decided I was more hungry so started to look for somewhere to eat, noticed a Burger King sign and went in search of it. I walked the streets of Tecate almost unnoticed, except for the occasional "Hi". I saw the Burger King down the street which turned out to be a trailer and ordered a plain hamburger, fries and chocolate shake then walked back to the brewery and within two blocks, was overcome by the smell of Tecate beer. It made me think just how good it tasted but with my new lifestyle, there was nothing wrong with breathing the fumes and besides, it is free. I walked inside the brewery and the guard let me take a private tour then I gave a nice couple from the train my beer tickets and watched everyone else before walking back to the train and doing a word search puzzle to fill the time.
The ReturnMost of my fellow passengers had been drinking to excess but I blocked out the noise with the Rolling Stones from New Orleans. With my eyes focused on Baja California Norte's countryside and my head full of music, I was back to having a great sober time, staring at the ridge line of the surrounding mountain ranges and noticed many things I had never seen before. My eyes were constantly scanning the countryside for new details before they turned to the sky, where I noticed a black sky rolling in on a cold west wind. Looking at these clouds I did not think that they would produce rain but it would have been an adventure.
We passed through Tijuana and re-entered the United States passing through the border gate where the guards inspected the train as it came through and stopped at San Ysidro. The US Custom agents boarded our car first and once they had finished, we would be allowed to line up to detrain. The agents started at each end of the car and when they reached me, I was asked three questions. "What country are you a citizen of? Where and how long have you been in Mexico? Do you have anything to declare?" I answered all of their questions to their liking and was permitted to leave, then walked past the agents down the hill and with my all-day trolley pass in hand, stepped on the first waiting trolley and was whisked away to the Santa Fe depot, where I sped home to Santa Ana in the cab car of Amtrak 585 at a much greater rate of speed than in Mexico.
With another train trip completed and the start of my sober state riding in Mexico, I could cross Baja California Norte from my list.
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