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railexplorer Posts: 71
9/10/2018
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My son and I headed out to the Jacumba area this past Saturday. We had heard some rumors about Baja Rail, the current lease holders to the rail line, closing the tunnel gates as well as moving the derailed cars near the nudist resort. I also wanted to use this trip as a bit of a scouting trip for an old work road.
Here is what we found:
The passenger cars near the resort have been moved.
 Looking down on Dubbers by Rail explorer, on Flickr
The gate at tunnel 5, the first tunnel north of Jacumba has been rehung and the gate is locked. Since this gate is closed I'm assuming that the rumor of the Northern gates, those on Tunnels 20 & 21 have also been closed. Tunnels 20 & 21 are the two tunnels closest to Dos Cabezas. The tunnel gates were closed to reduce/eliminate people heading into the gorge as well as an attempt to reduce the amount of vandalism that is occuring in the gorge.
 Closed by Rail explorer, on Flickr
Rumor has it that Baja Rail has enlisted the help of the Sheriffs to randomly patrol the gorge and will cite people for trespassing. I'm not sure how credible that information is for a variety of reasons.
One final note. Baja Rail has no plans to begin work on the rail line until the Customs Checkpoint, near Campo, is approved and built. Based on the information I have it will be a while before anything gets done. There are discussions as to where the checkpoint will be built.
As for the work trail, we explored it for a bit, before it got to hot. We did come across a can dump as well as several work camp sites and a chimney from what used to be a house.
 Can Dump by Rail explorer, on Flickr
 Stone Chimney by Rail explorer, on Flickr
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ziphius Posts: 911
9/10/2018
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Interesting developments, thanks for the updates!
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http://www.coyotelearning.org
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tekewin Posts: 368
9/11/2018
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Great update. Appreciated. Closing those gates won't stop anyone except maybe on dirt bikes.
Can the Sheriff really spare officers to patrol the rail line? To patrol the whole line would be an all day affair. I think it is more likely they would send private security or their own employees if they really wanted to patrol it, but who knows. I never follow the tracks in that area.
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Britain Posts: 602
9/13/2018
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I'd be thinking that Baja Rail will be responsible for law enforcement. They will have their own police units just has the Union Pacific have police.
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Cant drive 55
Britain
http://icorva.com
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railexplorer Posts: 71
9/13/2018
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They might eventually get a police force but that's probably a ways down the road. The state of California needs to sign off on that. Plus its quite an expense for a company that has a lot of negative cash flow.
I'll have to do a little research.
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railexplorer Posts: 71
9/14/2018
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I just got confirmation that the Sheriffs are running random patrols out in the Gorge.
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Rocko1 Posts: 597
12/10/2018
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railexplorer wrote:
I just got confirmation that the Sheriffs are running random patrols out in the Gorge.
The tracks and a few feet on either side are the 'no go' areas, correct?
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Britain Posts: 602
12/10/2018
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The Sheriffs won't be going far unless they have the keys to the tunnel gates. Was out there TG and the 2 tunnels I crossed on the north side of the trestle were gated.
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Cant drive 55
Britain
http://icorva.com
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sddarkman619 Posts: 153
12/11/2018
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Rocko1 wrote:
railexplorer wrote:
I just got confirmation that the Sheriffs are running random patrols out in the Gorge.
The tracks and a few feet on either side are the 'no go' areas, correct?
A few feet meaning 200 ...
Most of the right of way through is either 200 feet wide or in most areas the railroad bought and owned whole "Sections" of land. A brochure put out years ago by the State Parks System said"to cross the right of way at 90 degrees to the track", but in the gorge that's a little hard to do with many near vertical slopes on either side of the track!
"It is the opinion of the Anza-Borrego Rangers that hikers are permitted to cross the tracks at right angles within the state park."
edited by sddarkman619 on 12/11/2018
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railexplorer Posts: 71
12/11/2018
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sddarkman619 wrote:
Rocko1 wrote:
railexplorer wrote:
I just got confirmation that the Sheriffs are running random patrols out in the Gorge.
The tracks and a few feet on either side are the 'no go' areas, correct?
A few feet meaning 200 ...
Most of the right of way through is either 200 feet wide or in most areas the railroad bought and owned whole "Sections" of land. A brochure put out years ago by the State Parks System said"to cross the right of way at 90 degrees to the track", but in the gorge that's a little hard to do with many near vertical slopes on either side of the track!
"It is the opinion of the Anza-Borrego Rangers that hikers are permitted to cross the tracks at right angles within the state park."
edited by sddarkman619 on 12/11/2018
I don't know if its 200 feet. One can find quite a bit of the right of way fence on both the south and north ends of the gorge and its definitely not 200 feet between the fences. A 200 foot right of way would make several roads off limits.
As for the Sheriffs, when they head out into the Gorge they're going out there with BJRR reps on BJRR vehicles, well it looks like a golf cart.
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dsefcik Administrator Posts: 2622
1/12/2019
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Thanks for that update...have never seen the chimney before, pretty cool.
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http://www.sefcik.com
http://www.darensefcik.com
http://www.carrizogorge.com
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