The Goat Canyon Railroad Trestle: Hiking There and Back

[goldmining12345]

My Grand Dad has been on that rail road when the rail road was not abandoned !!!

[kovu1212]

is there a safe place to park close to the begining of the hike? you did a great job makeing this and all your other video's, thanx alot.

[lcacwelder]

That was so cool.thanx

[raydunakin]

This sure brings back some great memories! My brothers and I used to hike the tracks through the gorge many times back in the late '70s through the early '80s. The first time I hiked to the big trestle, there was a crane car on the spur track next to the old tank car. Also, the semaphore signal was still intact, and there was a small building next to it...

[raydunakin]

I don't know what happened to the crane, but the building and semaphore were quickly destroyed by vandals (the scum of the earth!), along with many other things along the tracks.

Later on, illegals became a big problem, hiking the tracks to avoid the Border Patrol and leaving lots of trash, starting fires, etc. The timbers in one tunnel were burned out that way, along with a couple of the smaller trestles

[raydunakin]

I don't know what happened to the crane, but the building and semaphore were quickly destroyed by vandals (the scum of the earth!), along with many other things along the tracks.

[fhood]

@raydunakin Love hearing about the history of places like this! Thanks for sharing your memories of what it was like back in the day.

[raydunakin]

BTW, the Carrizo Gorge was the inspiration for my 1/24th scale, outdoor model railroad, the In-ko-pah Railroad. I have video of my layout on YouTube, and photos of it on my website.

[industriegigant1]

I was looking for up to date information on that trip so thanks a lot for this fantastic video! We wanted to do the trip in spring 2012 - the Video makes this an obligation.

I found informations that trespassing on the rails is officially illegal and there are rumours on the Internet that they have security calling the Police if they find trespassers. Did you see any Security?

When was the trip made and how long did it take you?

Thanks.

[fhood]

@industriegigant1 We did the hike a couple weeks ago. As far as I know, the railroad is abandoned. Trains won't be running on that section of the tracks for years to come. Trains haven't been running on that section since November of 2008 or so. No security was present. We hiked on a weekday, though, which is probably a good idea just in case there is some sporadic patrolling on the tracks. I would think they would patrol only on weekends, if ever at all. It's abandoned! Enjoy the hike!

[mobiltec]

We had a little 4 passenger cart powered by a 5 hp Briggs & Stratton engine. We rode it on those tracks in the late 70s. We camped out at the bottom and ran the tracks all day and night sometimes. Forward all the way up and then backwards all the way down which was scarey. I have photos I should digitize to show you. The thing worked well and went about 30 mph carrying 4 and a cooler full of beer. Those old cars on the side of the hill were there back then as well.

[raydunakin]

@mobiltec

My brother and I nearly got run over by one of those little homemade carts back then! We were hiking back to camp shortly after sunset and it was starting to get dark. We hadn't expected to be gone so long so we didn't bring flashlights.

As we were crossing a very long trestle with no catwalk, a cart came roaring up the tracks. No headlight, and apparently no muffler either. The engine noise was so loud no one could hear us yelling...

[raydunakin]

...We got out as far as we could on the ends of the longest ties and just prayed we wouldn't get hit. The cart roared past us and never even slowed down. I still don't know if the people on it ever noticed us.

[mobiltec]

@raydunakin Oh wow! It could have been us. Though we had headlamps facing forward. But if we were going down hill we go backwards a lot of times and no lamps pointing that way. Glad you were not hurt.

[DSVetDad]

I have always loved the carrizo gorge railway and it's history. Would love some day to make that hike along with my son who is also crazy about trains!!! Thanks a bunch for sharing.

[davidsquall351]

I've always wanted to go here. Makes me want to go even more!

[Amiduffer]

Damn, what a hike. For a trip that long, wouldn't it have been better to bring rail bikes?

[fhood]

@Amiduffer Rail bikes? We don't need no stinking rail bikes! LOL

[deezynar]

@Amiduffer

My thought too, I'd be on a rail bike.

[panzergrenadire]

at 10:40 i sawwhat looked like an old oil car embeded in the moutainside

[fhood]

@panzergrenadire Yes, you did. That tanker was put there and was kept full of water. If the wooden trestle down below ever caught on fire, they would pump water from that tanker car through a pipe that ran down the hill from the tanker. The pipe led over to the trestle and branched off all over and down through the trestle's wooden structure.

[fireballfury1]

do they still use that railway?

[fhood]

@fireballfury1 That rail line has been embargoed since 2008, I believe. Many of the smaller trestles were deemed too unsafe for the weight of an ordinary locomotive, so they embargoed the line. The tracks are a maintenance nightmare. Whoever owns the line seems to always run out of money for the constant repairs. We saw washouts under the tracks, boulders on the tracks, water damage in the tunnels, broken timbers, etc.. I don't think trains will be on there for a long time...

[icen2752]

awsome (: