The wine and beer train cars derailed and abandoned since 1965 in Carrizo Gorge

@ElentirENG ES 2·06·2024 · 23:18 0

Since the beginning of the railway there have been many accidents due to derailment. There is a specific case that had a curious story.

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I found the details of that story in a 2019 blog post Another Side of History and in a photo published in 2015 in Railpictures.net. The accident in question took place on the Carrizo Gorge Valley Railway, in the Jacumba Mountains, located in southern California, United States, very close to the border with Mexico, in a mountainous area located between tunnels 6 and 7 of that line. Apparently, a train driver who was on his first day accelerated too much on a dangerous curve after tunnel 7, causing a derailment.

The rookie driver was not the only one responsible for the accident. The sharp curves of that line and its poor condition already made it prone to derailments. The line was closed for several days due to that accident and two derailed cars are still in that place, almost 60 years later. From what I have read in the two aforementioned sites, one of the Wagons were freight and transported wine from New York. It was, apparently, a colorful yellow wagon 51091 NIRX from 1962 belonging to the North American Car Corpotarion.

The other vehicle involved in the accident was a flat car that was transporting two trailers with 72,000 cans of Coors beer. When an accident occurred in a rather remote place, and to clear the tracks,the two cars were pushed towards a slope of about 180 meters. Previously, the load of wine in the first car was destroyed to prevent looting. That did not discourage the adventurers, because according to Another Side of History, in the following months, 24 people were arrested in search of free beer.

Last month, Western Mine Detective released a video showing these old minecarts that remain in the valley into which they were thrown in 1965:

You can see some screenshots of this interesting video here. At the beginning we see some abandoned and vandalized passenger cars. I do not know if they are related to the derailment of May 1965 or to some other accident.

One of the Coors beer trailers that transported the abandoned flat car in Carrizo Gorge. As you can see in the video, there are still beer cans in the place, although quite rusty.

The flat car that transported the two Coors beer trailers.

The yellow car that transported the wine from New York. The interior of the car seems empty.

The author of the video also entered tunnel 7, currently collapsed. The images indicate that it has suffered many landslides, making it a dangerous visit. In addition to that, it is an area for rattlesnakes, the most venomous snakes in North America.