Eight years after riding a freight train hobo-style through Carrizo Gorge, Bryce Santry along with Robert Montague and some associates formed the Carrizo Gorge Scenic Railroad Company. They hoped to one day operate excursion trains through Carrizo Gorge between the former desert resort town of Jacumba and the siding at Dos Cabezas. This 17-mile route is part of the original San Diego and Arizona Railroad, built between 1907 and 1919 by John D. Spreckels to give San Diego a direct railroad link east. The railroad was never financially successful and was plagued by natural disasters big and small. It was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad and is today owned by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.

 

When Bryce Santry proposed the excursion train idea to Southern Pacific, they shut it down and it hasn't been seriously brought up again since. The tracks have fallen into disrepair, particularly in the Carrizo Gorge. San Diego has invited several rail operators to reopen the tracks for freight service, all of whom have failed to do so in the long term. The newest operator, Baja Rail, is the latest to take over the contract to repair, maintain, and operate the tracks between Tecate, Mexico and Plaster City, CA which pass through the Carrizo Gorge.