El Centro to Holtville

Link: http://arotus.co/gps

• Quick Info:
• States: California   
• Railroads: HIRy, SP   

The Holton Interurban Railway

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Point of Interest

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Bridge over the Holtville Canal, just north of Holtville at Sandia. Photo by Paul McGuffin, April 2009.

This abandoned railway was first built in 1910 as the Holton Interurban Railway. It branched from a Southern Pacific line at El Centro and ran 11 miles eastward to the town of Holtville. Both Holtville and the Holton Interurban derive their name from W. F. Holt, an entrepreneur who developed the surrounding area of Imperial County in order to tap into the natural resources.

The line was subsequently purchased by the Southern Pacific, who continued to operate the Holton Interurban to Holtville; indeed, SP also built a line that connected with the Holton Interurban at Holtville from the north (Calipatria to Holtville).

It is not known when the Holton Interurban last saw revenue service as an interurban proper; freight-wise, the line saw significant amounts of sugar beet trains, as well as Pacific Fruit Express business. During this time, it was known as Southern Pacific's "Imperial Valley Branch".

It is not known when the line was abandoned, but tracks have been removed in various sections over the years; none of the tracks remain today.

Thanks to William Wilsford for contributing information about this route.

I want to say that this is a really good site for both information and photos. I lived in the town of Brawley in the late 1970's not far from where all of this was located. I have many fond memories of when The Southern Pacific used to operate a lot over these rails. I was only a young kid then and now wished that I could of taken some photos of these areas when they were still in use! I would love to see some photos of trains operating in The Imperial Valley of California, if possible. Keep up the good work.

Keith Johns
Formerly San Diego, now Marshalltown, IA
12/23/2008

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I remember this SP line very well growing up in the Valley. Originally this line kept going North from the feed lot at Orita Land & Cattle crossing thru the farmlands and then making a westward turn at a spot called "TURN". the line continued west until it met up with the current mainline at Calipatria just to the south of the Feed Lot. This second mainline was abandoned in 1962. And then another wye was installed near the same spot and this line also went west and then headed south to the town of Westmoreland. This line was used for sugar beets, and other perishable loadings. The line was abandonded in 1971 and the tracks were torn up in the mid 1980's. I never did see any trains go to Westmoreland but saw plenty of them go to Holtville and then on to Orita Feed Lot. Lots of grain, perishables, and some paper cars as well as LPG cars were the norm on the Holtville Branch. The Orita Branch ran its last train in 1989 and the line was torn up in 2000. The last train that ran to Holtville was in 1994 and the line was torn up in 2006.

Skeeter Rose
El Centro, CA
5/29/2009

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I worked as a reporter in the Imperial Valley in the mid 90s and I believe the SP officially abandoned the El Centro to Holtville line in mid 1995. Not sure if it was being used at the time or if it had been dormant for sometime before the official request to abandon the track. I recall covering a county council meeting that summer where this was on the agenda.

I believe the line that runs north from Holtville to Calipatria had already been abandoned at that point.

Paul Baltes
El Centro, CA
6/15/2010

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I, too remember the line. As kid in Tucson, Arizona, we made many trips to San Diego. Old U.S. 80 ran right alongside the line. Sadly, the western end of U.S. (West of Dallas, TX) is also history now

Fred M Cain
Topeka, AZ
1/12/2012

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I would also add that in the 1960s, everytime I saw the line the rails were always shiny and it also had a large, multi-arm open-wire telecom line running along it giving it a main line appearance. I never actually saw a train on it, though.

Fred M. Cain
Topeka, IN
1/18/2012

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