Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway

1892 Route

This next installment takes us up into the big horseshoe loop that was required to gain enough elevation to make it up to the summit. This is the most interesting section of the grade requiring numerous trestle with some of them being filled in over the brief time span of this route.  We start our hike at what was known as bridge crossing 29 which is at the curved part of the loop. The fill in the prior installment formed the western leg of the horseshoe and we will be hiking into the eastern leg. This first shot is from the forest road looking at the climb we must make up onto the grade.



This next shot is looking back across bridge crossing #29. The grade formed a big loop in here before going through a cut and ending up on the west leg of the horseshoe. This trestle was approximately 450 feet in length. Be sure to compare this shot to the following turn of the century shot.



This shot comes from the digital collection at the Sharlott Hall Museum,  Sharlott Hall Photo RR-209P , and provides a turn of the century shot at the location above.



This next shot is looking to the east with a couple of the upper cuts and bridge sites visible in the background. We are in for some challenging up and down hiking and those cuts probably won't be easy either!



This is the first cut up above bridge #29 and it isn't too bad except for a little overgrowth, no major slides. This is our first encounter with any large quantity of railroad ties. The vegetation reminds us that we are still in the upper desert transition zone.

 

After coming out of the cut we find the next bridge site (most likely 28). This trestle looks like it may have been in the 250 -260 foot range.

A view back across the bridge site and the cut just beyond (really bad lighting). The lower grade is just barely visible at center left of the shot on the far hillside.



This view is to the southwest showing the long fill of the lower grade along with the big cut to the right of the fill. At the far end of the fill another trestle existed from the small hill at the end of the fill to the approach at the taller light colored hill in the distance (where the forest road enters this part of the canyon).

Beyond the trestle site we enter another rock cut. This one has quite a few prickly pear and pinion pines to navigate around.

Coming out of the cut we get a glimpse of what must have been one of the most spectacular trestles along the line. This one had a nice arc to it and was probably around 400 feet in length. It also stepped down deeply into the ravine with a few different terraces visible for the bents.

This is a view back across the trestle site from the opposite approach. Note the grade carved into the hillside to the right of the far approach. Was this an unfinished attempt to bypass the trestle or perhaps it was used during construction.

Beyond the trestle  we enter yet another cut and this one will be challenging with all of the overgrowth and rock slides.

A rail brace.

On the other side of the trestle we head into another cut. Looks like it is time for some more boulder hopping and scrambling through the brush.

Out of the cut and we arrive at another large trestle site up on the upper portion of the horseshoe loop. This one was probably only 150 -160 feet in length but was pretty tall (it was a lot of work getting around this one). That will do it for this segment and we will pick up on the other side with another turn of the century shot.