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                         Imperial Valley Sugar Beet Trains 
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                              General Information
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Type.................: Video
More Info............: http://www.pentrex.com/vr074dvd.html



Video Format.........: XviD
Video Bitrate........: 1488
Resolution...........: 496 x 368
FPS..................: 29.970
Source...............: DVD

Length...............: 1:00:26
Release Date.........: 2007
Language.............: English
Subtitles............: N/A
Color................: Color 
Aspect Ratio.........: 1.37:1

In the early hours of July 17, 1993, Southern Pacific's last sugar beet train 
from the Imperial Valley pulled into the station at Guadalupe, California. The 
nearby sugar mill would soon be shut down after nearly 100 years of operation 
and SPÃs sugar beet trains, with their familiar wooden gondolas, would no 
longer make the run from the southeast corner of the state to the central 
coast. Video Rails was on hand to record this historic moment, for they were 
capturing the entire operation prior to the end of an era.

Our journey begins in the lush farmlands of the Imperial Valley, 420 rail miles 
away from the Holly Sugar Mill at Betteravia. There you'll watch as sugar beets 
are harvested, transported to receiving stations, and then loaded into the 
wooden gondolas, with their friction bearing axles, that made SPÃs unit beet 
trains so unique. The loaded trains of up to 100 steel and wooden cars hauling 
10,000 tons of sugar beets depart El Centro, heading toward Taylor Junction in 
L.A. and along the Coast Line to their destination in the Santa Maria Valley. 
Helper units are often added for the push over Beaumont Hill, as you'll see on 
several of the trains. At Taylor Junction, we're invited into the cab of SD40 
7349 on the point of a 3-unit lashup that includes two SD45s. The cab ride to 
Guadalupe features tunnels, cuts, and blue Pacific Ocean views as well as meets 
and passes with intermodal hotshots and Amtrak trains. At the interchange yard 
in Guadalupe, the Santa Maria Valley Railroads new GP-9 arrives to transfer 
the gondolas to the Holly Sugar Mill. Then were treated to a complete tour of 
the refining process, from unloading to washing, pulping, purifying, drying, 
and bagging the granulated sugar.

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