Trona

Company History: The TRC was built in 1913 by the American Trona Company from a connection with the Southern Pacific at Searles, California to Trona, 31 miles away in the Mojave Desert. The railroad, the town and the company are all named for the trona form of soda ash deposited on an ancient dry lake bed. Also found in abundance in the area and carried by the railroad are potash, salt cake, and borax. The mineral processing facitity burns coal which constitutes most of the inbound traffic. Most of the outbound minerals move in covered hoppers.

Over the decades, ownership of the mines and railroad have passed from company to company including Kerr-McGee, North American Chemical, IMC Chemicals and they are now owned by a relatively small outfit called Searles Valley Minerals.

What really put Trona Railway on the map was their long lived all-Baldwin diesel fleet. These included a pair of rare DT6-6-20 center cab transfer engines and AS-616 road switchers. The Baldwins lasted well into the 1990s before being replaced by rebuilt EMD’s. These days, the line is run with rebuilt second generation EMD’s.

The Trona Railway (reporting mark TRC) is a 30.5 mi (49.1 km) short-line railroad owned by Searles Valley Minerals. The TRC interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad at Searles, California (Mojave Desert). The railroad was built by the American Trona Company in 1914, to serve the mining company's shipping from Searles Station to a junction with the Southern Pacific Railroad. The company and its Trona Railway has had various subsequent owners, including American Potash & Chemical Corporation, Kerr-McGee Corporation, IMC Global, Sun Capital, LLC, before the current ownership of Searles Valley Minerals, Inc.

Read more on Wikipedia and on American-Rails.com, as well as on Trona on the Web.

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