Heading through the unloader.

The morning mine train nears the USG plant in Plaster City as it brings the day's first load of crushed gypsum from the quarry. The open nose door on the MLW DL535E is common operating practice on... (more)

More crushed gypsum heads to Plaster City (where it will be crushed even more). The mine railroad was originally conceived and built by a San Diego pharmacist, Samuel Dunnaway, who had relocated t... (more)

The morning loaded train begins its journey back to Plaster City with the hills above Fish Creek behind it.

Usually there is no way to beat the USG train from Plaster City to Ocotillo Wells (at least that's my experience). I suppose you might do it with a dune buggy of some sort, running along the ROW t... (more)

The morning mine train is getting ready to depart from Plaster City as DL535E pulls up to make a hook with the empty cars. Had to get a shot with a little bit of Alco (or MLW) smoke.

US Gypsum DL-535 #112 rolls across a desert arroyo with a heavy loaded train on the evening of March 26, 2020. This is the last narrow gauge freight railroad in the United States, hauling gypsum r... (more)

US Gypsum DL-535 #112 rolls across the Carrizo Creek Bridge with a loaded train. The fish Creek mountains can be seen in the background. This is the same Carrizo Creek that carved the impressive C... (more)

US Gypsum DL-535 #112 rolls downgrade with the rock palisades of the Fish Creek mountains in the background.

USG# 112 slowly pulls the morning gypsum train through the unloading chute at Plaster City

Make Life Last, Put Safety First. Important words to live by, especially when working in industry. At the Plaster City, California processing plant DL-535-E #112 spots its train of hopper ... (more)

"The door is closed!" Steve Barry's cry rang across the Ocotillo Wells desert, the four words none of us thought we'd hear on a 100°+ day. Nevertheless, the second departure from the US G... (more)

US Gypsum's narrow gauge mine train unloads at Plaster City.

US Gypsum's morning mine run has just completed unloading and shoves the cars back to their storage siding while the crew will switch out a water car. A narrow gauge MLW unit powers the train.

US Gypsum's Plaster City plant sports the last narrow gauge railroad industrial railroad in the United States. I've known about this operation for sometime, primarily at the lynchpin customer in a... (more)