The Last Run: Ojai’s Train at Devil’s Gulch
by Ojai Valley Museum
Original museum piece expanding the photo post from ojaihistory.com. Photographs by Stan Kisler, from "Southern Pacific's Scenic Coast Line: A Color Pictorial" by Tom Dill. Courtesy Brian Aikens. Originally uploaded by Craig Walker December 8, 2011.Ojai Train at Devil’s Gulch
The photograph shows the last steam run up the Ojai Branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad, on May 22, 1955. The train is working up the steep grade on the big fill near Oak View, in what was an early push-pull operation: locomotive 2771 at one end, 2367 at the other.
After that run, the line continued on diesel freight service, hauling citrus from the valley’s orange groves. Then the floods of January 1969 washed out several trestles. The track was never rebuilt. Southern Pacific removed the rails between 1969 and 1975. The Ojai Valley Trail now runs the length of the old right-of-way, from Bryant Street in downtown Ojai through Foster Park to Ventura.
The train was part of daily life in the valley for more than half a century. People who grew up here still remember it.
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