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were obtained from the Southern Pacific, three from the Northwestern Pacific and some from other roads. Engine number 2385 was returned to the SD&AE on lease in 1943.
With the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, traffic quickly dropped to normal.
New direct passenger service to Chicago was widely advertised in 1947 in connection with the Southern Pacific's Imperial which operated via El Centro and the Inter-California Railway through Yuma. Leaving San Diego at 10:15 a.m. you could "thrill to a daytime trip through the spectacular Carriso Gorge." The consist included a "dollar saving" Tourist Sleeper, in addition to the Standard Pullman and the chair car. Two months later the leaving time was changed to 2 p.m. Soon the connection and 'switching operations were performed at Calexico instead of Yuma.
After passenger traffic had been discouraged almost to the vanishing point, the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway filed application with the California Public Utilities Commission on July 17th for authority to abandon its passenger service. Many protests were raised but to no avail. The Public Utilities Commission granted permission for the abandonment on December 19th. The last direct passenger train service to the east, for which the old timers had fought so tenaciously down through the years, left San Diego at 7:05 a.m. on January 11, 1951, with engine Southern Pacific number 2373 on the point. The final westbound train was pulled by engine number 2383, marking the end of an era. With it came the announcement that freight service will be converted to diesel power.
Engine number 104 was retired in 1954 and the Southern Pacific offered to donate it to the City of San Diego or other responsible authority for exhibition purposes. The Railway Historical Society of San Diego took up the task of preserving this Baldwin consolidation. After the City had declined to accept the gift, the Society made the arrangements for placing the locomotive on permanent
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