The Trona Railway (reporting mark TRC) is a 30.5 mi (49.1 km) short-line railroad owned by Searles Valley Minerals.

[1] 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. On Dec. 27 2007, Karnavati Holdings, a subsidiary of Nirma Limited, acquired all of Searles Valley Minerals, Inc.[citation needed] In the 1920s, the Epsom Salts Monorail delivered epsomite to the Trona Railway at Magnesium Siding, about 11 miles (18 km) south of Trona.

[2] The idea of building a standard gauge railroad to replace mule-drawn wagons came from Stafford W. Austin, the receiver of the American Trona Corporation.

On 27 September 1913 the wife of Joseph Hutchinson broke ground with an old fashioned plow, to start the construction of Trona Railroad.

The work force of 400 included American, Chinese, Greek, Hindu, Mexican, Irish, Norwegian and Swedish workers.

By 1916 potash was transported via the Trona Railway to farmers, who needed fertilizer, to feed the nation during World War I.

[citation needed] The name Three Elephant Route was created, because many of the railroad's employees were British and did not understand why the company should hold on to its heritage of 20 mule teams.

[6] The main line runs from Trona to the interchange with the Union Pacific's Lone Pine Subdivision at Searles, a distance of 30.6 miles (49.2 km).