Western Railroad Discussion > Wig Wag On Its Last Leg In Lindsay, CA

Given how far Lindsay, CA (about 15 miles east of Tulare, CA-itself located midway between Fresno and Bakersfield) is off the beaten path and the apparent absence of train activity out here, I reckon not many outside a couple of locals ever get this way.

Anyway, I took a brief drive out there today to just check it out. Not a pretty sight. I encountered this old wig-wag crossing. From what I can tell, it doesn't appear to be long for this world. The banner is all rusted, corroded, and looks like a good wind will knock it right off the rocker arm. The lens for the light is broken and dangling from a thread.

And judging from the condition of the "mainline" through here, the tracks are either out of service or only used maybe once a decade.

Lindsay had the one active shipper who took inbound loads of
plastic pellets and during season there were a few loads of
oranges shipped out, all on the ex-Santa Fe side.

In the bottom picture you can see that the next crossing down is fully gated. That means that the batteries have to be checked periodically or the gates will go down if they fail. So I wonder if the signal maintainer will fix this one next time he is out.

I warned you that things are pretty depressing on both the old Santa Fe and SP subs South of Exeter!

I would love to buy the line from the UP connection to the end. i would find a 0-6-0 switcher for freight, and a 2-8-0 for the dinner train......

Interesting line, I followed it last June.

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would love to buy the line from the UP
> connection to the end. i would find a 0-6-0
> switcher for freight, and a 2-8-0 for the dinner
> train......
>
> Interesting line, I followed it last June.

I second that, I think it would be a great line for excursions of some sort. Its so much different then the rest of the valley.

The crossing in Des-Lab's 3 shots is at the south end of the LoBue Bros. packing shed on the former SP Exeter Branch. The shed has been truck-only for quite some time. I'm unaware of anything (other than a signal maintainer, perhaps) that even passes this spot anymore. The stretch shown disappearing toward the horizon in shot # 3 is part of the line subject to the outrageous per-car surcharge that has existed for some time. Unless you like chasing ghosts, you're too late to see any rail action south of Lindsay, unfortunately.

John

John, is the ex-SF side still being served??

There should be four wigwags in Lindsay altogether. Looks like you found the Lewis St. one on the ex-SP and the Valencia St. one on the ex-ATSF.

http://www.trainweb.org/dansrailpix/WIG_WAG_PAGE12e.htm

My Uncle Bob used to live in a house on Valencia Street in Lindsay just a short distance from that crossing. I recall in 1955 seeing a Short Santa Fe train at that crossing right at dark! That was the only time I ever witnessed any traffic on that line. So by 19955, traffic on the Santa Fe Sub was sparse! My Uncle took down to the crossing and held me up so I could push the Wig-Wag banner a little bit to make it move. I was 8 or 9 at the time! I heard to read somewhere the SJVR has to bring in a signal maintainer from Texas to check the Wig-Wags!

A 2/07 aerial view on TerraServer showed 2 reefers at Lindsay Olive Growers on ex-SP, 1 reefer at Suntreat Growers & Shippers (ex-ATSF), and 5 covered hoppers at NDS on the north side of town on ex-ATSF.

mapboy

NDS is still active on the ATSF side as far as I know. I have not seen any reefers coming off the SJVR at all, though ATSF serves a new facility on the former Visalia Sub here in Fresno that is using reefers.

John

I spent the summer working a home delivery route in Lindsay, and the only two shippers that I saw active were NDS on the ex-ATSF side (Covered Hoppers, likely plastic pellets for PVC/Plastic pipe mfg.), and Tulare Frozen Foods (Reefers) on the ex-SP side. It was pretty obvious that the ex-ATSF line South of Tulare Rd on the North side of town had not seen a train in years. As noted the ex-ATSF line ends just south of Cal Citrus on Valencia St on the South side of town, and all crossings south of Lindsay on the ex-SP side are posted as being out of service. While the shipper on the ex-SP side is on the North end of town on Tulare Rd as well, the crew would pull down to the siding that is next to the McDermont Field House in the middle of town to run around their picked up car to pull it back to Exeter. I never saw any activity South of Hermosa St. on the ex-SP. During the times I was in Lindsay, I saw activity on both lines, but it appeared to be only as-needed service with no schedule, usually only picking up or dropping off a car or two.