Western Railroad Discussion > abandoned in nocal

engine, boxcar, caboose, sonoma CA (april 2005)

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engine, sonoma CA (april 2005)

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engine, caboose, petaluma CA (april 2005)

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engine (detail) sonoma CA (april 2005)

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Any idea on the story, condition, owners or??

all i know is, they were trapped when a flood took out a huge chunk of northern california rail line in the 1990s. have read elsewhere on here that the engines are still leased from UP...

So they are not on live rail? At least not connected to a class 1?

far as i know, definitely not live...

TOO bad, but I am sure if it was on live rails, it would have already gone bye bye. We would LOVE to find an SP SD-7/9 for Campo!

6088 Wrote:
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> TOO bad, but I am sure if it was on live rails, it
> would have already gone bye bye. We would LOVE to
> find an SP SD-7/9 for Campo!

That's really cool:

-Would you paint it in bloody nose, black widow or tiger stripe?

-How is the cost on a flatcar?

About the new RS-32:

-How is it gonna be painted?

-Is it gonna be restored to operating conditions or is it ready to run?

Cheers!

Héctor Gonzalez
Tijuana, B.C.

Hector,

If we ever get an SD 9 we would decide then what to paint it, I am sure we would research to find out just what it was painted over the years. As far as a flat for the SD 9 goes, well it would probably be too tall, and if you could get a flat car to it, then you probably could just have it move under it's own wheels, just like the RS 32 is doing.

The attached photo is how we will paint the RS 32, except number it SP 7304, which was the origional number.

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slangist Wrote:
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> engine, boxcar, caboose, sonoma CA (april 2005)

This is Schellville, actually. Sonoma is a few miles north, and the branch to Sonoma is long gone.

These are not on an active railroad, but they aren't necessarily trapped, either. Schellville is the southern end of the currently non-operating NWP, but there is still a rail connection to the outside world via the California Northern through Lombard. The equipment in Petaluma may be trapped, as the swing bridges at Black Point and Petaluma may have been damaged by marine traffic and are the focus of public controversy. It would be mostly a bureaucratic (North Coast Railroad Authority) and regulatory (FRA) battle to run anything over the line at this point.

I think some of the equipment at Schellville is owned by Matt Monson, like the recently repainted Turlock Western SD9E seen here on TO a few weeks ago.

slangist Wrote:

> all i know is, they were trapped when a flood took
> out a huge chunk of northern california rail line
> in the 1990s.

The floods that shut down the NWP were further north on the Russian and Eel Rivers. While the yard at Schellville does occassionally rejoin the marsh in the winter months, it was accessible as late as 2000, when the short lived NWPY got the bit from Schellville to Petaluma (Pengrove) running again for a few months.

> have read elsewhere on here that the engines are still leased from UP...

The engines you see at Schellville are not leased from UP, and haven't belonged to UP or SP for some time. When the new NWP took over the historic NWP from California Northern in 1996, they started operations with a collection of black-widow painted SD9's and GP9's leased from Omnitrax. These were eventually returned (except for two wrecked GP9's at Willits), and were replaced by a group of ex-SP SD9's leased from Diesel Motive (Matt Monson). The hulk at Schellville is one of these. Monson also had an A-B set of ex-B&LE F units at Schellville for several years; don't know where they are now.

To get from Schellville to Lombard would require movement over the Wingo and Brazos drawbridges.

Does anyone know the status of these bridges?

Freddie Wrote:
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> To get from Schellville to Lombard would require
> movement over the Wingo and Brazos drawbridges.
>
> Does anyone know the status of these bridges?
>

Only movement over Brazos is required, Wingo is the other way.

Brazos Bridge was in good working order at last report. As reported in a post above, the Black Point and Petaluma bridges are damaged, but these are also the other way. I don't believe the Wingo bridge is an issue, don't think it was ever opened in modern times.

Regards,

Rob L.

Well I don't know exactly where the location is but it is NOT schellville as the last time I was there they had no kragen auto parts whithin sight of the railroad as the photo indicates. as has been mentioned, equipment is owned by Mr Monson and is stuck until red tape or new operator of rr can be found. I know he has more equip. scattered up and down the old nwp but can't get it to live rails.

spdesertdog Wrote:
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> Well I don't know exactly where the location is
> but it is NOT schellville

The 3804 is at Petaluma. The other equipment is at Schellville.