Nostalgia & History > Track lacework out of LAUPT...(1971)

UP's #104 City of LA leaves LA just before Amtrak takeover on May 1, 1971...Wasn't the tower on the right used by the RR at one time?

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And a handheld evening shot...

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That "tower" on the right is Terminal Tower and it controlled all the routing in Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal. It was owned by the LAUPT Co., a seperate company formed by the three participating railroads to operate the terminal. The tower was in use up to the take over by the Metrolink dispatching center and is still standing as much of the signal stuff, as well as the maintainers are still located in it. The next control point was Mission Tower, owned by the Santa Fe. Andy

Andy2472 Wrote:
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The next
> control point was Mission Tower, owned by the
> Santa Fe. Andy

Did Mission Tower control all lines that passed it, or only the North and South diverging Santa Fe lines?

The Union Pacific line diverged from the station approach tracks right at Mission Tower, and, just across the river, there was a junction of the Southern Pacific's Sunset/Golden State line and Coast/San Joaquin line.

Nice shot of the trackwork..... look at the surface on those switches. A lot of muscle
went into having those in that kind of shape..... thanks for the memories, buddy.

Mission Tower controlled everything on the tracks coming out of the station, and the SP, UP and Santa Fe mainlines on both sides of the river. The interlocking had been there (presumably with a simpler machine) long before LAUPT was built, to control the crossing of the Santa Fe over the SP lines that went from the east bank of the river ("East Bank Junction") over to the "Bull Ring", "The Links" and the line down Alameda street to the harbor. Since the SP was there first (this was part of their original main line into LA), the Santa Fe was responsible for buiilding, maintaining and manning the interlocking. The tower also served as a Santa Fe train order office.

As I recall, the GRS pistol-grip machjine at Misson (after LAUPT was built) originally had 238 levers and was originally a two-or-three man job. I spent an hour or two there in the 1960's when it was still all intact. By then it was a one-man job, and it was quite a show watching the operator keep up with as many as five different movements in progress at once. He pushed and pulled the levers the way a piano player plays the keys. At that time, the job was force-assigned becasue nobody wanted it -- it was hard work, with a lot of opportunities to screw up. Later, I spent a couple of tricks there with a friend who was an operator in the 1980's after some of the trackage had been removed. One of these days I'll have to dig out my pictures, scan them and post them.

D F W

You must have known Bob "Red Bird" Heuerman (2nd Trick Operator) at Mission, correct?

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

ATSF100WEST Wrote:
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> You must have known Bob "Red Bird" Heuerman (2nd
> Trick Operator) at Mission, correct?

Nope. I don't know who the 1st trick operator I visited briefly in the '60's was, but I do know G. J. (Jay) Ferris, who is now a BNSF dispatcher. He was called upon to work relief at Mission intermittently in the '80s, sometimes on 2nd trick, sometmes 3rd. When I get some time I'll dig out a few photos, and transcribe the operating instructions for the machine and a couple of 8-hour logs of train movements.

Jay Ferris learned train orders at the La Mesa Model Railroad Club as a teenager, then hired out on the Santa Fe as a train order operator. Now he issues track warrants and clears signals with a keyboard and a mouse. (And BTW, there is a Jay Ferris who sometimes posts here, and that's not him.)

I also knew Frank Eckler, who worked 2nd trick at Colton Tower for many years, and spent quite a few evenings with him there back in the late 1960's. A fine gentleman.

Do we know each other, Santa Fe 100?

David F Willoughby

Wildebeest Wrote:
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> David F Willoughby

Dave.... are the Dave from GEMCO ???

SLOCONDR

SLOCONDR Wrote:
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> Wildebeest Wrote:
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> > David F Willoughby
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> Dave.... are the Dave from GEMCO ???

Nope, not me. I'm in San Diego. I sorta know where Gemco is but I've never really been there.

D F W

SLOCONDR Wrote:
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> Wildebeest Wrote:
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> > David F Willoughby
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> Dave.... are the Dave from GEMCO ???
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> SLOCONDR
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I didn't think dave willoughby likes trains or knows anything about them.

Cranman24 Wrote:
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> SLOCONDR Wrote:
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> > Wildebeest Wrote:
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> > -----
> > >>
> > > David F Willoughby
> >
> > Dave.... are the Dave from GEMCO ???
> >
> > SLOCONDR
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> >
> >
>
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> I didn't think dave willoughby likes trains or
> knows anything about them.


LOLOLOLOL..... isn't that the truth... actually though, he turned out to be pretty nice to us Coast guys. After he got enough s**t from everyone that is....

SLO
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