Nostalgia & History > Tower Question - SP West Valley Line

37 years ago (June, 1970) I photographed the attached "tower" just south of Maxwell, CA. Although it was beyond a fence in a field I have always assumed this was an SP tower based on the choice of colors. However, I have never had a clue what this "tower" would have been for. Now that I am scanning old slides and have such a knowledgeable group here I am hopeful somebody out there will know what it is.

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Update: Photo(s) deleted because there are thieves on Trainorders who download and then use other peoples' photos in books, or simply print and sell the prints, for their own enrichment!!! I don't mind downloading them for your personal enjoyment but I draw the line at selling them or publishing them and claiming they are yours. Sorry I have to do this but the actions of a few screw it up for all.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/20 12:36 by Railbaron.

Where exactly "south of Maxwell" is the tower? I've driven by there many times (my daughter lives in Colusa) but I've never seen it. There is no mention of a tower in any of my SP ETTS, but since it is south of Maxwell, my guess (and it is a guess) is that it protected the crossing of the SP by the narrow gauge Colusa & Lake RR. However, since the C&L folded around 1917, it seems unlikely the tower would still be around, if indeed there was one. There is an individual at the outskirts of Maxwell who owns quite a few ex-SP cabooses and other rolling stock on his ranch. I wonder if this tower is on his property. - Tony J.

It was just south of Maxwell and disappeared about 2 years after I shot this if my memory serves me even close to correctly. I also thought it was an interlocking tower at one point but the upper area of the tower doesn't appear to have had windows, at least not like most SP towers I am familiar with.

Looks like a pump house for a farming operation, they were quite common in the valley. The SP did have a well and pump house at Dunnigan that was similar.

Doesn't look like mainline there, is that a spur? It would be interesting to find that spot now, I'll see if I can find that spot someday. I wonder if anything stands out on terraserver or google maps. There are still some interesting scars in the ground from railroad features long gone. Tres Vias (correct spelling?), the Jct on the SN where the Chico and Oroville lines diverged is still clearly visable from the sky. From the railroad itself it is also interesting to note all of the places in the Valley where the railroad right of way widens for varying distances where old yards used to be.

sphogger

sphogger Wrote:
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> Doesn't look like mainline there, is that a spur?

I'm standing on the West Valley Main looking southeast.

As "Supt" suggested perhaps it was an old SP pump house as that would fit (I know SP had their own water systems around the system). I had forgotten about this shot until I scanned it today.

Would there have been a water tank or foundations nearby?

Railbaron Wrote:
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>
> As "Supt" suggested perhaps it was an old SP pump
> house as that would fit (I know SP had their own
> water systems around the system). I had forgotten
> about this shot until I scanned it today.

danf Wrote:
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> Would there have been a water tank or foundations
> nearby?

Not that I can remember.

supt Wrote:
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> Looks like a pump house for a farming operation,
> they were quite common in the valley. The SP did
> have a well and pump house at Dunnigan that was
> similar.


Do you by chance have a photo of the pump house that was at Dunnigan that you could compare to this photo? Quite frankly I am starting to wonder if my notes are right and maybe this ISN'T south of Maxwell but instead is at Dunnigan. Back when I shot this I was still a teenager and note taking wasn't my highest priority.

Looks like the pump house for the well at Harrington.

JLY Wrote:
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> Looks like the pump house for the well at
> Harrington.


By gosh I think we have a winner (and it wasn't even a contest). Looking at a map and tweaking my tired brain cells this would be about right. I talked to the person who was with me last night and he also remembered the tower but not exactly where it was. However, Highway 99 and Interstate 5 (not yet built when this shot was taken) would be in the right place while closer to Maxwell it wouldn't have been. Man, I knew there would be people on here smarter than I.

So might that have been the Colusa Branch in the foreground on it's way towards Grimes?

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=11&Z=10&X=1463&Y=10780&W=1&qs=%7charrington%7cca%7c

The DeLorme map I have shows some sort of well or reservoir near where the Colusa Branch switch would have been.



Tony - this is the old Colusa and Lake RofW crossing the SP below the silos.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=12&Z=10&X=712&Y=5426&W=1&qs=%7cmaxwell%7cca%7c

sphogger

sphogger Wrote:
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> So might that have been the Colusa Branch in the
> foreground on it's way towards Grimes?

No, I am 100% positive I am standing on the mainline to shoot this shot; that much I remember. The track in the foreground is a siding or spur or something.

Railbaron Wrote:
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> sphogger Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So might that have been the Colusa Branch in
> the
> > foreground on it's way towards Grimes?
>
> No, I am 100% positive I am standing on the
> mainline to shoot this shot; that much I remember.
> The track in the foreground is a siding or spur or
> something.


Then it wouldn't be the Colusa Branch as it left the West Valley Main further south at Harrington. - Tony J.

sphogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So might that have been the Colusa Branch in the
> foreground on it's way towards Grimes?
>
> http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=
> 11&Z=10&X=1463&Y=10780&W=1&qs=%7charrington%7cca%7
> c
>
> The DeLorme map I have shows some sort of well or
> reservoir near where the Colusa Branch switch
> would have been.
>
> Thanks sphogger. I've been there on the ground to take photos, but never thought of Google Earth or others. - Tony J.
>
> Tony - this is the old Colusa and Lake RofW
> crossing the SP below the silos.
>
> http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=
> 12&Z=10&X=712&Y=5426&W=1&qs=%7cmaxwell%7cca%7c
>
> sphogger

Re-discovered a bunch of cars last year at the corner of somebodies ranch west of I-5. Methinks it was directly west of Maxwell, wasn't my day for taking notes. Had and still have no idea what they were doing out there, ran across a number of early California artifacts that were still in place that day, one of those surprising backroads.

TonyJ Wrote:
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... There is an individual at
> the outskirts of Maxwell who owns quite a few
> ex-SP cabooses and other rolling stock on his
> ranch. I wonder if this tower is on his property.
> - Tony J.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Re-discovered a bunch of cars last year at the
> corner of somebodies ranch west of I-5. Methinks
> it was directly west of Maxwell, wasn't my day for
> taking notes. Had and still have no idea what they
> were doing out there, ran across a number of early
> California artifacts that were still in place that
> day, one of those surprising backroads.
>
Directly west of Maxwell. That is the ranch I was talking about. - Tony J.