Nostalgia & History > Pasadena - 1973 vs 2014

Here's another one of those "before & later" shots. Not after, there are still rr tracks present so it is "later". The image on the left is of a four-hour late Amtrak #3 on Dec. 20, 1973. Then it was Amtrak's "Super Chief", now the Southwest Chief, but runs late a lot more often and via Fullerton as we all know. The image on the right is shot from almost the same spot, give or take a few yards, today July 24th. The trains are very different as is the scenery adjacent to the tracks. Time marches on! Thanks for looking in.

KC

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I guess all you can say is that there's still rail there.-BMT

Photobob's infamous quote applies quite well here. Neat comparison, though.

Agree with Oilcan but neat shots Kevin. Especially the vintage view!

I should have asked this in my initial reply but were trains using the 210 freeway alignment yet by the time of the first photo? Do any of you guys have any shots of Amtrak-painted trains using the old alignment, especially along Walnut St? Would be most interested as I've never seen any. Thanks!

oilcan Wrote:
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> Photobob's infamous quote applies quite well here.
> Neat comparison, though.


I am not in on this quote, could you please provide it???

kpcmcpkva Wrote:
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>
> I am not in on this quote, could you please
> provide it???

Guessing it's the "it's all crap now" saying?

Love the photo's of the SDP40F's!

Cheers, Jim

Good post, Kevin. I always like any "then-and-now" shots of the local area.
GK

oilcan Wrote:
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> I should have asked this in my initial reply but
> were trains using the 210 freeway alignment yet by
> the time of the first photo? Do any of you guys
> have any shots of Amtrak-painted trains using the
> old alignment, especially along Walnut St? Would
> be most interested as I've never seen any. Thanks!

Oilcan, To be honest I am not 100% sure. I would say that it was, although the frwy was not completed in the downtown area of Pasadena until about 1976. I believe the realignment was being worked on as early as 1970 or 1971. I do not have any photos of trains on the original line through town on the east side but do remember seeing a few out that way.

KC

Nice pictures, Kevin. That's a tight squeeze for the Gold Line shot.

Rich

So the acronym "ETTS" now means "everything turns to streetcars?"

According to Signor's Los Angeles Division book the freeway cutover was done in two stages, the last one was the tunnel to the 210 freeway in August 1975, even though the freeway didn't open until February 1976.

One difference: in 2014 there are many more riders every day. It is still a public utility, just a different market and technology. Glad we have it, unlike so many abandoned lines that are now built over by "development".

TheNavigator Wrote:
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> I always like any "then-and-now" shots of the local area.

I will second that. Very nice shots, Kevin. Thanks for sharing.

~Ryan

oilcan Wrote:
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> I should have asked this in my initial reply but
> were trains using the 210 freeway alignment yet by
> the time of the first photo? Do any of you guys
> have any shots of Amtrak-painted trains using the
> old alignment, especially along Walnut St? Would
> be most interested as I've never seen any. Thanks!

In 1971-71 I was working for a defense electronics manufacturer located on Santa Anita Ave. in Pasadena (now Altadena Ave.)just immediately north of the original AT&SF Main. I could see trains go by from my office window. I left there in Oct. of '72 and that was still the Main Line.

I started working in Pasadena on Sierra Madre Villa a few blocks north of the freeway in late 1972. At that point the freeway stopped at the racetrack, coming from the east, but was open from Pomona to that point. Later in 1973 or so they had the freeway open to Sierra Madre, and a year or two later was open the rest of the way through Pasadena. So while it may still have used the original alignment near the station in 1972, it was using the freeway alignment on the east end in the Monrovia area by then. Back in those days I was only mildly interested in trains, so I didn't pay any attention to the progress of building the freeway and how the mainline moved around.