Nostalgia & History > SP/PE Baldwin Park Branch

Rolling westbound through Alta Loma with lumber cars with the San Gabriels as backdrop.Alta Loma had until the 80's several customers.All gone now in favor of a bike path.The Baldwin Park Branch was my favorite.It still had the interurban PE flavor with towns separated by open space powered by SP engines and short trains.Service ended in 1992.Bill Webb

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Loved SP branch lines, my favorite, grew up in Walnut Creek with the San Ramon Branch, it ended in 1977, never had big power like what you had, switchers Alco S-2's4'sand6's, SW-1500's ran until the end of the branch, we would get an occasional GP-9 but not often, the best one was Black Widow 3501 with a plugged M-3 horn on the local for 1 day, that was exciting! Miss the old SP branch lines and the SP it self!!

Bill great shot. Thanks for sharing. I truly wish I paid more attention to this line back in the day.

sphauler

I saw/photoed SW-1500,GP-9,GP-35,GP-38,GP-40,SD-7 and SD-9 and some that I can not remember.Oh yeah ,just remembered U-28B.Bill Webb

It has the look of a SP branch. I love it!

Alta Loma in 1972

I loved that wig wag at Archibald, I think I spelled that right


The last train I saw on that line was the all Cities crossing Eastern Ave in Rancho Cucamonga

Nice shot


Jay

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Great pictures all. I didn't get to see many trains on the branch and appreciate the photos.

Rich

Another awesome one.
JB

Jay,

Thanks for sharing those two great shots. However, I believe the crossing just to the right of the power is Amethyst Ave., not Archibald Ave. Archibald would have been around that curve in the distance. The PE depot in Alta Loma was between Amethyst and Baseline to the south. Baseline Rd is about where spider's shot is taken from, also a great look back. Those white silos to the left of the tracks belonged to a plastics outfit IIRC and was one of the few remaining customers on the line between Etiwanda and Claremont.

KC

Great shots Bill and Jay.

I live about 1/2 west of those two locations and have wondered what the area looked like when trains still ran. Thanks for sharing.

daylight

Here is Alta Loma in June of 1974 looking East

And a photo of the Etiwanda Station East of Alta Loma

And the SSW 7269 passing the Station of Rialto in Dec 1991

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At least the Rialto station has new life as a restaurant. I remember seeing the Alta Loma station when going to visit Stan Garner (px320) when he and Bill Oden had their Rogue River Valley #1 0-4-0T Porter wood burner running on a stretch of former Santa Fe track next to a citrus grove. Stan told me about the time they had ol' No. 1 fired up and heard the SP job going by about a mile away. They had a large main-line sized whistle on the "steam-critter", and exchanged signals between the steam whistle and the air horns.

lamta_jay Wrote:
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> Alta Loma in 1972
>
>
>
>
> The last train I saw on that line was the all
> Cities crossing Eastern Ave in Rancho Cucamonga
>
> Nice shot
>
>
> Jay

That would be East avenue which is one block east of the Etiwanda depot. It had the last wig-wag on the branch when I moved to Rancho in 1993 even though the branch was abandoned by then.-BMT

Sigh, the view there at Baseline is a little different.

When did the station get torn down? I remember it being there forever, then one day I went looking for it and there was just dirt there. It was very confusing, since I hadn't noticed any destruction going on.

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I do remember a company called ACC or American Can Company being a PE/SP customer just past the street in my two photo's from 1972. They made STEEL cans for the canning companies in Southern California and Arizona. It all went to trucks in 1980 something.

I have not been back since 1990.


Jay

Lived off of Ramona and 19th from 1987-97. Ramona was two crossings east of the depot and also had wig-wags then (many of the crossings still did). The depot was gone and the track was single straight rail when I lived there. Any photos looking west of the depot? I see some spurs heading off the main....

Don

lamta_jay Wrote:
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> I do remember a company called ACC or American Can
> Company being a PE/SP customer just past the
> street in my two photo's from 1972. They made
> STEEL cans for the canning companies in Southern
> California and Arizona. It all went to trucks in
> 1980 something.
>
> I have not been back since 1990.
>
>
> Jay

Jay, you are probably correct for the time period you mention. I do know that towards the end, the company in question, was receiving carloads of plastic pellets. Perhaps they switched to making plastic containers prior to their demise. Regardless, it was another on-line customer loss that did not help to maintain the existence of the line.

KC

Trying to think back, they were most certainly making plastic objects in the late 1960s. I think this was in a new factory building south of the tracks and east of Amethyst. This doesn't mean that they might not have been making tin cans also in the older factory. I don't recall being aware of tin can production in that area at that time, but I have to admit to paying very little attention to them. The only really interesting thing about them was their large inflatable warehouse.