Nostalgia & History > Necrophoaming the SN

If you've been following my Freedom Train series on the RRers Nostalgia page you've maybe figured out that project will be ending in two months (when the AFT reaches Miami). So what to do next?

Well in the late 80's I basically walked the Sacramento Northern RoW from about Montclair to Sacramento. I took about a million B&W photos. I was hoping to coax Vernon Sappers into sharing his work and collaborate on a sort of Before and After photo book.. well Vernon had never heard of me and didn't quite trust my motives (or something... who knows) Ted Worm wasn't too thrilled either (and had pretty much turned his back on the whole SN business by then). I think a lot of his work had gone to the Rio Vista group by then, but it was all in boxes un-cataloguedlet and they weren't about to let an outsider see it until they had- and, well, it wasn't like they were in any hurry. I got Harre Demoro's blessing, but tragically Harre passed away, then the Loma Prieta Quake upset Vernon's life, and the project died.

So I'm considering posting (many) of them here in a series West to East if there's an interest. Here is a sampler:

Photo 1. MP 39.03 Port Chicago. That's an Amtrak San Joaquin in the background, having just come off the SP and onto the ATSF.

Photo 2. MP 45.59 Mallard. This is what remains of the ferry slip where the Good Ship RAMON picked up EB trains for the short ride to Chipps Island.

Photo 3. MP 47.75 Van Sickle Island. Most of the interior of the island was crossed by a low causeway. Van Sickle is kind of the King Tut's Tomb of the SN- lots to see here. I'm guessing this part of the causeway burned before the scrappers could get to it, so there's still some rail on this section. If that's a passing siding on the right, I could never find it on timetables. Maybe it was just a pocket for MoW?

Anyway.. are there any fellow necrophoamers out there?

SR Bush
Dutch Flat

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Neat! Somewhere I have a bunch of photos of the SN from Pittsburg through the Junction to McAvoy and then some down at Clyde. All taken about 1995.

More please!

Z

Necrophoamers...necrophoamiacs...necrophoamism
I'm liking it.

Answer: Yes - SP's New Almaden Branches (past tense, because the ROWs are now mostly bulldozed and planted with houses, or paved with cars)

-E.O.
Wx4 - The Dome O' Necrophoam

Thanks for posting !
Tom

Sweet, just got myself a new title.

Yes post the SN!! Grew up in Walnut Creek when the tracks were still in service 1962, local tied up at the old depot at Trinity Ave, 44 toner and caboose. Tracks ended at Mt Diablo Blvd at that time. Saw a couple of trains in the early 60's. Slowly but surely she got dismantled!!

AKA Paleoferroequinology.
- E.B.

Sounds like a very interesting series. The SN was a railroad that tended to be "out there" but not close enough to be properly seen and enjoyed.

AlcoRSD15 Wrote:
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> AKA Paleoferroequinology.
> - E.B.

Yes, of course, but Necrophoaming sounds a bit more Halloweenie...
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:

> I think a lot of his work
> had gone to the Rio Vista group by then, but it
> was all in boxes un-cataloguedlet and they
> weren't about to let an outsider see it until they
> had- and, well, it wasn't like they were in any
> hurry.

It's probably small consolation at this point, but my experience over the past year has been that the Western Railway Museum Archives are now very receptive to folks who are willing to come in and volunteer their time to review, catalog, and scan material. Stu Swiedler in particular has been plumbing the depths of the WRM collection (and other collections) for some time looking for SN right-of-way photos, particularly the south end. Some of the results are on his East Bay Hills Project website:

http://eastbayhillsproject.org/

I'm sure he'd be interested in what you documented in the 80's.

Thanks. At some point I'll probably contact him. I did volunteer to work on it for them. The impression I got back then was that they had no idea what they had, didn't know me, and after learning what I wanted were afraid that if I stole something they'd never know.
I kept running into "Catch 22" things like this over and over. I eventually gave up.
SR

Can never have too much SN; so go ahead and share some more.

BoilingMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you've been following my Freedom Train series
> on the RRers Nostalgia page you've maybe figured
> out that project will be ending in two months
> (when the AFT reaches Miami). So what to do next?
>
>
> Well in the late 80's I basically walked the
> Sacramento Northern RoW from about Montclair to
> Sacramento. I took about a million B&W photos. I
> was hoping to coax Vernon Sappers into sharing his
> work and collaborate on a sort of Before and After
> photo book.. well Vernon had never heard of me
> and didn't quite trust my motives (or something...
> who knows) Ted Worm wasn't too thrilled either
> (and had pretty much turned his back on the whole
> SN business by then). I think a lot of his work
> had gone to the Rio Vista group by then, but it
> was all in boxes un-cataloguedlet and they
> weren't about to let an outsider see it until they
> had- and, well, it wasn't like they were in any
> hurry. I got Harre Demoro's blessing, but
> tragically Harre passed away, then the Loma Prieta
> Quake upset Vernon's life, and the project died.
>
>
> So I'm considering posting (many) of them here in
> a series West to East if there's an interest. Here
> is a sampler:
>
> Photo 1. MP 39.03 Port Chicago. That's an Amtrak
> San Joaquin in the background, having just come
> off the SP and onto the ATSF.
>
> Photo 2. MP 45.59 Mallard. This is what remains
> of the ferry slip where the Good Ship RAMON picked
> up EB trains for the short ride to Chipps Island.
>
> Photo 3. MP 47.75 Van Sickle Island. Most of
> the interior of the island was crossed by a low
> causeway. Van Sickle is kind of the King Tut's
> Tomb of the SN- lots to see here. I'm guessing
> this part of the causeway burned before the
> scrappers could get to it, so there's still some
> rail on this section. If that's a passing siding
> on the right, I could never find it on timetables.
> Maybe it was just a pocket for MoW?
>
> Anyway.. are there any fellow necrophoamers out
> there?
>
> SR Bush
> Dutch Flat


Holy crap. We might have passed each other back then, at least on the Oakland - Orinda part of the line. Some friends/railnuts and I started at the right of way near highway 24 (still there, BTW), followed thru to the abutments near Monclair (also still there). We walked from the bridge abutment through Monclair (did you find the remains of the station?), up to the blown-shut tunnel mouth. My buddies and I then drove to near Canyon, and found the east end of the tunnel. We followed the RoW to near Orinda/Moraga, where even then, the row was being lost to new homes. Ran into a bit more than a few people, that fine summer day. Maybe you were one... If I can find them, I'll add my photos, too, if that's okay with you.

Not that it matters, but I knew Harre, too. Met him through some other reporters.

Walter
Sanfranciscotrains.org

Anyway.. are there any fellow necrophoamers out there?

I'm sure you have an army of people on TO who would love to sit back and watch your show get posted here! Please bring it on. I find it very interesting to see what escaped salvage and what things look like later in time. Hopefully people can provide current updates along the way as well.

Thanks in advance!

Industrial archeology.

Whoa! Excellent response- OK. I've launched it-
SR

What ever you call it, I'm sure it was a great walk. Here are a couple earlier ones of Mallard and Van Sickle Island from my late father's collection.

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Cool.
I don't think the 2nd one is on Van Sickle, the bridge work didn't include any steel like that and it was dead straight. Given the powerline in the background, I'm going to guess that it was taken on the S curve near Riverview south (RR west) of West Sacramento.
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/14 14:19 by BoilingMan.

Fascinating series. I really enjoy railroad archeology, and you've seen parts of the SN I've always wanted to see! Thanks for sharing!

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Riverview is (was) a fill, was it a trestle at some point?

Out