Nostalgia & History > New Ozol Yard TO REPLACE PORT COSTA YARD--1962

Work is well on its way for the new Ozol yard that will replace Port Costa...The date is about 1962...Note the pipe line next to the water..It use to be next to the SP main line...In the distance is the ship Forester that has been stuck in the mud for years...There was a care-taker living on the ship, but he managed to set the ship on fire and destroyed it..

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Thanks, I had been wondering when Ozol was built.

The New Port Costa Yard, Ozol's official name, was built in 1958, at least according to the old heads who worked there. "Ozol" comes from the Ozolid Oil Co, according to Max Howard's son.

Wouldn't the highway bridge approach be
visible, if it existed then?

No.

SP finally shut down steam operations at Port Costa in the final days of Jan. 1957 and what SP did was to have I believe eight 2-8-0's stationed at Port Chicago and a couple of guys to keep the fires on all the engines hot...this lasted for about a week when a S-2 dragged the steam power back to Port Costa. Now the pipe lines weren't realigned until mid 1958 and load after of load fill had to be brought in to build the base of the yard and this went on into 1959 when track gangs began building the yard and it didn't go into operation unti late 1960 or so...Now the Ozol shanty had a SP style sign over the front door with the name OZOL and all converisons between crews and Ozol were to Ozol and not New Port costa.

Interesting info, thanks for sharing everyone.

Kent in CArmel Valley

It looks a lot different today. Thanks for the picture and all the history of the yard.

AL Bayer

The car bridge opened in 1962, so it's probably just off to the left of this photo.

Nathan

As I recall the car bridge opened during my senior year at Alhambra High School in Martinez which was 1963-1964. Of course, I could be mistaken. That was a few years ago. I kept a newspaper clipping of the opening ceremonies. Now, where did I put that?

>The car bridge opened in 1962, so it's probably just off to the left of this photo.

Yes, and the approaches are over the hill from those light colored storage tanks in the far right background (one or two of these tanks have been removed). Even today the highway bridge isn't visible from this vantage point if you crop the left-hand side of the view the same way.

For the Record: Ozol Yard was officially called New Port Costa Yard by the Espee when planned and built. Over time Ozol was adopted from the Ozol center siding that was there before the yard.

Posted from iPhone

Ozolian Wrote:
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> Over time Ozol was adopted from the Ozol
> center siding that was there before the yard.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Howdy

Did the East/West mainlines have a name? Doing some planning
for a model railroad.

Thanks in advance

Larry

Well, before CTC was installed (early 1990s) the main tracks were double track with a current of traffic and were referred as westbound main track and eastbound main track. The main track was also within Yard Limits from about San Pablo to Bahia on the Sacramento line and Port Chicago on the Mococo line. The lines are now CTC.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/15 23:32 by Ozolian.

>For the Record: Ozol Yard was officially called New Port Costa Yard by the Espee when planned and built. Over time Ozol was adopted from the Ozol center siding that was there before the yard.

And the MP for "Ozol" was the West end of the siding, right next to a place the switchmen called "the Lark" (the tank car spur on the land side of the main lines). The UP has moved the Ozol MP location to coincide with the yard office at the East End.

EtoinShrdlu Wrote:
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> >For the Record: Ozol Yard was officially called
> New Port Costa Yard by the Espee when planned and
> built. Over time Ozol was adopted from the Ozol
> center siding that was there before the yard.
>
> And the MP for "Ozol" was the West end of the
> siding, right next to a place the switchmen called
> "the Lark" (the tank car spur on the land side of
> the main lines). The UP has moved the Ozol MP
> location to coincide with the yard office at the
> East End.

Nice finishing touch! Precisely!

Posted from iPhone

Trainmaster Max Howard was an institution in and around the Martinez/Ozol area. Might have been the most loved
trainmaster on the SP system! Always very friendly and accomodating. Once while working just west of the Martinez
depot, one hot summer day, Max showed up with popsicles for the entire crew!

Barstool Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Work is well on its way for the new Ozol yard that
> will replace Port Costa...The date is about
> 1962...Note the pipe line next to the water..It
> use to be next to the SP main line...In the
> distance is the ship Forester that has been stuck
> in the mud for years...There was a care-taker
> living on the ship, but he managed to set the ship
> on fire and destroyed it..

The lumber schooner Forester burned down to about 2 feet above the waterline and what is left is still there, stuck in the mud. As a kid in the 50s- early 60s, I remember the derilict Forester only had 3 of it's 4 masts left and we referred to the hulk as "The Old Pirate Ship".

Don
Honolulu



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/16 00:09 by 2472Don.

2472Don Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Barstool Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Work is well on its way for the new Ozol yard
> that
> > will replace Port Costa...The date is about
> > 1962...Note the pipe line next to the water..It
> > use to be next to the SP main line...In the
> > distance is the ship Forester that has been
> stuck
> > in the mud for years...There was a care-taker
> > living on the ship, but he managed to set the
> ship
> > on fire and destroyed it..
>
> The lumber schooner Forester burned down to about
> 2 feet above the waterline and what is left is
> still there, stuck in the mud. As a kid in the
> 50s- early 60s, I remember the derilict Forester
> only had 3 of it's 4 masts left and we referred to
> as "The Old Pirate Ship".
>
> Don
> Honolulu


The two "missing" masts ended up becoming nautical-themed decor inside The Tonga Room in San Francisco. They were still there when I last visited about three years ago.
Desmond Praetzel, "4451 Puff"