Nostalgia & History > The "Owl" passing MP357

In early dawn light the "Owl" is passing MP357 on its way to Los Angeles from Oakland in the early 1960's.

Robert Morris Photography 
http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index1.html

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Looks like a nice and even profitable train. But I cannot tell what the poor passengers are doing for food and drink. Is there only a news butcher on board to sustain them?

I can't figure where this is, with regards to Tehachapi.  I see a truck on a road above, but I don't recognize the spot.  Perhaps very early Highway 58, or what used to be US 466?

Thats between Cable X-Over and Cable looking West, Cable would be right down there to the left out of picture.

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If this was the early 60's, the Owl had one of the early automats.  The first automats were made from the tavern lounge cars from the Shasta Daylights where the half circle bar was left in the car with the vending machines lined up along the wall.  I had ham and eggs aboard a diner on the owl (train 58) in December 1961 but soon after the automat showed up.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

Second car from the end looks to be SP 10600, the very first Automat. It was converted as an experiment from a 77-foot Tavern with half-circle bar, built for the Coast Daylight. Booths at one end of the car were removed and vending machines put in their place. The intent was to see how it worked out, and if it didn't, the conversion would be reversible.

The windows were painted or frosted behind the machines, but in a few weeks, stainless patch panels were applied. You can just make these out in Bob's shot.

The next car converted, SP 10601, also held down "Owl" assignment, but was made from a slightly newer 79-foot Tavern, and the bar was removed, leaving all booths intact with vending machines in the middle. (The car had a noticeable sag.)

The idea was a success in SP's books. Subsequent cars were made from surplus sleeping cars of the same type -- or maybe even the very car -- trailing SP 10600 this day, and were more dedicated to the concept. The two early vending cars outlived the "Owl" and its 1965 discontinuance, but were retired not very long after.

~ BZ



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/15 01:17 by Notch16.

Bringing up the markers is SP's last assignment for a Pullman with sections. The 6-6-4 in consist was part of the last 2 cars SP was to operate. During the last few years, SP leased a Union Pacific 6-6-4 as protection when the other car was in shop. 

Westbound Wrote:
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> Looks like a nice and even profitable train. But I
> cannot tell what the poor passengers are doing for
> food and drink. Is there only a news butcher on
> board to sustain them?

Always a marginal train for profitability, which rapidly became a money pit for SP in the 1960's. Even with mail and express contracts. April 1965 saw the remaining west coast mail trains discontinued with the express and mail traffic from those trains diverted to the remaining passenger trains on those routes, freight trains, and  trucks.

April 1965 discontinuances: Oakland-Portland Mail, Oakland-Los Angeles Coast Mail, and of course The Owl. SP must have figured it scored big time with regulators with this triple crown of discontinuances.

Great shot, Bob.

~Ryan

Any way to tell from the pic whether the siding
had been extended to Tehachapi? Or, for that
matter, to the 7th crossing?

coach wrote:

> I can't figure where this is, with regards to Tehachapi.  I see a truck on a road above, but I don't recognize the spot.  Perhaps very early
Highway 58, or what used to be US 466?

If the photo is pre-1964, the road seen above the tracks is U.S. 466.  In 1964, U.S. 466 was redesignated State Route 58 (when the photo was taken, 466/58 was just two lanes between Keene and Tehachapi).

jkchubbes wrote:

>Thats between Cable X-Over and Cable looking West, Cable would be right down to the left out of the picture.


No, the photo was taken AT Cable, when it probably was still a regular siding (by the way, the section camp that formerly was at Cable was located where the light-colored trees are in the far background).

Timz wrote:

>Any way to tell from the pic whether the siding had been extended from Tehachapi.

Photobob has another photo of the Owl taken from the highway overpass west of Tehachapi, probably shot on the same day.  In the photo from the overpass, the Tehachapi sidings still can be seen so I would venture to say Cable was also in its original configuration.

John Sweetser



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/15 14:50 by johnsweetser.

The road is Woodford-Tehachapi Road, formerly 466, a death-trap if there ever was one - nice drive these days. And the train looked a lot better with a cab-forward on the point and a string of heavyweights (includng a diner and lounge) behind it...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

From an Easterner: Was this train called the "Owl" because it ran at night or very early in the morning?

Overnight between Oakland and LA.




wabash2800 Wrote:
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> From an Easterner: Was this train called the "Owl"
> because it ran at night or very early in the
> morning?

Thanks.

MojaveBill wrote:

> The road is Woodford-Tehachapi Road, formerly 466 ...

No, not Woodford-Tehachapi Road.  Woodford-Tehachapi Road does not closely parallel the tracks in the Cable area; Woodford-Tehachapi Road is the one south of the Tehachapi Loop.  East of Marcel, it goes well away from the railroad tracks.

It is true that Woodford-Tehachapi Road was formerly 466 but in 1948, a totally new route for 466 was built between Keene and Tehachapi (Keene and Woodford are the same place to those unfamiliar with the area), which is the alignment that now parallels the railroad in the Cable area and the one seen in the posted photo.  The former alignment of 466 between Keene and Tehachapi then became a county road, Woodford-Tehachapi Road.

In looking at the photobob photo of the Owl taken from the highway overpass west of Tehachapi that I previously mentioned, it's pretty likely it was taken on the same day as the one posted here.  All the cars in the train match.

I previously referred to "the Tehachapi sidings."  Prior to Tehachapi and Cable being connected by double track (ok, two main line tracks), Tehachapi had two 90-car sidings with double track officially starting not too far east of the depot.  The two sidings can be seen in photobob photo of the Owl I have along with the single track that was under the overpass.  The two-track connection between Cable and Tehachapi was done around 1964.

John Sweetser



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/15 13:29 by johnsweetser.

ATSF3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Westbound Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Looks like a nice and even profitable train. But
> I
> > cannot tell what the poor passengers are doing
> for
> > food and drink. Is there only a news butcher on
> > board to sustain them?
>
> Always a marginal train for profitability, which
> rapidly became a money pit for SP in the
> 1960's. Even with mail and express contracts.
> April 1965 saw the remaining west coast mail
> trains discontinued with the express and
> mail traffic from those trains diverted to the
> remaining passenger trains on those routes,
> freight trains, and  trucks.
>
> April 1965 discontinuances: Oakland-Portland Mail,
> Oakland-Los Angeles Coast Mail, and of course The
> Owl. SP must have figured it scored big time with
> regulators with this triple crown of
> discontinuances

As always you know all things passenger.  Interesting that Santa Fe waited until Oct. 1967 and the complete loss of the mail contracts to pull the plug on most of their passenger trains.  Ernest Marsh and John Reed were probably boobs and didn't know what they where doing?