Nostalgia & History > Dumbarton Branch Photos

This is looking down south leg of wye toward the Caltrain main in 1. Then toward the switch with the north leg in 2. 3. looks back down the south leg showing the Redwood Junction business park sign, which property is located inside the Redwood Junction wye.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/15 13:21 by atsf19455.

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4. looks at the fencing around the north leg of the wye trackage. And 5. zooms in on some ballast cars. In 6. we see the junction of the wye legs and the dumbarton branch I guess it's called the redwood city industrial lead now?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/15 13:21 by atsf19455.

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In 10. is a spur ending at 5th ave. while in 11. the view is east down the branch toward the bridge. 12. looks back toward 2nd Ave. 

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Thanks for recording this. I've been meaning to do it for years now.

Chris

Back when these tracks were in active use and the Dunbarton Bridge was in service I never had occasion to check or view any of this. Cannot recall seeing any pictures of this line before. Glad to see you have recorded these pictures before it is gone.

Due to Facebook's expansion in the area, there's still a chance that commuter rail might return to that segment.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2015/03/20/dumbarton-rail-prospects-boosted-by-facebook-housing-proposal/

Although I agree that Dunbarton is easier to pronounce, it is spelled Dumbarton.

 I rode behind the #4460 over that line and (Dumbarton) bridge.  It was via Niles canyon to Fresno and return.  Had to drive up to Burlingame to get on that trip, most steam excursions stopped only  at Burlingame and Palo Alto.  Got on in Palo Alto for Watsonville and Santa Cruz trips.

Ed



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/15 12:39 by Auburn_Ed.

thanks.

Went over in 69 with a lite F unit from Bayshore to Oakland for the passenger train that night to Portland, OR. It was all ABS then. We were bouncing along when the hogger, Eddie Lynch, called out, "Clear Board" . Okay, we were on the bridge and I didn't see squat. I asked where? He pointed to the order board up in the superstructure of the bridge as we went under it. I guess they had 1st, 2nd and 3rd tricks of telegrapher's/ Bridge Tender.

Talk about a lonely job, ugh.



Nudge.

Assume your pix are recent. I went by Junction today and saw a  hi-rail on the south leg, but cuddn't stop to see  who's or where they were headed or further inquire.

Steve Donaldson
Pacific Grove, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/15 19:11 by SteveD.

Lots of photos I snapped some years ago of the Dumbarton span itself.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,778216,778216#msg-778216

Several times I rode across the Dumbarton Bridge on the TBX in the wee hours of the morning. Man it was cold!!

Always had fun bringing loaded ballast trains to store on the end of the multiple main. This is when Caltrain was running the GP9's and MP15's in regular service, I worked the job regular as a/c and conductor and off the board as engineer.  Typically we ran light engine from SF to Santa Clara (UP Newhall Yard) and picked up a loaded train of usually 75-80 cars.  We would then venture North, than enter the yard at the South end, negotiating the South leg of the wye, cross over at Middlefield Rd. and run down the adjacent track or run to the end of the track over the freeway and shove the train onto the other main track.  Wish I had video taped our runs, the neighbors who would fuss about the noise weren't too happy with us, but such is life.  It was a short run, just a few miles with our trains, but one could imagine what it must have been like when the bridge was open to run a train over the Dumbarton Cutoff.