Nostalgia & History > Ozol, California (Cal-P, SP, UP)

Anyone out there know the history/derivation of the name Ozol? (It's a small yard rr west of Martinez, CA, on the "double track" going into the Bay Area.  Very little under Google search.  "Ozols" is a Latvian word (surname) meaning oak tree; there are a handful of persons on the globe with "Ozol" for a name.  I'll appreciate any direction on this subject, and thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Linton 
grafvonb49

Well, given how much railroaders used to imbibe, one might guess that Ozol is a bastardization of "ouzo" (the Geek liquor), but no, I don't think that's it.

EO

According to Max Howard's son, "Ozol" is short for "Ozolid Oil Company".

OZOL

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Technically the Ozol yard office, which was cut in half and moved from Port Costa to its present location on two flat cars. Ozol itself was at the W/E of the siding, but that was then.

Joe Silva and Fred Kitzmiller were Day and Swing YM at Ozol, and when they switched at Port Costa, and discovered that the commissary building was going to be relocated to the new yard, they threw lighted fusees into the gons carrying the two portions of the building. To no avail! [Joe told me this story.]

Joe [49 years] and Fred [39 years] retired on the same day, very shortly after TCS was installed. They both said that life was too short to learn another computer system!

When he told me about the building move, he didn't mention the fusees.

Did Joe tell you the story?

Yes, back in the 1970s. He also mentioned that when they were in good condition, you could ride your bicycle on the boards covering the pipelines which ran alongside the main track between Ozol and Nevada Dock.