Railroaders' Nostalgia > Dynamite Spur (Espee)

O.K. you old heads! Tell me where is dynamite spur was located. Hint: it was on a downgrade in the greater L.A. area.
Anybody remember the Outfit Cars at Ravenna? A whole little city of them. And those auto junk yards on the "ocean side".
Didn't one of them have just one make of car?

Denny Rolls showed me where it was while working the Saugus. It was on the west side (railroad south) of the tracks along Newhall siding. If you know just when to look, you can still see a clearing in the trees where it was. Now I have a question, what was the name of the dynamite company? Anybody know?

In Oregon on the Toledo branch RR east of Corvallis.

wp1801 Wrote:
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> In Oregon on the Toledo branch RR east of
> Corvallis.

Yup.

wp1801 Wrote:
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> In Oregon on the Toledo branch RR east of
> Corvallis.

Approximately where was it on the Toledo Branch? I didn't come up here until 1988 and never heard of it when I worked that job. Don Birran (spelling ???) told me a lot about the branch, including the daylighted tunnel and trestles that had been filled in, when I fired for him.

Railbaron Wrote:
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> wp1801 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In Oregon on the Toledo branch RR east of
> > Corvallis.
>
> Approximately where was it on the Toledo Branch? I
> didn't come up here until 1988 and never heard of
> it when I worked that job. Don Birran (spelling
> ???) told me a lot about the branch, including the
> daylighted tunnel and trestles that had been
> filled in, when I fired for him.

RR east of Flynn, just past Mary's River Lumber -- and the old station called Noon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/16 21:51 by WestinAshahr.

WestinAshahr Wrote:
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> RR east of Flynn, just past Mary's River Lumber --
> and the old station called Noon.

Not familiar with Noom either. I take it was between Philomath and Wren then. Was it where that mill is on top of the hill right above Philomath (can't remember the name of that mill or spur).

​Update - A-ha, I found it - it is where that mill is just "east" of Philomath.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/16 22:26 by Railbaron.

crackerjackhoghead Wrote:
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> Denny Rolls ... Now I have a
> question, what was the name of the dynamite
> company? Anybody know?
I wonder if that was Bermite. It seems to me that Bermite was close to the race track, mebbe their siding was down the hill a bit.
My father pointed out that Bermite's buildings were very widely spaced.
Noodling around the web, I found this -
http://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/gt9100.htm
...Lorenzo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/16 23:11 by 567Chant.

567Chant Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> crackerjackhoghead Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Denny Rolls ... Now I have a
> > question, what was the name of the dynamite
> > company? Anybody know?
> I wonder if that was Bermite. It seems to me that
> Bermite was close to the race track, mebbe their
> siding was down the hill a bit.
> My father pointed out that Bermite's buildings
> were very widely spaced.
> Noodling around the web, I found this -
>
> ...Lorenzo

No. This place was across the valley, right up against the Newhall tunnel (#25) and may have been gone before Bermite existed.

In timetable 175 of June 1939, there are two stations between Newhall and the Tunnel siding, Elayon (mp453.7) and Waltz Junction. (mp454.4). What were they and junction with what? Was that the dynamite company?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/16 23:23 by crackerjackhoghead.

I'll have to check some TT's but I remember the special instructions in the back mentioned that spur and also the "oil spur" nearby. 

The oil spur was close to Pine Street near Anawalt lumber and was used by Newhall refinery to load captive cars of diesel fuel for outlying SP points like Oxnard . You had to fuel your locomotive yourself at Oxnard. There was a pump in a small building that you turned on after hooking up the nozzle .  Later fuel trucks replaced these installations. Lots of spilled fuel the old way.

Tom

My guess is the name of the company was   "Hercules Powder." ?

Nudge

I learned of the dynamite spur from the old heads that I used to work with.  I heard it was where the dynamite was stored either for the building of the Saugus Line .  I was also thinking maybe it was the original location of Bermite Corporation ?  Bermite was located where the Metrolink Station is now.  Bermite made propellants and also explosives such as dynamite etc.  crackerjackhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Denny Rolls showed me where it was while working
> the Saugus. It was on the west side (railroad
> south) of the tracks along Newhall siding. If you
> know just when to look, you can still see a
> clearing in the trees where it was. Now I have a
> question, what was the name of the dynamite
> company? Anybody know?

Plus the section gang housing at the crossing at Ravenna ?  Are you talking about the junk yards around Pacoima or the ones at Newhall?ValvePilot Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> O.K. you old heads! Tell me where is dynamite spur
> was located. Hint: it was on a downgrade in the
> greater L.A. area.
> Anybody remember the Outfit Cars at Ravenna? A
> whole little city of them. And those auto junk
> yards on the "ocean side".
> Didn't one of them have just one make of car?

There were two junk yards across from the area where the section cars were stored and previously
occupied. One yard had mostly if not completely the contents of one manufacturer: like Packards, Studies or
maybe Hudsons. The other yard had normal junked autos et. One was bulldozed in the early 80's and I
think likewise the other later on.
The Dynamite Spur that I am aware of was about halfway down the grade from the portal. I think it only held
two or three cars at the most. (newhall side of the portal. Maybe Dupont made the stuff!

The dynamite spur was where I drew the red line. The north portal of the Newhall tunnel is right at the lower margin of the image and the oil spur is just out of frame at the top. The rails of the oil spur are still in the pavement, going across Pine St.

  So still no answer as to what Elayon or Waltz Jct. were.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/16 20:05 by crackerjackhoghead.

---

Elayon was a siding that was eventually combined with Newhall siding.  The Santa Clarita Valley historical website (scvhistory.com) has an article on Elayon.  Waltz Jct (note that it is shown on the 8-1918 LA Div map) may have been the name of the dynamite spur but I'm not sure.  Tomorrow I promise to check out the MP locations on the "older" ETT's that I have (unfortunately I don't have anything older than about 1938).  Is anyone else able to step up with older ones?  The LA maps have the details and the SJ Div TT's have the written information even though that was LA Div territory.  Wait up, I just found my List of Officers, Agencies, Stations, Etc. #61 dated 1-1-1936.  It only gives MP's without decimals but I'll list these for now to give propotionality to the next question---what was Magazine?  MP454-Elayon, 455-Waltz (note the "Jct" has been eliminated), 456-Tunnel, 457-Magazine and 459-Sylmar.  OK...what was Magazine???  Also, who can give the MP locations for the west and east portals of Tunnel 25?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/16 20:49 by spladiv.

Railbaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wp1801 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > In Oregon on the Toledo branch RR east of
> > Corvallis.
>
> Approximately where was it on the Toledo Branch? I
> didn't come up here until 1988 and never heard of
> it when I worked that job. Don Birran (spelling
> ???) told me a lot about the branch, including the
> daylighted tunnel and trestles that had been
> filled in, when I fired for him.  

Where was that daylighted tunnel?  Would that have been tunnel 23 or 25?

Rob

OregonOldGuy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Railbaron Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > wp1801 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > In Oregon on the Toledo branch RR east of
> > > Corvallis.
> >
> > Approximately where was it on the Toledo Branch?
> I
> > didn't come up here until 1988 and never heard
> of
> > it when I worked that job. Don Birran (spelling
> > ???) told me a lot about the branch, including
> the
> > daylighted tunnel and trestles that had been
> > filled in, when I fired for him.  
>
> Where was that daylighted tunnel?  Would that
> have been tunnel 23 or 25?
>
> Rob

That's a good question. He only mentioned 1 daylighted tunnel on the Toledo Branch just below Summit by perhaps a mile or two on the Nashville side. There was a short stretch of straight track through a cut that he said used to be a tunnel but didn't mention the number.

I moved to Corvallis, Or. in late Dec. 1979 and moved from there in April of 1993.
My home was west of the trestle over 53rd street, great view of the trains. The station
was Larson. I do not remember any local news of the tunnel or the trestle.........Swede..
.........Albany,Or.