Passenger Trains > UP Depot, Riverside. Calif.

Haven't seen any postings regarding this. Went by the Old Union Pacific Depot in Riverside, Ca. A while ago, I think it was a weekday Coffee Shop.
Now it appears headed towards being a restaurant. Can't wait to see what happens. This is across the way from the Old Santa Fe Depot, Of which is still for rent and in nice shape. In between the depots is a nice park with a rose garden and arbors over the surrounding sidewalks covered with wisteria. The entire area is fenced with wrought iron. Homelessness camping had been increasing in the past.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/14 18:17 by bnsfdevore.

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One more Pic...

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They fenced the park because the "homeless" had taken over the area and some of them got pretty feisty when you didn't give them your "spare change".
The homeless clowns are a big reason the Coffee Depot closed. Customers got tired of being hassled.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/14 20:40 by PHall.

Here it is way back , Area looks a lot different doesn't it.

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In the foreground of the historic photo is Eighth Street - now know as University Avenue. There is now an underpass beneath what is now the former Union Pacific crossing and the Santa Fe (BNSF) tracks a block to the east. Right up to the construction of the underpass in the '50s the UP crossings at Eighth Street and at Seventh Street, one block to the north were protected by a crossing watchman. The watchman had a shanty at Seventh Street with track occupancy indicators that would indicate trains coming from either the east or west. His job was to go to the crossing to be crossed first by the oncoming train: Eighth Street for eastbound trains; Seventh Street for westbound trains. He would go into the intersection with a flag and a whistle by day and a lantern and whistle by night. If it was a freight train, the head brakeman would drop off the locomotive after the train entered the first crossing and run ahead of the train to flag the second crossing, a ritual I observed countless numbers of times as a teenager. Passenger trains were an easier operation as they all stopped short of the second crossing and the flagman had time to walk to that crossing.

Things were much more modern up the street at the Santa Fe. They had air operated crossing gates controlled by a watchman in a tower. When a train approached he vigorously pumped away on a foot-operated clatter gong while lowering the air operated gates. Seventh Street on the Santa Fe was protected by wig-wags.

The original UP junction with the Santa Fe was at Riverside Junction, to the north of the stations. Well after the underpass was constructed the UP junction with the Santa Fe was moved some distance west of the stations at a point where the two lines were a scant half block apart.

With the nearby old downtown shopping area a ghost town (as far as shops go), it is fortunate that the stations have survived.

UP passenger train firemen did have one duty to perform at Riverside, unrelated to the crossings. All UP passenger trains used train numbers in the locomotive number boards (as did Southern Pacific). At Riverside the fireman replaced the train number with the engine number on eastbound trains to confirm with Santa Fe operating requirements. The reverse operation occurred on westbound passenger trains.

PHall Wrote:
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> They fenced the park because the "homeless" had
> taken over the area and some of them got pretty
> feisty when you didn't give them your "spare
> change".

> The homeless clowns are a big reason the Coffee
> Depot closed. Customers got tired of being
> hassled.

Sadly, since the homeless bums are a Protected Class of people in CA this situation will not likely change anytime soon.

Part of the problem is that part of Riverside has been a dodgy area for years. The Riverside Redevelopment Agency was my client when the two train stations were rehabbed and there was little developer interest in the entire area along the tracks. This was in the 1980s, before homeless camps and the like. Even University Ave near the freeway was a tough sell and it's still not a great area, especially at night.