Western Railroad Discussion > West Oakland's Endangered IER Trestle

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2794894
As a followup to the above post the West Oakland Pacific R.R.(owned by Industrial Railways Co.) has been continuing to serve the rail customers of the Oakland Terminal Ry.(CA) since June 4 when the OTR ceased operations. A casualty of this change has been the old Interurban Electric Railway flyover trestle over the UP's Martinez Sub mainline which the OTR utilized to reach two customers on the land side of the UP main from its base at the former Oakland Army Base. The new WOPR has now made the trestle redundant by the use of a trackmobile which takes to the streets(on the West Grand Ave. Viaduct) to bridge this gap from its home on the water side of the UP.

The old IER trestle was completed in 1938(then referred to as the 26th Street Viaduct) to enable SP's electric suburban trains to have a grade separated path over the SP Cal-P mainline and gain access to the approaches to the new Bay Bridge. Concrete barricades recently placed across the tracks at the two trestle bases now mark the structure as out of use with little hope of a revival--unknown if it has actually been condemned.

Rail customers Gary Steel and Pyro Minerals are the reason the WOPR makes its way over to Wood St. most weekday mornings. The two man crew is seen job briefing at the Wood and 26th gate with the IER trestle looming in the background before heading out to the ex-Santa Fe yard for some switching yesterday morning at 08:30. Third photo shows the blockage at the base of the trestle on the land side.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/12 07:28 by shed47.

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BNSF interchanged three loaded covered hoppers to the WOPR over the weekend and the crew spotted just one of them at Pyro Minerals yesterday. They are seen shoving over the Wood St. and 26th St. grade crossings and into Pyro's facility in these views.

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With its morning work done the Hercules trackmobile rubber tires its way down Wood St. on its way home to the Industrial Railways office at the old Oakland Army Base. Meanwhile, the motive power it replaced--Oakland Terminal Ry. GP7 #97--sits quietly in storage by the old OTR office pending further disposition.

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I really hope the Pacific Locomotive Association has their eyes on the 97 - and issues a fundraising call soon. It is not only the last locomotive of the Oakland Terminal, but also of the Alameda Belt Line.

I may do a parody on "The Wreck of Old 97": "The Rust of Old 97". Does anyone have its original Santa Fe road number?

At one time, it looked like the OTR might be growing, with the lumber reload and new tracks at Knight Yard. However, with the coming of a new operator and a Trackmobile and the closing of the trestle, I can't help but feel the line is being written off. A trackmobile has little capacity. You won't be hauling 8 car cuts with it. And having the railroad split in half really makes a logistics issue if things were to grow and require bigger power, so it feels to me like just a stopgap to handle what is left until it goes away. Wondering if we're seeing the final downward slide of the OTR. And I'm not usually a pessimistic person.

Z

Is there any structural problem with the trestle? Thx - B

I wonder what the real condition of that trestle is ? It was built about 74-years ago. Had double track on both legs of the WYE. Double track was used for switching clear up into latter sixties, maybe into seventies before being single-tracked.Leg of WYE facing 16th Street station was converted two a 2-lane access to Army Base over SP MANY years ago. Was an old passenger car body (faded yellow) sitting on the ground right next to the double-track line as it hit the ground at the North lef of the WYE. Both Stash and Evan W. probably remember it. Probably a locker room or switchman's shanty (anyone got a photo of it ??)

I'm thinking that Evan might have a photo of that trestle in it's double-track (non-electric) state.

KRK

Is the Gyralight between the number boards on #97 still operable?

Let's take a closer look at the trestle...

OTR 5623 climbing the grade. Evan Werkema Photo

OTR 5623 negotiating the Flyover with a handful of cars. Don Buchholz Photo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/12 12:07 by KeyRouteKen.

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A closer look on the old Army Base side of the Flyover. These two views give you a look as to how the double-track width of each leg of the WYE was narrowed in the declining years of use...
Photos courtesy of STASH.

KRK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/12 12:08 by KeyRouteKen.

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KeyRouteKen Wrote:

> I wonder what the real condition of that trestle is ?

From what I understand, there isn't anything physically wrong with the bridge right now that caused it to be condemned - WOPR just doesn't need it, and I suspect the inspection and maintenance requirements are lower if it's taken out of service.

Apart from the ~4% grades on the approaches, the bridge has load limits. Back when OTR was regularly moving cars over it, heavy loads had spaced out using idlers or else only handled a few at a time. With interchange now happening at both Wood St. and Knight Yard, the need to move cars over the bridge has more or less evaporated. For the past few years, about the only thing that's gone over the bridge has been the 97 running light from one side of the UP main to the other. With their trackmobile and public roads, WOPR doesn't need the bridge.

> I'm thinking that Evan might have a photo of that
> trestle in it's double-track (non-electric)
> state.

The Western Railway Museum has (or had - I understand they've been selling off the non-traction portions of their photo archive) a photo or two of a Santa Fe high-hood Alco assisting an SN freight motor over the de-wired bridge some time in the 1940's. Those are the only post-IER, pre-single-tracking photos of the flyover I've come across.

zephyrus wrote:

> At one time, it looked like the OTR might be growing, with the lumber reload and new
> tracks at Knight Yard. However, with the coming of a new operator and a Trackmobile and
> the closing of the trestle, I can't help but feel the line is being written off.

The OTR was loose car, urban industrial railroading, the sort of thing that's been in decline for decades. In the past 12 years, the number of customers on the Wood St. side has declined from six to just two, and given current trends, I wouldn't expect much new heavy industry to move in between downtown Oakland and I-880. I'd put more money on an Emeryville-like scenario with the gradual encroachment of condos. All that's left on the Knight Yard side is whatever business the transload operations in the old Oakland Army Base can generate(PCC, Industrial Railways, and a few others). Not sure what the grand plans for redeveloping the base are, and whether these sorts of operations are part of it.

rrhistorian wrote:

> I really hope the Pacific Locomotive Association has their eyes on the 97 - and issues
> a fundraising call soon. It is not only the last locomotive of the Oakland Terminal,
> but also of the Alameda Belt Line.

While they are all under the same management, ABL's last locomotive was sister GP7 44, which moved out to the CCT in 1998. I heard some reports that 44 was to be scrapped in order to satisfy the requirements for the subsidy on their Brookville genset, but I don't know if that's come to pass.

The PLA knows about the 97 (ex-ATSF 2197, built as ATSF 2840 in 1952), but I can't speak for them and have no idea what their plans are. The locomotive does run, but as you can see, it's in serious need of a paint job, and Niles Canyon is already packed to the gills with other worthy projects. They do have OTR DS-4-4-1000 #101 in their collection, so the railroad is represented in preservation.

mojaveflyer Wrote:
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> Is the Gyralight between the number boards on #97
> still operable?


Yes it is. It has been operable since I installed it in 1990.

And, the "OTR 5623" has never been "OTR 5623". It has been blue carded as "SP 5623" since it came on the property in 1991.
It was leased to the OTR and only used when the OTR 97 or ABL 44 needed work.

Howard

Interesting set of pics!!!!! Thanks for sharing.