Western Railroad Discussion > Santa Cruz & Monterey Bay switching 10 09 14

Don't get to go railfanning much lately, but my best friend and I decided to go train chasing today instead of going to our respective jobs.

The plan was to catch the UP local on Quint Street in San Francisco, then head south, hopefully catching UP locals in San Jose and Hollister, before trying to catch the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay switching with their two F-units. While I am just barely old enough to remember Fs on Amtrak trains, and am very familiar with them in museums and on excursion lines (and have even run them on a couple rare occasions), I have never seen one in common carrier freight service.

Plans went awry immediately. While Chris made it to San Francisco on CalTrain by 8 AM, three accidents just 10 minutes ahead of me on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge turned what should have been a 1 hour trip from Concord into a 2 hour and 40 minute test in resisting Road Rage.

Thus, we did not catch the Quint Street run and found the crew tying up in South San Francisco. San Jose was a bust, as was Hollister. We finally saw moving trains in Pajaro (Watsonville Yard), finding two SSW GP60s and a UP GP40-2 making up a 4 car train that appeared to be a Hollister Local.

Figuring our luck needed to change, we headed into Watsonville and our timing was perfect. Just as we rolled up to the Americold spur off Industrial Avenue, the lead F-unit's lights came on. Two minutes later, they were rolling.

The job today was dead simple: head to the UP yard in Pajaro, grab one tank car, shove it into North Star Biofuels and then tie up. All told it took less than 1 hour and we lucked into catching the whole movement.

Hope you enjoy!

Z

1 - I love street running, but seeing a pair of smartly painted F-units racking asphalt miles was extra sweet. Heading SB on Walker Street, they pass Pajaro Cold Storage.

2 - After hitting the yard, the short train passes the boarded up SP depot in Watsonville, just off the intersection of Beach and Walker.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/14 15:34 by zephyrus.

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4 - As we headed back to North Star Biofuels (located along Beach Street and with its own spur off the longer Americold Spur), we noticed a semi truck being loaded at Pacific AgPak. The train backed down the spur, horn blaring, and waited briefly while the truck and associated forklifts cleared up. Here, the tank car is just clearing the newly made gap between Pacific's loading door and the still open truck.

5 - Tank car delivered, the F pair pull out of North Star and head to clear the spur switch, then return to tie up at Americold.

In the end, was a nice day!

Z



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/14 00:49 by zephyrus.

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Nice work

Nice catch & photos.

Ronda Thomas

Didn't realize they were using F units for switching Z, great photos. Might have to poke around Watsonville next time, we just drove straight through this spring. Your comment about traffic between Concord and The City made me smile, I don't miss driving in that traffic at all.

Nathan

I would imagine there was not much revenue to be made with that run. If you are a common carrier, however, you got to deliver the cars!

I would have loved to be there to listen to two Fs working! I drove via Castroville and Salinas, should have done a Watsonville drive-by! 8>(

mapboy

Great Photo's Eugene .

Have A Great Day !

Dave C. Dodds
UPHS Member #3282
WPRM Life Member #361
San Dimas CA

These same engines power the annual Christmas train out of Watsonville, so lots of chances to see and hear them running coming up:

https://www.traintochristmastown.com/california/index.html


Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/14 20:26 by kilroydiver.