Western Railroad Discussion > Coast Auto Repo

The re-positioning moves of empty auto racks are almost the only regular through freight moves from the Bay Area south using the Coast Sub. They usually run from Milpitas in the early morning, but today's ran near the start of the afternoon commute. The dispatcher snuck it in behind a slightly late Capitol #537, passing it at CP Mowry, Newark CA. The repo delayed Capitol #538, held at CP Expressy (Santa Clara) and the ACE Commute, met at Santa Clara station. The repo took the siding at CP Expressway. There was a 25? mph speed restriction from Alviso to Santa Clara for tie replacement that made things slower. Seemed like the dispatcher did a pretty good job given the congestion and speed restrictions.

The repo is shown here a Agnew, with the Agnew station in the background, no housing a model railroad. The depot and track are in Santa Clara, the other side of the street behind is San Jose. Agnew was the site of a large mental hospital, now an Oracle complex.

Jim B

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Nice shot. It was weird to see a repo run in south in the afternoon. I have never noticed those trees around the Agnew depot! I always remembered them as old scraggily tree trunks. They add a nice touch to this image. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks, Jim! Nice light, nice trees! Aw yes, the Funny Farm...

Norm O.

I was going to ask about the hospital. When my aunt had a clothing store in Hayward in the early 50s, one of her clerks got sent to "Agnew". They used to say the same thing about Patten in SoCal. That one was on the PE near San Bernardino as I recall. Speaking of such things, is Napa State Hospital still operating (no pun intended)?

Those are ornamental pear trees. Flowering now across the state. Bark is rough and turns black when it rains. Slow grower, will get to 40 ft tall and as wide.

As to Napa State Hospital: Still in business

In 1872, a site was selected and work began for the erection of the 500-bed, four- story, Gothic Hospital building. The Hospital originated in response to overcrowding at Stockton Asylum, the first State Hospital. Napa State Hospital opened on Monday November 15, 1875 and is the oldest State Hospital still in operation. The Hospital was once self-sufficient, with its own dairy and poultry ranches, vegetable gardens, orchards and other farming operations. Treatment programs for developmentally disabled residents were present from October 1968 to August 1987and from October 1995 to March 2001. The Hospital does not accept voluntary admissions.