Western Railroad Discussion > Railroad

,,,



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/18 14:49 by phthithu.

Same location? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA8GktHs-3k

Wow interesting. Is the famous wooden trestle still there, when was the last time it was used? Is this on the way north to Eureka or heading south to? Does anyone have any recent pics?

Boy, I can't think of how many times I watched the SP 1000 rumble across that bridge with their train for Tibouron when I was a kid.

phthithu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Time for a posting remembering those halcyon days Railbaron?


I wish I had a camera back in those days but I was an early teen back then, pre-camera. My railfan transportation was a 3-speed Schwinn bicycle.

Keeping in mind this was 50 years ago my memory isn't good enough to remember specific times but they went to work in San Rafael in the morning, I think 6 days a week, switch all the industries located in San Rafael (there were a lot in those days), and then leave around mid-day southward for Sausalito (industrial switching there) and Tibouron. Tibouron was the outside connection with the rest of the world via Santa Fe car ferry; I honestly don't know of the WP car ferry also came to Tibouron. I have no idea what time the local got back to San Rafael but I assume they spotted the industries when they got back.

As I remember it was primarily inbound loads, outbound empties, of all kinds of commodities. The trains weren't very long as there wasn't a huge number of shippers. 

With the Puerto Suello tunnel collapsed from the fire they didn't go north of San Rafael at all. As a side note, I was there with my parents the evening the tunnel collapsed taking the firetruck in with it killing the fireman; we had left just minutes before it happened after standing fairly close to where it happened.

Sorry I can't be of more help; that was 50+ years ago and I was young enough that I was still in the, "Wow, it's a train" mode.

 

A car/driver's license was still a few years in my future. Although once I got my driver's license I quickly learnred how to disconnect the speedometer so no extra miles would show on the odometer and $1 in the gas tank would come close to a day of railfanning; I did a fair aount of "railfanning" while my parents were at work (statute of limitations has probably run out by now <G>).

Railbaron,

What HS did you go to in Marin?   That was the "Horse Shoe" job. It would go to San Rafael one day, then go to Sausalito the next day. Or, stick around Tiburon, waiting to load & unload the barge. 

Nudge

San Rafael High, Class of '72.

I really don't know much about the job other than it left San Rafael around noon or so. The tunnel was re-opened in 1967 so service from the north would have resumed at that time no doubt; I would have been 13 in 1967.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/18 20:52 by Railbaron.