Western Railroad Discussion > Overdoing the Chino volume 2: Out on the Branch

Union Pacific serves Chino, CA, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, via a roughly 5 mile former Southern Pacific branch (or in modern parlance, "industrial lead") that drops down from the main line at Pomona.  Two jobs work the line: LOB29 that goes to work around 7:30 am Monday through Friday to switch around eight customers in Chino proper, and LOB48 that goes to work around 7:30 pm Sunday through Thursday, using the same power to haul empties up to the main line yard at Montclair and bring loads back, working a few additional customers along the way.

From about the middle of April through the end of August, the sun stays up long enough that it is possible to get shots of LOB48 outbound in daylight/twilight on its way to Pomona and Montclair.  I posted a thread last year showing the first mile or so of the train's journey, from the industrial park in the southern part of Chino where it ties up to the Monte Vista Ave. crossing on its way out of town, plus a few nocturnal shots at the Montclair yard:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4565514

This year, I made it a point to cover the stuff in between.

1) Just to recap that first mile, LOB48 pulls out of the industrial park south of Schaefer Ave. and heads north up the west side of Sixth St. for about a block between Schaefer and G St.  On the way, it passes an old warehouse that is the last surviving building from the American Beet Sugar Co. refinery.  The refinery used to straddle Sixth St. and fueled the local economy for a little over a quarter century, from 1891 to 1917.  Shield Packaging now occupies the building, and the spur track that served it has long been disconnected.

https://goo.gl/maps/52exKS6H1jf6iDAG9

2)  Beyond G St., the tracks enter private right-of way and curve east to parallel Chino Ave.  Just shy of the Central Ave. crossing is the switch where the track to the industrial park joins the Chino Industrial Lead from Pomona.  LOB48 typically drops its conductor and brakeman at the switch and pulls ahead across Central.  The ground men then line the switch for the branch, climb on the last car, and ride the point as the train shoves four miles north and west to the main line junction.  

The local is rarely more than 30 cars, and tail track to the east is usually long enough to hold the entire train, but in late May a heavy downpour undercut the track around Eleventh St., shortening the available lead to about 7 carlengths.   For about a week, until the roadbed was rebuilt, the local on its heavier days had to double or triple its train out of the industrial park spur.   In this view, the power is on the spur to the industrial park picking up the second cut while the back end of the train rests on the branch to Pomona on the right.  

The brown covered hopper in the center of the view is spotted at Trinidad Benham, which takes loads of rice and beans.  The Chino handles different three kinds of covered hoppers - triples of agricultural products for Trinidad, quads of plastic pellets like those on the right for a couple of packaging manufacturers, and twins of fly-ash for a building materials company, which we'll see in a bit.

https://goo.gl/maps/GQTEbYE3taM276kQ9

3) Last year's thread left off here, with the local shoving into the setting sun past the old Chino Walnut Grower's Association packing house west of Monte Vista Ave.  There is a runaround track between Monte Vista and Ramona, and I imagine the local may have used it back when its interchange point was City of Industry.  With the interchange now happening at Montclair, it's more convenient not to run the power around, but just shove to Pomona and then pull to Montclair.  The siding sits unused except for occasional car storage.

https://goo.gl/maps/ardmvvuUzaduEHpa9
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/19 21:11 by Evan_Werkema.

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4) As recently as the 1980's, there were still some substantial undeveloped areas along the branch, but with the incessant advance of suburbia it's now nearly all built-up.  The first couple of miles of the branch today run through a cinderblock canyon of backyard walls and fences.  This is the Ramona Ave. grade crossing.  Patched Cotton Belt GP60 #1011 showed up on the Chino job in the late summer of 2018, right after the sun started leaving town before the train.   

https://goo.gl/maps/5iNuNJPodDqZN9Y8A

5) While there aren't any truly "rural" stretches along the Chino branch anymore, for a block or two on either side of the 60 freeway there are areas that still retain a bit of pre-suburban flavor - single story houses set down on large lots big enough to stable a few horses and a few zillion dogs.  The crossing protection reflects this as well.  The Roswell St. crossing doesn't have active protection at all - just crossbucks.  Accordingly, the train stops and the conductor and brakemen flag the crossing.

https://goo.gl/maps/1Xei2gM6PUEEEp2n6

6) About the only substantial landmark along the branch is the overpass for the 60 freeway just north of the Walnut St. grade crossing.

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7) On the north side of "The 60," the tracks cross a drainage ditch that parallels the freeway west from downtown.

8) The East End Ave. grade crossing has flashers but no gates, so the train flags this crossing as well.

9) The only other "waterway" of any size along the branch is the San Antonio Wash.  Like any good Los Angeles-area river, it's completely encased in concrete.
 

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10) Running down the west side of San Antonio Wash is a spur that used to serve a Wonderbread bakery and a few other industries.  Wonderbread moved out over a decade ago, and neither the current tennant of the building nor any of the other businesses on the spur use rail service today.  The track lies rusty and the County Rd. crossing gates stand silent as LOB48 passes on the branch in the background.

https://goo.gl/maps/vHWNosu7YMtfuJiA6

11) The Chino branch swings due north as it crosses into Pomona.  On the right in this view at the corner of Mills Ave. and Olive St. is Osterkamp Trucking, which has an active rail spur and took centerbeams of building materials several days a week during the summer of 2018.  They don't appear to have taken any cars at all during the summer of 2019.

https://goo.gl/maps/zoM42BByGhwuGCSk7

12) A block away on the other side of the Philadelpia St., Boral Resources is a very active rail customer, receiving inbound loads of fly ash in stubby twin hoppers.  LOB48 picks up the empties on the way up to Montclair and delivers loads on its way back to Chino.  

https://goo.gl/maps/32uozSGdVREY7Vd87
 

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13) After a half-hour or so of working Boral and doing an air test, the local continues its shove up to the main line.  Lexington Ave. north of the plant is a quiet street protected only by crossbucks, so it gets flagged.

https://goo.gl/maps/nDcZfZLZdxRUHovB9

 14) The fixed yellow approach signal for the main line junction is just north of Grand Ave.  The lamp turns on when the train gets to Phillips St. and extinguishes as soon as the power shoves past.  The number plate appears to say "D 51 1."  I understand "D" is "distant," and I'm guessing the numbers are the old milepost location from the SP days when everything was measured from San Francisco.  The digits look like they may have been painted-out at some point, but the California sun has burned off the thin coat of black.  As you can see from the sign on the crossing bungalow, the branch has been renumbered to count miles from the junction in Pomona, 0.82 miles north of this spot.

https://goo.gl/maps/6MyXwMJxG5hhKLyt8

15) LOB48 shoves across First St. and onto the main line at CP C033, "WO Tower."  The Chino branch used to cross the UP (LA&SL) main here to get to the paralleling SP main just to the north.  Today it is all Union Pacific, and the local just backs onto the historically UP line.  Judging from old aerial photos, there hasn't been a physical tower here since the late 40's or early 50's, and I've never seen a photo of it (anybody know of one?)

https://goo.gl/maps/Yyj6PpGsY3EUQe8y9
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/19 20:36 by Evan_Werkema.

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16-17) The Chino Local often proceeds straight east from CP C033 to Montclair.  As needed, however, it backs down further west into Pomona to switch Manke Trucking, which takes loads of lumber a few days a week.  When they can get a signal at CP AL514, they shove their train down under the signal bridge, cut off the power, and go in light across First St. to pick up the empty centerbeams.  That brick substation on the right in the first view belongs to Southern California Edison, and I haven't found anything to indicate it was ever railroad-owned.

https://goo.gl/maps/kbwNRTrpCsKjU9TXA

18) When they don't get the light at the signal bridge, the local has to back the whole train into the spur, which on heavy days tends to put the power in front of the old SP Pomona depot.  The UP depot that stood on the south side of the tracks opposite the SP depot has been gone since the 70's.

https://goo.gl/maps/odcJsT3UWSitnNww8
 

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19) Leaving Pomona, the train is once again running locomotives-first as it blasts off eastbound for Montclair, passing under the decorative but deteriorating footbridge that serves the depot.

https://goo.gl/maps/NNqxfzFhCqTLUozXA

20) Back at WO Tower, the Chino local roars past the junction for its namesake branch.  Depending on how much work they have up ahead at Montclair, if they have to wait for other haulers working the yard at the same time, or if they have to wait for long distance trains to clear the main before backing out of the yard, they'll be back here anywhere from 10 pm to the wee small hours of the following day.

Thanks for looking - hope you enjoyed the trip.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/19 20:47 by Evan_Werkema.

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What an amazing series. Thank you so much for putting all the work into this. Been waiting anxiously for you to reach the end to respond so as not to ruin the flow.

I'll echo that, excellent work, wish I'd been shooting back in the early sixties, back when it was rural over to the
91 and the same all the way up to Valley Blvd.

Out

Excellent coverage plus highly skilled photography! A+

Thanks for this post, I lived in Pomona in the late 70's- early 80's.  It has really changed.  Glad to see the old Brockway Glass plant still has active rail service. 

Sure a great one Evan.

Just to clear up the location of the UP passenger Station building, it was located just east of Garey Ave.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/19 19:07 by mundo.

Great coverage, nice to see some industry still served by rail.
JB

Evan, thank you for the informative narrative and the great pictures to go along with it!  Appreciate all the work you put into it.

There's a photo of WO Tower (West Ontario Tower) on page 70 of Jeff Asay's 2010 book "Union Pacific in the Los Angeles Basin."  I believe the designation is still currently in use on the LA Sub.

GK

Mundo replied that the U.P. Pomona Station was "east of Garey Avenue". I would like to offer my opinion that this is statement is incorrect (or maybe a typo?). I was born in 1956 and spent a large majority of my misspent youth hanging out at the S.P. and U.P. depots in downtown Pomona from about 1962 until hiring out on the railroad in 1977. Both depots were in fact west of the 1962 built Garey Ave. underpass, between Garey Ave. and the Main Street grade crossing. The S.P. parking lot extended the entire distance between the Main St. grade crossing and the edge of the Garey Ave. underpass. The rather smallish and more modern looking U.P. station was directly in front of the older but more spacious S.P. depot. Furthermore, as a retired S.P. L.A. Division Locomotive Engineer, I ran freight trains past those depots (or in the case of the U.P. depot, the vacant slab) more than a few times during my career. For your consideration . . . . .

Tim Dickinson
La Verne, CA

TYhe sunset photo is excellent!

Thanks for showing such good coverage.  Excellent photos and info.
Brian Stevens

I remember the branch crossing the UP main 1st time i was in pomona, taking pix.  1980's.    Next visit. (early 90's, pre-UP), I think the diamond was gone and there was a switch to the UP, and a crossover to the SP main.   Seems there was a trend to replace diamonds with a series of switches, at least at that time.

Evan,m your writing, coverage and images, always first class!  Thanks for this piece.

TheNavigator Wrote:

> There's a photo of WO Tower (West Ontario Tower)
> on page 70 of Jeff Asay's 2010 book "Union Pacific
> in the Los Angeles Basin."  I believe the
> designation is still currently in use on the LA
> Sub.

By golly, it is WO and not OW.  Thanks, I've fixed the text and photo captions.  The view below shows the local shoving onto the main past the signal box that carries the name today.

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