Western Railroad Discussion > Meet on the Mococo

Meet on the Mococo
The former SP Mococo Line between Martinez and Tracy, CA (UP Tracy Subdivision) is one of the least used any of the former intact mainlines in the SF Bay Area. Only about 15 miles on the west end is still in service. The first 5 miles or so from Martinez to Port Chicago is used by the Amtrak San Joaquins and the UP locals that serve the area. The remaining 10 miles between Port Chicago and Pittsburg is mostly served by only the one 5 day a week UP Pittsburg Switcher (LRJ46), although a short section in between is sometimes shared by both the UP LRJ46 and UP LRJ88. Sometimes they meet in the middle. That is the subject of today’s story.


Working mostly Mon-Fri, I don’t get out much during the week and only a short time on the weekend mornings. I prefer to head out to the former location of Nichols on the edge of Port Chicago. It is where time has stood still since about WWII. After the munitions ship explosion at Port Chicago in July 1944, the US Navy tore down whatever was still standing and took over the land. There was once a school, houses and additional heavy industry at the site. With the land under military control and the ground being heavily contaminated, nothing new has been built out there in decades. After 9/11, the Navy closed off Port Chicago Highway through the base, so now the area is at the end of a dead end road where garbage is sometimes dumped. From other debris left behind, it is apparent that the area is frequented by gang members and other party’ers overnight.  During the day, off-roaders find ways to access the right of way and sometimes get stuck on the tracks and intrepid fisherman park out there and hike out to behind the chemical plant to fish. When I retire maybe I’ll take up fishing by the chemical plant, too (probably not).


On Friday morning, Valentines Day 2020, I left home early and made a beeline for Nichols, before having to head to work in Oakland.  Amtrak San Joaquin 710 is due through there on the BNSF just after 0830 hours.  I try to get there just before 0830. The UP locals run through there around the same time, depending on what time they get out of the UP Ozol Yard in Martinez.  I hoped to get one of the locals. Sometimes you can get both in a short time frame.
The UP LRJ88 local is a 6 day a week job, that on Mon/Wed/Fri runs east on the Mococo, crosses over to the BNSF at Port Chicago and runs out to the BNSF Hill Yard in Antioch. The main traffic is steel coil cars for the steel plant, along with some tank cars. The train sometimes gets out ahead of 710, or follows right behind it. They drop their cars in the yard and then pick up whatever is left there for them and then head back west. The crew is known to be reliably quick, so the BNSF dispatcher normally doesn’t hesitate to get them out between trains. On the westward run, if the former General Chemical plant at Nichols needs a switch, the LRJ88 will back down the couple miles on the Mococo line from Port Chicago to switch the plant.


The other UP Local is the LRJ46, the Monday through Friday Pittsburg Switcher that runs a round trip out the length of the Mococo line from Martinez to Pittsburg, where they spend the day switching the local industry. Most of their traffic is tank cars. The train usually heads east after Amtrak 710 and clears Port Chicago ahead of 711.


So on Valentines Day morning, 2020, I was able to catch the following:

#1) Its 0826 hours and the BNSF Dispatcher (& the UP Dispatcher) has the LRJ88 running hot westbound on the BNSF , on Amtrak’s 710 time. Apparently, 710 must be a bit delayed and the local is giving its all with the former SP GP40-2’s trying to hold track speed.

#2) The train is definitely Hot.  Once the train gets the few miles to Port Chicago and starts to back down the Mococo, they can kick off the brakes.

#3) The going away shot showing where the former Santa Fe track swings wide to cross over the SP Mococo line at Nichols.  That’s a 45 mph curve where Amtrak trains slow from 79 to take the curve.

Continued......

Gary

 

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#4) The UP local crosses Nichols Rd and over the Mococo lIne, while still on the BNSF. They will continue on the BNSF to Port Chicago, then will back down the Mococo line to serve the chemical plat just beyond the overpass.
 
#5) Its 0849 hours and Amtrak San Joaquin 710 rolls thru Nichols on the BNSF, about 14 minutes late.  This is beautiful angle when the hills are green.
 
#6) Its 0851 hours and the UP LRJ46 has backed down the Mococo into the Nichols siding and is heading off into the chemical plant spur to pick up a couple cars.  This is a far east that the LRJ88 runs on the Mococo.

Continued one more time.......

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Last one....

 
#7) Its now 0905 hours and the LRJ46 Pittsburg Switcher has followed 710 down to Port Chicago and is now running on the freight only restricted speed Mococo line, as it approaches Nichols.
 
#8) 0909 Hours, the LRJ46 has passed the LRJ88 as it continues on toward Pittsburg at about 15 mph. The Nichols siding once continued on and under the Santa Fe overpass.

#9) The train passes what was once east siding switch Nichols on its lonely way to Pittsburg.  From here eastward, this is the only train to run on the line.
 
Its now 0910 hours and I have to quickly leave and head the 30 something miles to Oakland before 1000 hours. Thanks for looking.

Gary
 

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Very neat, and thanks for explaining the operation!  I caught the Pittsburg Local a number of times when I was living in the Bay Area, but only saw a UP-powered steel train on BNSF at Nichols once.  Figured that was an anomaly rather than a regular occurrence.

As info, the Port Chicago Highway and Waterfront Rd. had ceased to be through routes following the tracks well before 9/11.  By the time I got there in 1995, the area from Nichols Rd. to Solano Way was already blocked off, and about a year later, the refinery put up guard-shacks on Solano just north of Highway 4 and on Waterfront Rd. at Avon.

In one of your photos, you caught a rare scene:  a ship docked at the Port Chicago Military ship pier, with one of the container cranes down and operating.  You don't see that very often.

Is that the old SN line on the far left in image #4?

Of course, Evan is correct. The road through the base, now controlled by the Army, was closed long before 9/11. It’s only been a few years that I’ve started going out there regularly.

Yes, I don’t see many ships at the dock, but the rail cars get moved around a lot, so more ships than I see are probably stopping by. I wish the Army locomotive could have been parked or moving in the background.

Yes, that is the SN mainline in the background of a couple of the shots, basically abandoned in place. I guess officially it’s just “out of service” known as the Port Chicago Industrial Lead. There is still a single customer on the SN at McAvoy, that requires a switchback move. But it doesn’t look like they’ve had any cars in a long time.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

Great coverage. When I worked in Concord in the 90s there were some great photo spots that, as mentioned, are no longer accessable. Also through freights and more Santa Fe traffic. Good to see you were still able to get good photos.

Jim B