Western Railroad Discussion > Northwestern Pacific to Lombard and Beyond: Brazos Sub Action

Construction of SMART's Windsor Extension is underway and over the past few months the NWP made several runs north of Petaluma to deliver flatcars of concrete ties from CXT to the extension's contractor. Last Monday, the NWP delivered the last of the tie loads. This is a two part series covering this run. This first part is for those of your interested in the Brazos sub activities but not so interested in the mainline, which will be covered in the sequel.

I caught the train before they left the Ignacio wye and followed them over the Petaluma River as some rare May precipitation splashed across the region. In the first picture, I'm trackside in a pair of fishing waders trying to stay somewhat dry--no umbrella becuase it's not umbrella season--as the train leaves Black Point bridge behind, heading toward Schellville. It was a long run back to the gate behind which my car was parked and I didn't catch back up with them until Sear's Point. Picture 2 is at Fairville. Always have trouble with focus here and this is the only usable shot I got. Anyways, from this angle, which omits the cattle chute corral, you get a nice ess curve shot but focus...! 

Final shot for this post shows the NWP crossing Green Island Rd. at Lombard. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 16:59 by phthithu.

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As the great Robert Jordan counseled me once, it's better to just do three or four of these posts, and no more, because readership can dislike having to read too much. Hence the two part nature of this series, and the four post posting length of this post(thread).

I pulled off the freeway and watched the crew drop their empties on the interchange track across the main track from the Lombard yard that is stuffed full of stored tank cars. I then set off up the old balloon track which once connected the Calistoga branch(today's Napa Valley Wine Train's trackage) to the Schellville Branch at Watson Lane. This was a long run through thankfully not too dense grass as the NWP made their way east up to the wye and into Napa Junction yard. Picture 4 shows them spotting the empties on the interchange track. In picture 5 I'm up on the ballon track subgrade (tracks are long gone) looking toward the west switch of the wye. You can see the ballon track easily in this picture. 

I ran passt some newish condos that now stand over the ballon track, drawing the attention of some dogs, and then through a disused campsite , and brushed aside some leaves to snap this shot, #6, of the NWP crossing the line of the balloon track at Napa Junction.    
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 17:05 by phthithu.

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Here's the NWP passing the Cal Northern engine shop at Napa Junction. I wonder if that's an old station palm standing behind the shop. I headed back to the highway at this point and had about twenty minutes to cool off as they fished their single car out of the CFNR's Fairfied job's train that had arrived a few hours prior. It's rare to see the NWP this far into CFNR territory so this was a neat deal. 

In pic 8 the NWP is shuffling cars around to get to the tie car. In pic 9 they have come off the wye and are headed back toward Lombard as a light spitting rain carpeted the area (why didn't I bring an umbrella?). 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 20:06 by phthithu.

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In the penultimate image of this the penultimate part of my two-part series the conductor leans out the window and waves to the soggy photographer lurking in the tall grass. And in a preview of the next installment, we leap forward about three hours, and over Sonoma County and into Marin County to the San Marin SMART station gauntlet tracks on the SMART mainline where the NWP is crossing under highway 101 headed north to Petaluma around 830pm. 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 19:53 by phthithu.

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Those are some really nice shots.  You did a great job framing out all of the traffic-choked, suburban sprawl so prevalent in that area now.  It still looks pretty idyllic in your pictures 

I don't mind the reading, it's fun to I don't know, learn something in this day and age.

Stephen Hjellum
Woodland, AL
Virtual CRCP Railway.

phthithu Wrote:
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> Here's the NWP passing the Cal Northern engine
> shop at Napa Junction. I wonder if that's an old
> station palm standing behind the shop. I headed

There was a either a station of freight house there before the late 1960's so that palm tree could easily have been a station palm.  The enginehouse wasn't there in the first few years of the California Northern's existence, but I sure remember the palm tree being there with a pair of SD9 parked underneath.

Woodland had palms and SD9s as well.

Out 

Great set of pics! I Wasn't aware the nwp was making it all the way to the CNFR shop yard and with all those tank cars it looks as if CNFR is getting into the tank storage game. Unless waiting to be moved to schellville ? 

phthithu Wrote:
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> As the great Robert Jordan counseled me once, it's
> better to just do three or four of these posts,
> and no more, because readership can dislike having
> to read too much. 

As long as one has something meaningful to say, then it's not too much.

I didn't know there was welded rail east of the Petaluma drawbridge; I wonder why welded rail was not laid (by the SP) west of the bridge to Novato?

Great set of photos!  I had to consult Google maps to follow all the lines in the area to refresh them in my mind, despite visiting a lot of this territory in the past when visiting for race weekends at Sears Point.

Rich

Thanks for looking all. I wonder about the welded rail choices, too. Perhaps Weather knows. 

Nice series!