Western Railroad Discussion > Welcome to Taylor Yard

Not that we ever paid attention to the sign at the bottom.  10/3/70

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What sign??

Odd they had visitor parking but no photo policy.

Remember when we got caught.Are either of you lawers.We did get the shot.
Steve

Took my first train pics there with a Kodak Instamatic on that employee bridge that went over the hump.  We just walked out there. 

MGRACER Wrote:
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> Remember when we got caught.Are either of you
> lawers.We did get the shot.
> Steve

Yeah and I was in bermuda shorts and the guy walked us through the diesel house to some comments from mechanics. We were on the way to a Dodger game.  I think we shot a Kodachrome SD45 that morning.  And he let us go and keep the film,  nice guy I recall.

First time I drove past the sign, some time in the late 70s IIRC, I promptly got busted. That's why I have no shots from inside Taylor. Only from the footbridge.

Man, you guys were lucky. I couldn't even get out on the footbridge. Then I went to this spot. Got one pic, and shooed off again!
(Sorry, I have no idea where that picture is now!)

Why did Union Pacific abandon the Taylor Yard?

They didn't need the shops or the yard trackage and got an offer for the land that they couldn't refuse, but
then it wasn't SP who disposed of the yard.

Out 

I remember a much larger sign saying the same thing in the mid 70s, didn't stop us though. The trick was to go on Sunday as there didn't seem to be anyone in the tower by the diesel shop. Also noticed that all the windows in the Special Agents' office were up by the roof line, so they couldn't see anything outside. Took tons of pictures there and nobody ever said a word to us. 

The real trick to photographing the SP Taylor Yard engine facility was to photography from your car and never get out.  The best way to do this is to drive through the engine facility is to follow this path enter the yard and when you got to the engine facility follow the road next to the river until you got to the south side of the shops then cross tracks on the road behind the shops making sure there no engine movements once you crossed the road take the road next to the shops going north.  When you get to the turntable area go through the parking lot next to the turntable drive through the parking lot back to road on the east of the fueling area going pass the old PFE offices back to road where you came in and then drive out of the yard.  The best time of day to use this route was a summer afternoon when the sun was in the west.

I did this for twenty years and never had a problem and some times I even got out of the car to get a better photo.  The only time I ran into a SP PO was when one of the bicentennial engines was in the engine facility.  At the time a some SP officials and a famous railfan photographer were taking photos of the bicentennial engine.  The officer was very nice and when I told what I wanted to take a photo of the bicentennial engine he said if all the officials were not around it would be fine but since he did not want to get fired he said I better not go over there to take a photo said I understood.  We talked for a while and then I went on my way.  The SP PO never told me to leave the yard by the way. 

Sp1110 Wrote:

> Why did Union Pacific abandon the Taylor Yard?

Southern Pacific closed and ripped up Taylor Yard in the 1980's, well before the merger with UP:

https://www.theriverproject.org/taylor-yard/the-railroad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Yard,_Los_Angeles

What UP abandoned and tore out were the shop facilities located geographic west of the former yard area, in 2009:

http://theeastsiderlahomehistory.blogspot.com/2009/10/end-of-line-for-taylor-yard.html
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2025496