Western Railroad Discussion > Southern Calif Railway museum news

We ( a crew of 5 ) from the museum were out at the old Kimberly Clark paper plant in Fullerton Calif. which is currently getting torn down to make room for a new Amazon full fillment center.  We were removing 112lb rail with ties (The ties look brand new by the way.) plus the hardware Joint bars, spikes, plates and Anchors for the museums use. The ties are all only about 4 years old as Kimberly Clark had to relay the track after a tank car spread the rails. The project is about 80 % complete in the Demolition Phase. We had a great crew of 5 working on Saturday and made a great amount of progress. Total track removed is about 1000 feet.
For the past three weeks its been only Byron, a one man crew for the most part.  The best news is we have large equipment on site to use, to assist in the removal of the track. Byron is the lead on the Demo job and has a great handle on what is needed for this project. I spent about 10 hours on site and we even learned how to get the track back on an Excavator. Thanks to Phil and me seeing how it.was done on Gold Rush it was a bit easier with a large 350 Volvo Excavator at our disposal .
We can always use help for projects. So become a member or contact the museum and leave a message for Byron.  I will put up a video on YT of the track being removed Saturday under my name Tony Czuleger if you care to have a look. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/21 10:33 by czuleget.

Pictures of Plant being Torn  Down??

Good to hear that removed track will be benefitting a museum.

Posted from Android

That plant used to get 2 switches a day.  Now its nothing.   Amazon will bring low paying jobs (better than nothing, I guess). Just a big warehouse trucking consumer goods in from the ports in containers, and trucking out packages for consumer distribution.  We will all support Amazon with the money we pay to keep the roads up for their trucking, not to mention whatever tax breaks they get. 

Its all pretty sad, as far as Im concerned.

Good for you guy's. As someone who has helped remove miles of track for the PLA, I recognize how much work and logistics planning is involved. 112lb rail is pretty good stuff too. Pic's would be fun to see.

Nice to hear the track materials will be repurposed. I was sad to see them wipe out the orange grove that KC had in front of the building for decades. Another piece of OC's colorful agricultural history wiped out.

Sorry, I will not spend one dime with Amazon, the richest man in USA!

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That plant used to get 2 switches a day.  Now its
> nothing.   Amazon will bring low paying jobs
> (better than nothing, I guess). Just a big
> warehouse trucking consumer goods in from the
> ports in containers, and trucking out packages for
> consumer distribution.  We will all support
> Amazon with the money we pay to keep the roads up
> for their trucking, not to mention whatever tax
> breaks they get. 
>
> Its all pretty sad, as far as Im concerned.

I completely agree!  Good paying jobs (both in the plant, and the RR that served them) replaced with high-turnover, poor pay / benefit jobs.  America is still going backwards in the blue collar sector.

All I had is my I phone and can't post here, I have never been able to post from my Iphone sorry. you can see some of the area on the Youtube i posted.  I just returned from the Museum and the Museum is open for guests. Come on out.   
 

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice to hear the track materials will be
> repurposed. I was sad to see them wipe out the
> orange grove that KC had in front of the building
> for decades. Another piece of OC's colorful
> agricultural history wiped out.

OC's colorful agricultural history died a long time ago when the owners of the Irvine Ranch decided that houses made more money for them then oranges did.

Is it just the lead going across Kimberly into the plant or the small yard across the street as well? I used to drive to work through that area and loved going down Kimberly and occassionally seeing a switch job work that line.

It's a shame about the orange grove, that area is already so depressing looking along Orangethorpe those trees were the one thing that brightened it up.

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> pdt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That plant used to get 2 switches a day.  Now
> its
> > nothing.   Amazon will bring low paying jobs
> > (better than nothing, I guess). Just a big
> > warehouse trucking consumer goods in from the
> > ports in containers, and trucking out packages
> for
> > consumer distribution.  We will all support
> > Amazon with the money we pay to keep the roads
> up
> > for their trucking, not to mention whatever tax
> > breaks they get. 
> >
> > Its all pretty sad, as far as Im concerned.
>
> I completely agree!  Good paying jobs (both in
> the plant, and the RR that served them) replaced
> with high-turnover, poor pay / benefit jobs.
>  America is still going backwards in the blue
> collar sector.

+1

Amazon provides a service, getting what you want as fast as you can. In this society, people see it and want it 'now'.  Everyone orders from amazon, some just won"t admit it. If Kimberly Clark was a profitable operation, it would still be in operation. Having made deliveries there, I saw a old plant that had seen better days. Plants get old and expensive to operate. Most companies don't put money back into the plant, so they get out dated. 

needles_sub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Having made deliveries there, I saw a
> old plant that had seen better days. Plants get
> old and expensive to operate. Most companies don't
> put money back into the plant, so they get out
> dated. 

Not to mention the labor costs associated with operating in Orange County.  It doesn't make sense to make toilet paper in California when you can make it for less in the east.   

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not to mention the labor costs associated with
> operating in Orange County.  It doesn't make
> sense to make toilet paper in California when you
> can make it for less in the east.   

It might when fuel is $10 a gallon, which it likely will be at some point under the current administration.

The price of gas is falling because of more efficient ICE vehicles and the advent of electric vehicles. Times change,
My Dad spent his life in the oil business and I spent much of mine in newspapers, all of which are changing.
This is nothing new - I am 85 and have no desire to go back to the alleged "good old days."
Amazon makes it possible for me to shop from my home in a small town without having to drive at least 25 miles.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

MojaveBill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The price of gas is falling because of more
> efficient ICE vehicles and the advent of electric
> vehicles. Times change,
> My Dad spent his life in the oil business and I
> spent much of mine in newspapers, all of which are
> changing.
> This is nothing new - I am 85 and have no desire
> to go back to the alleged "good old days."
> Amazon makes it possible for me to shop from my
> home in a small town without having to drive at
> least 25 miles.

Where is the price of gas falling?    The current administration wishes for the price to go up, although I am not certain the current spike in price is due to anything they've done.