Western Railroad Discussion > Nice Rainy Cinco de Mayo and 6th On The BNSF-A Bit Of Traction

It was another nice showery day in Ritzville, WA on the BNSF Lakeside Sub on the Northern Transcon The high-low was 57-42 with .07 of rain so far. We can use all the rain we can get with the present drought. Traffic is at 24 trains since midnight with more on the way Here are some trains from yesterday and today and a bit of Traction.

5/5/2022

1. WB 1209pm garbage/manifest train with BNSF 7914 and FXE 4627 on the point with no DPU in the rain.
2. WB 1227pm manifest train with BNSF 7860-745 on the pull with no DPU.
3. WB 113pm ethanol train with BNSF 6429-5337 on the point with DPU.

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4. DPU BNSF 6616 on same train.
5. WB 252pm oil train with BNSF 6970-7907 on the pull with DPU's.
6. DPU's CN 2690 and BNSF 7339 on same train.
 

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7. EB 348pm manifest train with BNSF 5 unit Orange Blast on the point with no DPU. A break in the rain.
8. WB 428pm grain train with BNSF 6312 and CN 2585 on the pull with DPU.
9. Another shot of CN 2585 on same train.

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10. DPU BNSF 8775 on same train.

5/6/2022

11. WB 1001am work train with BNSF 6968 on the point with no DPU.
12. The End of work train.

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13. WB 1054am "Q or Z" train with BNSF 6149-5495 on the pull with DPU in the rain.
14. TOFC rolling in same train.
15. DPU BNSF 4616 on same train.

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16. Grab shot of EB 214pm stack train with BNSF 5726. FXE 4070 and BNSF 5339-7749-6525-4678 on the point with no DPU.
17. Another shot of FXE 4070 on same train.
18. Stacks rolling in same train.

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Now for a bit of Traction from the Andy Goddard collection.

19. Pacific Electric Hollywood car 5137 on Fairfax Ave in 1954. Extra info welcomed Charlie. An Alan Weeks photo.
20. Pacific Electric 1546 on a Charter in the 1950's. Need location help. Jerry Squire photo
21. Los Angeles Transit Lines PCC 3165 J Car in the 1950's. Need location help. Jerry Squire photo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/22 15:58 by Ritzville.

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22. OT--Front end of Men Wanted Los Angeles bus in the 1950's. Need location help.

That's it for today. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Thank you so much for looking!

Larry
Ritzville, WA

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Interesting traffic flow with some foreign power for variety.

The ewmployment bus was an interesting recruitment concept.

Thanks for another excellent and interesting posting.

ALLEN

Great photo Larry of the BNSF 745!!
Thank you very much for catching that one I really like it.
One of the first of 3 Heritage II or Premium Heritage paint schemes
(739, 740,and 745). Just a little bit of info and interest for the sake of it.
Take good care Larry.
- Andy

Nice work today Larry. The rain makes them look shiny. Cool work train and all the foreign power
Brian Stevens

Posted from iPhone

EDIT: Well, I guess its time for eating some proverbial Crow.

While browsing the great pacificelectric.org website in trying to research more info about PE's
operations in the Hollywood area, I opened a photo attributed to the Ralph Cantos collection.
The photo shows another Hollywood car opposite the white home with the steeply-pitched roof 
we see in Larry's photo 19. Ralph captions his photo: "Pacific Electric streetcar no. 5133 rolls
down Hawthorn Avenue (at Fuller) in this January 1953 image". I have revisited my sources and
find that the ..."Hawthorn Avenue (at Fuller)..." is correct as PE's route between Hollywood Blvd
and Santa Monica Blvd via Gardner Jct utilized both private right of way and street running, of which
2 blocks were on Hawthorn Ave and included the crossing of Fuller Ave as Mr Cantos has correctly
observed.
For those who don't know, Ralph Cantos is an acknowledged expert on the history of PE, and has
written much in sharing his expertise on the subject. With this said, I withdraw my comments about
PE car 5137 and my error of mis-identifying the location as being on Santa Monica Blvd.
My further comments about PE's freight service along Santa Monica Blvd and into Beverly Hills remain.

No 19; After doing some research, I'm convinced we're looking at Hollywood car 5137 about 6 blocks
west of Fairfax Ave, on Santa Monica Blvd; about to enter Pacific Electrics private right of way which 
will pass PE's West Hollywood carhouse en route to Beverly Hills and the end of passenger rail service.
This portion of PE's operation has the distinction of hosting PE's very last electric freight service, the result
of a city ordinance prohibiting diesel locomotives on Santa Monica Blvd between the West Hollywood
yard and Seward St in downtown Hollywood, which provided access to PE's Hollywood freight station. 
Two electric locomotives, 1622 and 1624 were thus saved (the 1624 lives on today at Perris) until 1958 when
PE was apparently able to get relief from the city fathers and the electrics were retired in favor of diesels. Switching
continued from the West Hollywood terminal utilizing the double-tracks we see car 5137 on for a distance of 2.2 miles
eastward from West Hollywood to Hollywood. Not until sometime in the early 70's, but before 1975, were the tracks
east of Beverly Hills, including Continental Baking's operation, abandoned.

No 20 is on a railfan charter using LAMTA 1546. Here we see the car accelerating outbound after stopping (per
the special instructions) at Del Amo Blvd en route to Long Beach. (Note the non-official air horns positioned
just above the closest rail---"wattslocal" Ray: know anything about these?)

No 21: I'd say the LAMTA 3165 is headed southward on Pacific Ave en route to Huntington Park on the J-Line.

No 22 is the front end of the "Employment Bus" we saw yesterday. Franklin's Department Store was at 8615 S Vermont Ave.
The line had been abandoned in May, 1955. Doesn't look as though they wasted any time removing the rails

Charlie


 
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/22 23:09 by cewherry.

#22 The furniture store building is gone and the streetview shows homeless debris. The ROW has been used for the street.

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Thanks Allen, Andy, Brian, Charlie and Railpax71 for all your interesting comments and street scene. Thanks Charlies for all your special info, much appreciated!

Larry