Western Railroad Discussion > Remembering the San Gabriel Switcher

April of 1972
September of 1984
September 5, 1987

All taken in El Monte, Calif. all my kodachromes !

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Very cool SP look back!!

Larry

Amazing Photos!

Love those locals.   Seeing the GP's and Switchers again is a great reminder of what railroading was like in the 80's.

I use to watch the SP "Locals" on the Coast Line from Gemco Yard to Chatsworth.  Good times...

Thank you for sharing.

Take care, be safe.

Northridge Switcher

SW1500 and a C-40-3? So awesome!

Back when a single switcher could handle a LOT of cars. Those days are long gone!

Bruce

Awesome trio. Yes, back in the eighties most of our (Santa Fe) locals and roadswitchers handled at least forty cars a day.
JB

An excellent trio of images, what a great look back. Thank you for sharing these images here.
—Michael

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> Awesome trio. Yes, back in the eighties most of
> our (Santa Fe) locals and roadswitchers handled at
> least forty cars a day.
> JB

That took experience and speed.  They're not valued by today's Class 1 management, or there'd be a reasonable duty cycle, adequate time off, accurate line ups and a done national labor contract.

mapboy

Great memories and super scans, Jay.

Thanks for sharing these,

Rich

Thanks Jay - Brings back great memories. We had the best of both worlds....Santa Fe name trains in Arcadia and heavy freight action in El Monte. Take care, Bob B.

Great look back!  Thanks for sharing these priceless photos!  The San Gabriel Switcher was always a high seniority daylight job that many times had to wait for hours in the clear at El Monte while mainline trains rolled by in both directions.  Many of its Customers were located off the single CTC mainline between El Monte and Alhambra.  The State Street Line gave SP Dispatchers an option to avoid Alhambra and subsequently more time for the San Gabriel to switch the industries.  The San Gabriel Switcher's cars were most often humped into Bowl 6 (the catch all track) at City of Industry.  If there was time, we would rehump Bowl 6 and sort the San Gabriel's cars into a different bowl track prior to on-duty time.

Pete
Camarillo, California

The corrugated metal building in photo 2 is the Gregg Iron Foundry.  One of their "inputs" was cut off ends of rails that had been cropped and welded for relay use.

Here's a miniature anvil that was probably given to customers.  I don't know if they made full-size anvils for blacksmiths and coyotes.

Third photo is probably from 1972, when I worked at Hoffman Electronics a few blocks north on Arden Dr.  The Ball Glass plant and the foundry are long gone now.
 

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