Western Railroad Discussion > Shocking sight at UP's Tracy, CA yard

Today, I had a trip out to Stockton to help a new rowing team get going.  Along the way, I swung thru old town Tracy, where SP's lines back in the day met.  The Moccoco Line, the Altamont Line and West Side Line all converged in the downtown Tracy yard.  

I remember delivering many truck loads of tomatoes to the Heinz tomato cannery in town, and SP was always busy switching them, along with Holly Sugar, the Defense Depot and other customers in town.  The summer air smelled wonderful with spices and herbs and tomato sauce cooking away...but now the Heinz plant is a giant, generic storage warehouse.

East of the old Tracy yard is the new Tracy yard.  I could see boxcars, so I headed that way.  UP still switches 4-5 customers in Tracy, using hoppers, reefers and tanks, while also accepting big train loads of boxcars from California Northern, mostly filled with tomato paste and other products from canneris along the Wide Side line.

As I approached the "new" Tracy yard on the quiet parallel road, I was dumbfounded and shocked at what I saw:  2 long lines of stored UP engines, mostly SD-70M's, GE's and some SD-60's.  But the shocking part was this:  it appears UP is barely protecting the units!  Almost every locomotive had doors open, missing parts, no horns, radiator areas torn apart, entire air tanks alongside the frame fallen on the ground, no engine number boards, cab doors WIDE OPEN, graffiti all over many units, radiator grills missing or tossed on the ground, batteries gone, valves and other plumbing tampered with, etc, etc, etc.  I have never seen so many relatively new, still useful locomotives subjected to such vandalism!!!  The yard is not secure, and almost every unit had been ransacked in some way.  I actually had to stop and really look at it all to believe my own eyes.

These were mostly SD-70M's, and GE C44's.  UP spent a royal foturne buying 1400+ SD-70M's to keep things fluid after inheriting SP's decrepit diesels.  And yet now, UP's engines are being destroyed, piece by piece, because of pure negligence!    It was so, so sad to see, and frustrating, too.  Is this any way to run a business?!  HELL NO.  Many engineers seem to love the SD-70M's, and yet here they are, being picked clean instead of earning a dollar.  I'm not kidding--if UP had to move these units, they would have A TON OF WORK to do to make them operational again.

Am I missing something here?  Am I reading too much into what I saw?  Is Omaha even aware of their expensive assets out in Tracy, CA?  Some of the units even appeared to have a new paint job and wings, before being stored.  As I drove away, I was speechless, and it made me really, really miss the old days in Tracy, when such things didn't exist.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/23 02:06 by coach.

California isn't the smartest place to park a bunch of locomotives... maybe they can now insurance claim them.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/23 05:13 by goduckies.

It is the Utter Pathetic at its best!

Its all ok down there supprised there are not squatters living in them. CA is such a wonderful place. And there laws, wow, look at how well they work for some people as they only exist for those who choose to abide by them.  UP has the ones which used to be stored at Klamath Falls moved down to old SP track in NE CA outside  Canby.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/23 08:07 by BAB.

I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to make statements like, "this happens everywhere," "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really isn't happening", "California's soft stance on crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc.  Was UP stupid for leaving any piece of valuable property in California these days?  Absolutely.  Believe it or not, there are places outside of California where locomotives have been stored for months or years with mininal theft or vandalism.  If I was a UP executive, I would order every non-essential piece of railroad equipment moved out of California AT ONCE.  A state that can not protect citizens, businesses, or their property from criminals isn't really a functioning state.

Its really  not a big problem until "they" jack up the locos and steal the wheels..
RB

From my time on the railroad the railroads were self insured. NO insurance company to make a claim to....

goduckies Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> California isn't the smartest place to park a
> bunch of locomotives... maybe they can now
> insurance claim them.
>
> Posted from Android

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Railroads are not self insured but the deductible is very, very high.

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

About 10 stored UP units at Sidney, NE, are safe and vandal free along the Sidney Subdivision in cold and snowy western Nebraska as of Monday, 23 January 2023.  The SD70 Tier 4 units that were stored here are all gone.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/23 09:44 by cozephyr.

---

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to
> make statements like, "this happens everywhere,"
> "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are
> being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really
> isn't happening", "California's soft stance on
> crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc. 
> Was UP stupid for leaving any piece of valuable
> property in California these days?  Absolutely. 
> Believe it or not, there are places outside of
> California where locomotives have been stored for
> months or years with mininal theft or vandalism. 
> If I was a UP executive, I would order every
> non-essential piece of railroad equipment moved
> out of California AT ONCE.  A state that can not
> protect citizens, businesses, or their property
> from criminals isn't really a functioning state.

Most of the locomotives UPRR INC stored in Kansas City have been stripped like a hoard (swarm?) of locusts had gone through.

Kansas City isn’t in California, BTW.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Tracy is a location unknown to the UP Board of Directors
- oh, wait.
...Lorenzo

bobwilcox Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Railroads are not self insured but the deductible
> is very, very high.
Back in the day, they were self insured

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bobwilcox Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Railroads are not self insured but the
> deductible
> > is very, very high.
> Back in the day, they were self insured

Which Class Ones are not self insured? And who carries them, Lloyd’s of London?

Regards

Posted from iPhone

UP also has abunch stored in Dunsmuir, CA which dont look to have the same issues.  UP stored many east of Tucson without much issues a few years ago.

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to
> make statements like, "this happens everywhere,"
> "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are
> being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really
> isn't happening", "California's soft stance on
> crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc. 
> Was UP stupid for leaving any piece of valuable
> property in California these days?  Absolutely. 
> Believe it or not, there are places outside of
> California where locomotives have been stored for
> months or years with mininal theft or vandalism. 
> If I was a UP executive, I would order every
> non-essential piece of railroad equipment moved
> out of California AT ONCE.  A state that can not
> protect citizens, businesses, or their property
> from criminals isn't really a functioning state.

OK, lets dump on CA.  DO u live here?  If so, why.   I moved here from the east coast, and wouldnt move back for all the tea in china, so to speak.   No place is perfect, and I dont back violence or crime or letting ppl off, but I like facist police states even less. 
I support common sense and thinking and compromise and solutions.  I dont like the far left or far right.   But thje far right is too close to Nazism for my comfort.
At any rate, basing California is not warrented.  You dotn have to live here.  If you want to tell me where you live, if its outside CA, I'll be happy to bash it for you, and you can see how u feel.

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to
> make statements like, "this happens everywhere,"
> "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are
> being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really
> isn't happening", "California's soft stance on
> crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc. 
> Was UP stupid for leaving any piece of valuable
> property in California these days?  Absolutely. 
> Believe it or not, there are places outside of
> California where locomotives have been stored for
> months or years with mininal theft or vandalism. 
> If I was a UP executive, I would order every
> non-essential piece of railroad equipment moved
> out of California AT ONCE.  A state that can not
> protect citizens, businesses, or their property
> from criminals isn't really a functioning state.

What a sad and trashy response. Grow up. California has 37.25 million people and Tracy is located within 100 miles of 1/2 that population. Of course those locomotives are going to turn into a pick-n-pull salvage yard. One of the most beautiful deadlines I have ever seen is in Donkey creek WY where the locomotives are in prestine condition... but then you realize that less than 100,000 people live within 100 miles of there. This is 100% on UP for chosing a location so close to dense population centers. I'm guessing that you're a "non-essential" person that has left the great state of California. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/23 14:48 by SCUfoamer.

Open your eyes, much of this country is that way now.

goduckies Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> California isn't the smartest place to park a
> bunch of locomotives... 

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to
> make statements like, "this happens everywhere,"
> "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are
> being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really
> isn't happening", "California's soft stance on
> crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc. 

Geeze, you make it out like California has the highest crime rate in the country.  Crime indexes show California is within the average curve of 50 states. Our crime rate is lower than some midwestern states such as Kansas and Missouri. Here is an interesting index summing up crime stats in all 50 states:  https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/crime-rate-by-state

Parking locomotives near any urban center is going to be problematic. Back in the early 2000s I came across a mostly SP deadline tucked away in an industrial park in Oxnard, CA and the locomotives were stripped by commodity thieves. (see photo) If they were not destined to be placed back into service then perhaps protecting them or moving them somewhere else was going to be more costly than letting thieves stripping them. It doesn't matter what major urban area you park them next too, if you leave something of value unprotected in time the value will will be carted away.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

---

Drknow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WW Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to
> > make statements like, "this happens
> everywhere,"
> > "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are
> > being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really
> > isn't happening", "California's soft stance on
> > crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc. 
> > Was UP stupid for leaving any piece of valuable
> > property in California these days? 
> Absolutely. 
> > Believe it or not, there are places outside of
> > California where locomotives have been stored
> for
> > months or years with mininal theft or
> vandalism. 
> > If I was a UP executive, I would order every
> > non-essential piece of railroad equipment moved
> > out of California AT ONCE.  A state that can
> not
> > protect citizens, businesses, or their property
> > from criminals isn't really a functioning
> state.
>
> Most of the locomotives UPRR INC stored in Kansas
> City have been stripped like a hoard (swarm?) of
> locusts had gone through.
>
> Kansas City isn’t in California, BTW.
>
> Regards
>
> Posted from iPhone

Some by the mechanical department trying to find parts.

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm waiting for the "California apologists" to
> make statements like, "this happens everywhere,"
> "it's the railroad's fault that locomotives are
> being destroyed by criminals,"  "this really
> isn't happening", "California's soft stance on
> crime and criminals isn't causing this", etc. 
> Was UP stupid for leaving any piece of valuable
> property in California these days?  Absolutely. 
> Believe it or not, there are places outside of
> California where locomotives have been stored for
> months or years with mininal theft or vandalism. 
> If I was a UP executive, I would order every
> non-essential piece of railroad equipment moved
> out of California AT ONCE.  A state that can not
> protect citizens, businesses, or their property
> from criminals isn't really a functioning state.

I have always found it curious why some folks love to hate California.  But getting back to trashed locomotives, many years ago when I was in the locomotive leasing business and CP still ran across Maine to get to St. John, CP had to move some of our locomotives out of Canada for customs purposes, so they stored them on a remote siding in the Maine woods.  We are talking about in the middle of nowhere, no towns, no roads, nada. Only access was by hiking or in the winter snowmobiles.  But it didn't take loing for the bad guys to get to our locomotives and smash every window and every gauge, and I mean every.  They didn't steal anything, just wanton destruction.  And it was about 30 locomotives....I mean the vandals went to a LOT of work to do what they did.  Makes you wonder.

JBWX