Western Railroad Discussion > Cuesta Grade history trivia questions

I've been curious about a few aspects of Cuesta since I was a boy...

1) When was the tunnel at the promontory railroad west of Serrano bypassed with a cut around the tunnel, and why?

2) Although they may have been removed in the past several years, for a long time there were the hulks of wrecked boxcars neatly put on a hilltop in full view of passing trains railroad west of Chorro. It appears as if they tumbled down the hillside in a big derailment, and were then put atop the hill and left there. When was the original wreck, and why were they not cleared away?

3) I vaguely remember hearing a Salinas news report in 1990 that a local railfan had died while riding a freight over Cuesta, and that he likely had been thrown from an open boxcar by the motion of the train. Does this ring any bells?

just curious...thanks in advance.... Geoff

1) Tunnel 10 and it was slipping. Also according to SP crews, it was in a nasty spot to derail.

2) Lots of derailments on Cuesta over the years..

3) News to me..

They went around old tunnel 10 in the late 60s. It was moving with the mountain. You could drive through it until the 70s when part of it caved in. Before that, you could really see it being squished at the top. The worst part was the whole mountain was still moving. They poured rip-rap and fill over the edge with peices coming out the bottom a year later, down in the canyon.

They had a side drill working there for years to drain the water. The origional curve around the tunnel was 14 degrees. After 2 or 3 deraiments in the early 70s, they reworked the whole area but the mountain continues to move.

There was a tank car right in that curve that was pushed over to the side and the Forest Service was going to use it for fire service. I was on the helper when it popped out 5 cars in front of us as we went into emergency for another reason. We had gons in front of us so we had a front row seat. It went up and kinked in the middle like a beer can. It was mty but the pressure in it shot both safety valves in the dome up in the sky like bullets. When we came to a stop, the rear truck had dropped off and rolled up the front truck but we were still coupled. (Loved the swing mans statement after we stopped, "Gee, you don't see that too often"

We closed the angle cock on the front porition and we were able to pull the pin. The head end pulled ahead about 10 cars. I then cut in our air and pushed and pulled until the knuckels passed on the tank car. I then backed up a few car lengths and stopped. There was a speed swing sitting there so a MofW guy from the side drill outfit, got in it and put a chain around one end and pulled. It rolled off the rail like a dead dog. He did the same with the trucks. Two more pulls at either end got it into the clear. The track was OK so we moved down and coupled up to the front porition, got our air and went to town. Total time we were stopped was 45". Most of that time was for the head end to replace a broken air hose that coused it in the first place.

There are some car parts at the little Horse Shoe from a derailment in the eary 70s. A set of trucks that took a side trip after one Dan Torry, Trainmaster from Salinas, thaought he knew more than the guy that ran Biggie Crane Service. ( You don't mess with these guys. You just stand back and let them do their thing. He put a set of cables on a truck and gave a lift sign. We all stood back and waited. Up came the frame and off went the wheels down the hill. You could see the fence go down a trees shake. They had to go down with a cat to get the wheels but one of them is still in crotch of a tree. I had my 16mm with me and have it on film. Dan also tried to pull a trailer that was on its side, up on its wheels with a cable. Like a knife through butter. Trailer was scrapped on the spot, AFTER it was unloaded. It was full of steel case files.


Nudge

My mother second husband was on a B&B gang based out of Santa Margarita. They had one projects they worked on was the bypass on tunnel 10. Tunnel 10 was a problem child for B&B crews. After the bypass there seemed to be quite a number of derailments due to the sharp curve that is encountered. I remember driving down 101 one to San Luis Obispo and seeing a SP Eastbound going arond tunnel 10. The next thing was alot of dust in the air. My mom pulled the car to one of the wide spots on 101. When the dust settled there where about 10-12 freigt cars on there sides or just off the tracks! Needless to say i was going to the Amtrak station in San Luis to hang out! I remember the road foreman of engines Augie Jess and the train master Bill Giles cursing and yelling due to the fact of the derailment. I dont blame these guys at all. There quiet starting day ,just become mor complicated due to the derailment.

Railgoblin.

> Trainmaster from Salinas, thaought he knew more
> than the guy that ran Biggie Crane Service. ( You
> don't mess with these guys. You just stand back
> and let them do their thing. He put a set of
> cables on a truck and gave a lift sign. We all
> stood back and waited. Up came the frame and off
> went the wheels down the hill. You could see the
> fence go down a trees shake. They had to go down
> with a cat to get the wheels but one of them is
> still in crotch of a tree.

There's our MDC for the week, at least close to it.

I had my 16mm with me
> and have it on film.
>

Would be interesting to see that on Trainorders Video archive.
Funny story.

I have tried to send some old pictures I have taken through the years but have not figured out how, yet. I have some super 8 stuff that I had put in VHS tape, work train at the old depot at Surf with Shorty Wheeler getting on the power as we went by, firing on 98 & 99 with the speedo sitting on 80, etc. I have a few stills of switching the commutes at 7th St and some of the Jct and of course, SLO.

I am going to try to get Tony J to give me a quick course in April or May when he has time.

Nudge