Steam & Excursion > SP 2454 on the Monterey Peninsula - Color!

The Monterey depot is still there and there are a couple of SPacifics still around.   What's the likelihood of repeating this scene in someone's lifetime?  
What's your opinion Carol?    :-)
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/16 15:33 by KMiddlebrook.

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Great photo and a good place the GGRM to move to if they fixed the Saliinas River Bridge.

Here's another image from the same set.   Where was the turntable in Pacific Grove?

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KMiddlebrook Wrote:
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> The Monterey depot is still there and there are a
> couple of SPacifics still around.   What's the
> likelihood of repeating this scene in someone's
> lifetime?  
> What's your opinion Carol?    :-)
>  xx
for starters, the branch has been cut off at the mainline since 1999.  The last estimation to rebuild the branc was about $40 mil, not including retrofitting the Salinas river bridge.  And that estimate was over 5 years ago.  The tracks end in theparking lot at Costco in     
Sand City. The ROW from  there to the Monterey depot is the dedicated rec trail and the neighbors and runners and bikers would be mighty unfriendly to the idea of any trains running there.  The depot is now owned by  Tanimura and Antle and is called The Marketplace for highpriced  veggies and deli food and wine.  One of the Pacifics is fenced off in Dennis the Menace park and the other is fenced off in a display next to the Salinas depot.  Thank the lawyers.  .  No--- I dont think there will be steam on the Monterey branch in the future. 
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Hi Ken,

A little more accurate information:

The former SP Monterey branch line is owned by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAM), Their goal is to restore light rail service over the former SP line:

http://www.tamcmonterey.org/programs/rail/monterey-branch-line/

Whether or not this happens is up to stane and local funding and the voters. The goal all along was to preserve the rail line for future use in to Monterey. TAMC allows renters (such as Seaside Porsche, or Granite Rock) to use the former ROW, but per their individual lease agreements, no permanent structures can be built which would prevent future use of the line. There are obstructions build over the former rail line in places, but nothing permanent.

The "visible" tracks end in Sand City by the Costco on Tioga, from there the rails are buried or partially buried underneath the recreational trail all the way to Del Monte beach/Municipal wharf #2. The rails are gone from there (Monterey) to Asilomar except for a few spots where the rails were left in place in road crossings. 

The former Monterey depot is owned by the city of Monterey and is leased to Tanimura & Antle corporation for use as a produce market/deli that sells sandwiches, wines, and local produce. I would love to see the depot used for its orignal purpose, but we'll have to see if that ever happens. 

Engine 1285 in Dennis the Menace park is a class S-14 0-6-0 switcher engine, engine 1237 in Salinas is a class S-10 0-6-0 switch engine. Neither one are Pacific class engines, which are 4-6-2
P-Class engines. 

Forgot to add, the PG turntable was locacted just next to the depot on what was then Bennett street. Today, not a trace of the rail line remains in PG, the site is occupied by the Monarch Pines mobile home parl on the corner of Ocean View Ave and 17th street. 



Hope that helps,

Dave

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/16 17:33 by kilroydiver.

a little more clarification--- if we assume that TAMC gets the rail upgraded fir  any kind if service (after they get the next tax increase passed in Nov, that is) and after they get the toll road built next to 156 from 101, and if the GGRM puts the 2472 in Santa Cruz and the track is fixed so it can get all the way to Watsonville, and UP lets them run it on the mainline to the Monterey branch which will have to be reconnected, then yes, piece of cake---we will have steam on the branch once more.  Dave is absolutely correct.  :-)

PS--and the ROW rec trail runs all the way to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove and the signals are still on the trail near Cannery Row where Doc Ricketts was killed by a train in 1948.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/16 18:37 by CarolVoss.

Carol,

It's too bad that politicians own the tracks, otherwise things could have moved along a lot faster to restoring service! I for one would love to ride over the rails someday.

Fingers crossed...

Dave


 

It would be nice to see them set up like the NWP in Marin. 

In the second photo, note the green shingles on the roof of the water tank.  This was a common SP practice (most photos of green-shingled water tank roofs on the SP I've seen are of 65,000-gallon steel water tanks.  The tank in this photo is wooden).



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/16 14:58 by johnsweetser.

Awesome is the only word.  Late 40's?

Hard to imagine how many servicemen road those trains to Ft Ord over the years....

BTW Carol, when did the Monterey area really begin the shift to an all out tourist economy?
I remember a trip in the 60's with my folks.  Seems like there was significant Cannery activity
back then.

sphogger
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/16 16:46 by sphogger.

Every time we went to Monterey when I was growing up, I thought about how I could run a steam engine on those old tracks right up to the Aquarium!  Oh well, don't think it will happen in my lifetime.  Fun to dream though.  As for the change, it was touristy by the time I went to the cannery on a school field trip in the 80's, and I think the last cannery closed in the 70's.  The sardines collapsed in the 50's or 60's and that wiped out the canneries.  Think the aquarium helped bring in a lot of the tourist traffic, but maybe it was already headed that way.  One of my favorite places to visit, when it's not crowded.

Nathan