Steam & Excursion > Some Steam Trains Simply Followed The Route Of The Power Lines!

Many railroads were laid out to follow the gentle grades of rivers and streams along their routes to simply ease the grades for the railroad.  On other occasions, the railroads followed the paths of other utilities in the urban areas to concentrate all such services in one route.  We see such a route in this photo.

The year is 1941 and Ralph Demoro waited underneath the power lines and phone lines along Stanford Avenue in Oakland, California to capture the approach of this AT&SF freight train.  Besides Demoro, there is only one lone pedestrian to watch the local freith as it runs along the grass filled right-of-way.

World War II was just a few months away when Demoro captured this scene with his camera.  For now, however, life in this country was a bit slower and somewhat more informal.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/19 02:53 by LoggerHogger.

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Or, in our part of he country, the utilities followed the railroad right-of-way when
electrification finally came under FDR's depression-era "Rural Electrification" with
co-operative power companies.  This area was really dark at night until the mid-1930s.
While kerosene lamps are nostalgic, the amount of light given out is minimal.
SR2 in Minnesota

Looks like the owners of the S.T. Johnson company took full advantage of the free advertising space.
Who owns the electric railroad tracks?

Charlie

Posted from iPhone

LoggerHogger Wrote:

> Many railroads were laid out to follow the gentle
> grades of rivers and streams along their routes to
> simply ease the grades for the railroad.  On
> other occasions, the railroads followed the paths
> of other utilities in the urban areas to
> concentrate all such services in one route.  We
> see such a route in this photo.

The "other utility" Santa Fe followed to reach Oakland was the right-of-way of the defunct California & Nevada Railway, which was built in the 1880's before the power lines showed up.  Santa Fe bought the right-of-way from Francis "Borax" Smith in 1902, but Smith retained some rights in the Emeryville area for his own electric street railway empire that would eventually become the Key System.  That's what the "power lines" to the left are, the overhead for the paralleling Key System H line, which would be abandoned in 1941.   

> The year is 1941 and Ralph Demoro waited
> underneath the power lines and phone lines along
> Stanford Avenue in Oakland, California to capture
> the approach of this AT&SF freight train. 

Santa Fe's tracks didn't run on Stanford Ave, but crossed them at nearly a right angle at Golden Gate Tower.  The cantilevered semaphore in the distance is the home signal for the tower, protecting the crossing of the SP electric line that did run on Stanford.  The Santa Fe tracks here were on Lowell St. The brick building to the right still stands:

https://goo.gl/maps/BaAkQhEyDaX5ULZr9

Another photo in the sequence Demoro took is in this old thread:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2133923

See also:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,876044



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/19 01:35 by Evan_Werkema.

Wow, that area has sure changed!

 atsf121 Wrote:

> Wow, that area has sure changed!

Strange to say, just about all the buildings visible in Demoro's photo are still standing and recognizable.  They are just hidden by the vegetation and junk now occupying the former Key System right-of-way. 

The reference tothe street view is amazing, move down that street and you can see the slightly taller metal building on the left and the skinny house with the angled front on the right side. Very surprising, another interesting post.
t4p.