Steam & Excursion > This Terminal Was A Very Busy Place During The Days Of Steam!

Southern Pacific's Mission Bay enginehouse and yards certainly saw their share of steam movements on any given day.  Both with the daily freight trains being made up there along with the commuter and Daylight trains that received servicing at this facility, it was a mecca for any railfan in the 1930's through the 1940's as we see in this fine photo.

On this day SP #4456 rides the turntable in the foreground while one of her Daylight sister engines powers her Daylight passenger trains in the backgound.  Also in view are the ever-present 0-6-0 switchers that toiled all through the day making up the freight consists for the next freight to leave the yards.

All in all, Mission Bay was a busy place!

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/19 05:21 by LoggerHogger.

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What a very cool scene.  Many thanks for sharing!

Do I see the tender of SP 4444?

John.

jkh2cpu Wrote:
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> Do I see the tender of SP 4444?
>
> John

Yes, you see the tender and the entire #4444 locomotive.

Martin.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/19 07:11 by LoggerHogger.

My old stomping ground. I took my first railfan photo from the turntable while on a cub scout outing in 1954. Later that year I got my one and only cab ride in a SP steam locomotive there. (4-8-2 SP4337). Potrero Tower is in the photo. I became friend with a Mr. Boyd, one of the towermen. I managed to save some of the Potrero Tower log books before it was demolished. 

​Other than the double track mainline where the Daylight painted locomtoive train is rolling behind Poterro Tower, there is nothing left to let a person know a railroad roundhouse and yard once was there. The roundhouse and Potrero Tower shut down in 1960. Interstate 280 stradles above the mainline into The City. Mission Bay Yard and the roundhouse site is now covered with high-tech, health care and other business buildings. - Tony J.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/19 08:41 by TonyJ.

I would guess that the view is looking more or less toward the west, so that must be the Noon Daylight leaving town in the background?

Great scene!

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Right -- so apparently 1949 or earlier.

timz Wrote:
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> Right -- so apparently 1949 or earlier.

But post 1946 because the tenders only have Southern Pacific and not Southern Pacific Lines on them.

I'm wondering if the GS on the turntable is the power off the Lark......though this being the noon hour makes me wonder if that is so.  Would she have already been serviced in the roundhouse, and is being spotted on the ready track (presumably for tonight's Coaster or Lark)?

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Four blanks in the numberboards, so maybe
it was on a second section.

timz Wrote:
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> Four blanks in the numberboards, so maybe
> it was on a second section.

That would be true of any SP locomotive not part of a train.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Some time back Google Earth uploaded historic aerial photos from 1938 and 1946 covering most of San Francisco.  It allows for comparisons across time such as these two.  I tried placing one image on top of the other with varying transparencies, but the images are just too busy to be able to make much sense. 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

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agentatascadero Wrote:
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> timz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Four blanks in the numberboards, so maybe
> > it was on a second section.
>
> That would be true of any SP locomotive not part
> of a train.
>
> AA

Also, I believe on SP the final section of a train carried only the train number. For instance,  an eastbound Lark with 2 sections would be as follows: First section: 1-75, second section: 75. 

 

Far as anyone knows, that started after 1949.

If the engine had arrived on just-plain-76,
it would likely have two white spaces
in the numberboards rather than four.

ATSF3751 Wrote:
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> agentatascadero Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > timz Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Four blanks in the numberboards, so maybe
> > > it was on a second section.
> >
> > That would be true of any SP locomotive not
> part
> > of a train.
> >
> > AA
>
> Also, I believe on SP the final section of a train
> carried only the train number. For instance,  an
> eastbound Lark with 2 sections would be as
> follows: First section: 1-75, second section:
> 75. 
>
>  
In one of those oopsie moments, ATSF has the Lark going the wrong direction......75 would be a westbound train.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA