Steam & Excursion > A Classic Steam Railroad Sight In A Long Gone Era That's Past!

The sight of a short freight train made up of wooden freight cars being pulled by an aging steam locomotive is one that we can only remember in photos like this one.  While these were once common sights in everyday America, that is over 5 decades ago.

In the late 1930's the Tidewater Southern was still running these short freights out of Stockton and the surrounding towns in Central California every day of the week.  On this particular day, 10-wheeler #1 has the honors as she skirts her train across this long wooden trestle as she makes her way to her next stop.

This scene too would have been lost for all time, but for the quick thinking of a railfan who saved it for us on film.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/20 02:42 by LoggerHogger.

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Most likely few of us have ever thought of how our photos preserve history and make the past more available to the future. Your postings of various photographers' images show this in a wonderful way. You not only post a photo but also give an interesting commentary. Thanks for sharing so many images.
Bob

LoggerHogger Wrote:

> In the late 1930's the Tidewater Southern was
> still running these short freights out of Stockton
> and the surrounding towns in Central California
> every day of the week.  On this particular day,
> 10-wheeler #1 has the honors as she skirts her
> train across this long wooden trestle as she makes
> her way to her next stop.

That's the Tuolumne River bridge coming into Modesto, CA, with the Ninth St. bridge just to the left.  The next stop is the tiny TS yard and the Modesto & Empire Traction interchange only a block or two away.  After a bit of switching, the train will pick up an electric locomotive to escort it down the middle of Ninth St. through the heart of town; see the photo and explanation in this old thread:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3534857

As a Western Pacific subsidiary, the Tidewater Southern eventually became just another branch line of the Union Pacific.  After the UP-SP merger, UP put in a switch where the TS crossed the SP just south of Modesto and abandoned the Ninth St. trackage in 1999.  The Tidewater's Tuolumne River bridge burned down two years later.

refarkas Wrote:

> Most likely few of us have ever thought of how our
> photos preserve history and make the past more
> available to the future.

Don't most of us take photos with exactly that thought in mind?

Outstanding!  So few photos of actual trains on the Tidewater, particularly in the steam era.  Decently documented in the 1970s, but to see such a great photo from the wood car era is awesome.

Shame TS 1 was not preserved.  Built for the Rio Grande Western as their 39 in 1891 by Rome Locomotive Works.  B/N 672.  It was one of three ex-RGW 4-6-0s that the Rio Grande sold to Western Pacific related roads beween 1916 and 1917.  It also had the shortest career of any Western Pacific locomotive, being sold to the WP as their 126 in August 1917 and then sold to the Tidewater in January 1918.

It would run in the Central Valley for almost 30 years before being scrapped in October 1947, last survivor of the RGW 4-6-0s.

Z 

Thank you profusely for sharing this image from my old home town. 1930’s action photos of the Tidewater Southern are considerably hard to find.

Ryan Barber
Stockton, CA

Does that bridge actually have some superelevation on the curve?  Sure looks like it.  Never seen that on a bridge before.

coach Wrote:
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> Does that bridge actually have some superelevation
> on the curve?  Sure looks like it.  Never seen
> that on a bridge before.

Lots of bridges that are on curves have superelevation built into them. 
About the only exceptions would be ballasted deck bridges where the superelevation is put in the normal way, with the ballast.