Nostalgia & History > San Bernardino Roundhouse March 1974

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/15 17:12 by atsffan.

Scan, scan, scan all you can! I was 8 years old at that time and drove by there every time we went to Grandma's house on Baseline St.


Adam

Good stuff. I look forward to more of your slide scans. The more the merrier.

Cheers,
Harry

I like the atmospheric sense of that overcast day.
You are documenting the world as it was, not how you wish it was.

The corrugated metal building on the upper right is the former firebrick shed, which had become the Radio Shop. This is where I was the night radio tech during 1969-70. The "Alligators" were coming to the end of their days, and the RSD-5's were long gone by 1974. The night shop supervisor came over to visit the shop every now and then, and once commented on my interest in Alco diesels: (something like) "They're junk! We ought to scrap every one of them. If you had to keep 'em running, you'd be all-EMD." Another time I had stopped to chat with a junior shop employee, who was cleaning up trash along the access road. He was going to complain to his union steward about being stuck with this menial task. When I mentioned this to the supervisor later that evening, he told me "Mr. (so-and-so) won't get very far. His job description says 'and such other work as may be assigned.'"

Speaking of radio, RSD-15 9844 was one of the first Santa Fe units fitted with RCE master gear for controlling mid-train helpers on the York Canyon-Fontana coal trains. I don't see the pair of antennas on the roof in this photo, and I suspect the gear had been pulled by 1974.

Wow...really cool! I was only 10 years old in 1974 and my first trip to San Bernardino to watch trains wasn't until 4 years later. Looks like it changed a bit by the time I got there from how it was in 1974.

A 41-mile ride each way? Holy cow! I thought the 20-25 mile rides I used to take as a kid to watch trains were crazy. Try to do that around there today though and you'd either get bike-jacked or run over by one of the locals. Post more when you can!