Nostalgia & History > Pacific Electric "Amoco Tower".

Pacific Electrics "Amoco Tower" handled all trains on the 4 track main line, trains entering/leaving the West End of Butte Street yard and all trains via the Santa Monica Air Line.

Picture was taken in 1904.

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Thats a real classic...never heard of that tower before. Thanks for sharing.

When was this picture taken? I do not see any overhead wires.

NscaleMike Wrote:
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> Thats a real classic...never heard of that tower
> before. Thanks for sharing.

In the days I lived in the LA area (1982-2001), I seem to recall that I would hear references to Amoco when listening to my scanner. I don't remember what railroad it was, but I noticed it because my father worked for Amoco (formerly Standard Oil, now BP) here in Whiting, Indiana. We pronounce it differently, with the accent on the first rather than the second syllable.

Starship_Conductor Wrote:
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> Pacific Electrics "Amoco Tower" handled all trains
> on the 4 track main line, trains entering/leaving
> the West End of Butte Street yard and all trains
> via the Santa Monica Air Line.

Wasn't "AMOCO TOWER", in later years, the one that was built into the signal bridge, straddling the PE 4-track mainline ??

KRK

KeyRouteKen Wrote:
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> Starship_Conductor Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Pacific Electrics "Amoco Tower" handled all
> trains
> > on the 4 track main line, trains
> entering/leaving
> > the West End of Butte Street yard and all
> trains
> > via the Santa Monica Air Line.
>
> Wasn't "AMOCO TOWER", in later years, the one
> that was built into the signal bridge, straddling
> the PE 4-track mainline ??
>
> KRK


Ah ha--I was right. Here are a couple of photos of AMOCO TOWER as most remember it..

Photo 1. During the PE Interurban days..

Photo 2. After the electrification was gone and the 4-track main reduced in size.

Cheers.

KRK

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I've been told that Amoco has nothing to do with petroleum, but is the acronym for American Olive Co. Regarding seeing the wires: On old photos it's often difficult to recognize trolley wire, especially the "direct suspension" style. "Catenary suspension" has more hardware in the sky and is easier to spot.

Old photos like that were made on orthochromatic film which was mostly sensitive to blue light. Consequently the sky tended to block up quickly. Also, lacking any anti-halation coatings, fine details against the sky were washed out by light scattering in the film base. I suspect that is why you don't see any wires against the sky in the first image.

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

The industry in the background is the "AMerican Olive COmpany", AMOCO!

And their byproduct is "really the pits."

Starship_Conductor Wrote:
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> The industry in the background is the "AMerican
> Olive COmpany", AMOCO!


The railroad pronunciation has always been AMOCA even though it is AMOCO. Kind of like pronouncing Missouri or Missourah !

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> And their byproduct is "really the pits."

ROTFLMAO!

Starship_Conductor Wrote:
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> The industry in the background is the "AMerican
> Olive COmpany", AMOCO!

I figured that Amoco had nothing to do with the petroleum company, since Standard Oil of Indiana became Amoco in the 60s, if I recall correctly.

That reminds me of another railroad place name in southern California -- Gemco -- that I once thought referred to the discount store (long gone now)of the same name, but it is really an acronym for something else.

colehour Wrote:
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>
> That reminds me of another railroad place name in
> southern California -- Gemco -- that I once
> thought referred to the discount store (long gone
> now)of the same name, but it is really an acronym
> for something else.

GEMCO = GEneral Motors COmpany. I work out of Gemco :-)

If you look closely at the first picture you can see the wire hangers, but not the wires themselves. They look like birds at first.

Does anyone have a nearby street intersection for this tower? This is in Long Beach correct?

TIA

BaltoJoey

Check out:
http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/describe.htm
for more info on this line and tower

BaltoJoey Wrote:
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> Does anyone have a nearby street intersection for
> this tower? This is in Long Beach correct?
>
> TIA
>
> BaltoJoey

This is in Los Angeles but it is off of Long Beach Ave., between 25th and 26th streets. Here's a shot of how it looks today. The Wilmington Sub. mainline is on the right, the double stack cars are in the Naduae siding and the two tracks to the far left are the Metro Blue line from LAUPT to Long Beach.-BMT

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According to the 1923 Los Angeles City Directory, The American Olive Co. was located on the corner of E. Adams St. (now Adams Blvd) and Long Beach Ave. This view is looking North from the the South side of the tracks. The red pushpin denotes Adams Blvd & Long Beach Ave. So this is very close to where Amoco tower stood.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1701+e+adams+st.,+los+angeles,+ca&sll=34.013,-118.243246&sspn=0.002428,0.004216&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1701+E+Adams+Blvd,+Los+Angeles,+California+90011&ll=34.015295,-118.243672&spn=0,0.004216&z=18&layer=c&cbll=34.013172,-118.242921&panoid=JJ307pqnFe4B1XgxklfCxg&cbp=12,282.85,,0,-1.98

BaltoJoey

PS: Thanks for answering my earlier question!

Starship_Conductor Wrote:
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> Pacific Electrics "Amoco Tower" handled all trains
> on the 4 track main line, trains entering/leaving
> the West End of Butte Street yard and all trains
> via the Santa Monica Air Line.
>
> Picture was taken in 1904.


The tower shown here did not last very long. In December of 1906, work started on the outer tracks of what would be come the four-track mainline. Since there was limited space in the right-of-way between streets, the new tower elevated above the tracks.
Info from Lines of the Pacific Electric bi Ira Swett.

Cliff