Nostalgia & History > even more from Goleta and SB

Three more photos at the Goleta Depot.

1 - SP SDP45 leads the Amtrak Coast Starlight Westbound with another SDP45 going by the Goleta Depot on August 19th, 1972. like most of the SDP45s, this one has the large SP on the nose. Also notice most of the rolling stock is still lettered for SP.
2 - Another shot of the Amtrak Coast Starlight going by the Goleta depot from one of my favorite vantage points. In other words taken on January 27th, 1974 from a boxcar on the depot spur track. The train is still led by two SP SDP45s with the #3206 in the lead. This engine has the smaller SP on the nose. Also notice most of the rolling stock is now lettered for Amtrak. The station is now boarded up showing that it is no longer in service for the SP.
3 - Last shot at Goleta shows the wig-wag crossing signal at Kellog Rd just East of the Goleta Depot. We are looking North at it on January 27th, 1974.

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6 deadheads on the first one

These three photos are in Santa Barbara and illustrate again where East trains could be waiting for Westbound trains as mentioned in one of the previous threads.
1 - First shot shows the caboose #4303 on the end of an East train where the head end is at the wait signal about a mile to the left. Meanwhile another East train led by U33C #8617 with an SD45 and another U33C have pulled up and stopped behind the caboose of the previous train to wait for the Amtrak Coast Starlight Westbound.Photo taken on September 11th, 1974. By the way, isn't that a dangerous tank car just ahead of the caboose?
2 - SP U28B #7027 with 9154 and another unit wait for the Westbound Amtrak Coast Starlight in the Santa Barbara Yard just west of Milpas St. This train was short enough to fit between Santa Barbara St. and Milpas St. in the yard. Photo taken on October 24th, 1974.
3 - SP SD35 #6907 on the point of an East train was given permission to pull down past the WAIT signal and is stopped just West of Montecitio St. West of the Santa Barbara Station. The crew would do this so that they could go to the little store or the burger joint just on the southside of the tracks on Montecito St. I show the train had 59 cars in my notes. Photo taken April 30th, 1976. The normal location for a waiting Eastbound would be back on the other side of the Castillo St. bridge at the signal seen in the distance which had the WAIT lit up on it.

C.C.Chas.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/12 17:12 by choochoocharlie.

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Ouch...anyone else miss the SP? Great photos.

Adam

Could be an empty tank

I miss the SP. Loved to see the oilcans coming down Cajon. Also loved to see the beet trains coming up from Coachela Valley. The slab train from the post was a fun one to see with all of those beat up flat cars. The luber trains from Oregon were a good train to watch. Near my home in Orange the SP switched several local industries at the intersection of Southern and Pacifict streets. The street signs are still there but the SP is gone and now it is yelow Gensets switching one remaining industry. Yes, I miss the SP.

Not only do I miss the SP, I miss my college days at UC Santa Barbara. While Goleta is much closer to the UC campus, my preference was to ride a bus from the UC campus to Downtown Santa Barbara. From the transit center I would walk down State Street to the depot to watch Amtrak #14 (westbound Coast Starlight) arrive and leave the depot and perhaps see a freight or two.

By the time I was in school, the Goleta depot was boarded up. I only went there a couple of times.

in the 1970s on the LA division the Amtrak Coast Starlights were listed as #13 Westbound and #12 Eastbound. SP train numbers were odd numbers belonged to Westbound trains and even numbers belonged to Eastbound trains. Even into the Early 1970s the Eastbound freights thru Santa Barbara were referred to as trains #830, 832, 834 and believe #836 too. That was how the operator at SB called them. I have those designations written on my slides and there could be a #1-830 as well as a #2-830 and #3-830 depending on how much traffic there was and when they left SLO, I believe. The Westbounds had become all Extras by the late 1960s.

C.C.Chas.

I'm old, and I miss this a bunch! Someday you kids will miss what you see today. That's scary, but take lots of pictures now, and don't worry that it's all crap!

wpdude Wrote:
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> I'm old, and I miss this a bunch! Someday you kids
> will miss what you see today. That's scary, but
> take lots of pictures now, and don't worry that
> it's all crap!


The money statement if I have ever read one concerning rail fanning! Wish to heck I had taken many more WP and Modoc line photos when I had the chance...

choochoocharlie Wrote:
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> in the 1970s on the LA division the Amtrak Coast
> Starlights were listed as #13 Westbound and #12
> Eastbound. SP train numbers were odd numbers
> belonged to Westbound trains and even numbers
> belonged to Eastbound trains. Even into the Early
> 1970s the Eastbound freights thru Santa Barbara
> were referred to as trains #830, 832, 834 and
> believe #836 too. That was how the operator at SB
> called them. I have those designations written on
> my slides and there could be a #1-830 as well as a
> #2-830 and #3-830 depending on how much traffic
> there was and when they left SLO, I believe. The
> Westbounds had become all Extras by the late
> 1960s.
>
> C.C.Chas.

This is correct. A freight leaving SLO within the schedule of 830 was 830, the next one between that tunnel of time until 832's schedule came into effect was 2/830 and so on. You could also have freights running extra east in between at the DS's discretion.

Chas,

Checked my time book for 4-30-76 and I was called for No. 3-830, OD SLO at 7:05 AM with the 6926-6927-6716-8837. Tied up in LA at 6:10 PM. Could have been one of those at SBA that morning.

I did look on at other trips and on 9-11-76 came out of LA on No. 833 but in May of 77, went down on 2-830 but came back as a Extra West. Looks like that was around the time the did away with scheduled west bounds. I would have to look at a TT to see. Won't be home for another 3 weeks.

Again, thanks for the pics & the memories.

Nudge

Love the pictures and have enjoyed a very different relationship with Goleta
over the years. People think of the school and the beach and the general scenery
but very few of the industry (non-rail served I might add) in Goleta. For many
of my years in the hydraulics industry I've either worked for or been associated
with companies that dealt first with Hydranautics and now Bardex. You'd never
think that the executive and engineering offices of the pre-eminent manfacturer
of the cable tension systems that secure offshore drilling platforms would be
in picturesque little Goleta. For all the years I was up there, rarely had a
camera, rarely saw the sun and it drizzled a lot. Like the man said, shoot
pictures, many and often.

Most people think of Santa Barbara as being sunny and nice all year long...........WRONG! The winters were actually better for sunny skies. During most of the summers there were the ever present low clouds or fog since we were right on the ocean/channel. If you were lucky, the clouds/fog cleared for a short time and you could see the sun and then the fog/clouds came back in fairly quickly. It was kind of drizzily and damp when the fog/ clouds were hanging over the area.

C.C.Chas.

choochoocharlie Wrote:
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> Most people think of Santa Barbara as being sunny
> and nice all year long...........WRONG! The
> winters were actually better for sunny skies.
> During most of the summers there were the ever
> present low clouds or fog since we were right on
> the ocean/channel. If you were lucky, the
> clouds/fog cleared for a short time and you could
> see the sun and then the fog/clouds came back in
> fairly quickly. It was kind of drizzily and damp
> when the fog/ clouds were hanging over the area.
>
> C.C.Chas.

Those are part of my pleasant memories, too. I always enjoyed the foggy summer mornings and the cool summer evening. I remember one year however when an excessive amount of winter rain resulted in severe landslides all over Southern California. However, all that rain bought lots of flowers to the desert when I saw from Amtrak #3 coming into Los Angeles.

During my four years at Santa Barbara, there were also a couple of earthquakes. One of these earthquakes happened when I was recovering from a partying too much the night before and a girl for whom I had a major crush informed me that she was going to study in Europe for a semester. Not a good day!

Typical Calfornia coast weather in the summer. The heat of the inland valleys in the summer suck the cool marine air east through a thermal low pressure system.