Nostalgia & History > More old Santa Barbara photos

Must be old because I am old right now, but thankfully don't feel it yet.

1 - Four SP GP9s lead a westbound thru Santa Barbara rounding the curve West of the station. Photo taken from the top of TV hill in December of 1971.
2 - No train but am waiting for one next to the tracks. Looking down on our old 1964 Volkswagen bus at the Andre Clark bird refuge. Photo taken in January of 1972.
3 - End of a Westbound SP train going by the Santa Barbara Station. This is a rolling crew change for the caboose just shortly before SP eliminated the change. Later this year the crews would go all the way from LA to San Luis Obispo and vice-versa. Santa Barbara station would get a train order signal and train order post. Photo taken in February of 1972.

C.C.Chas.

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Awesome SBA shots that really captured a (now) long lost era.... cabooses, full-crews, Geeps, rolling crew changes and that sweet VW van--thanks for sharing!

Spectacular photos, especially the first! You can make out the "END FREEWAY" signs and lack of hotels/construction along parts of the mainline. What a gem!

Boy.The Morton Bay Fig tree just northwest of the Santa Barbara Depot was even huge back then.I have not been up there in over 30 years.I wonder how big the tree is now?BTW.What a veiw and i enjoy those pix.Thank you for those train memories.

Got any more Chas.? Those are spectacular!!! I remember we chased the Freedom Train through there back in 1976. That was really something.

Cheers! MARK

Rolling crew change? That's pretty cool----didn't know there was such a thing. Is what those guys are doing in the picture, something that would be against the rules today?

coaststarlight99 Wrote:
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> Rolling crew change? That's pretty cool----didn't
> know there was such a thing. Is what those guys
> are doing in the picture, something that would be
> against the rules today?

It sure is. That the only way to go if you want to make some time. SOP until the nanny-state came into power.

This east coaster would like to see what that area looks like now in the overhead shot.....

CV the civil E in NJ

Great shots! What an era. About the same time frame Santa Fe's unltra hot Super C changed BOTH head end and rear end crews without stopping.
JB

Last one looks like the West Peddler with an ice reefer block on the rear

I don't have a picture handy, but the following changes have taken place in the first picture:
1. The freeway is now 3 lanes in each direction vs. 2 lanes.
2. The "end freeway" or stop light signs have been removed along with the stop lights.
3. Vegetation at the Castillo Street undercrossing is now very dense and housing the homeless.
4. The lumber yard and round house have been replaced by Fess Parker’s Double Tree hotel.
5. A sewage plant has been built on the opposite side of the tracks from the lumber yard.
6. Santa Barbara Street no longer crosses the tracks.
7. Salispuedes [Calle Caesar Chavez] and Garden street now cross the tracks in the old yard area.
8. The scale track [westbound side] is now a spur track with a west facing switch.
9. The east bound siding is now a spur track with a west facing switch and served as the Amtrak spur for a number of years until Goleta was built as a servicing facility for the San Diegans/Surfliners.
10. The cross over from the west bound to east bound and into the yard at Santa Barbara Street has long disappeared.
11. A new bridge has been installed on the drainage east of the new Garden Crossing east of the "old" Santa Barbara Street crossing
12. Chapala Street crossing west of the depot is now closed.
13. Team tracks and all spurs/industrial tracks have been eliminated in Santa Barbara
14. The only tracks crossing Milpas are now mains #1 & #2.
15. I can’t make out the cantilever signal for the eastbound main at Milpas, was it added after 1972 and then removed when CTC was installed?
16. The “car Wash” west of Montecito Street and east of the Castillo undercrossing existed when the picture was taken.
17. The west and east signals at the Castillo Street bridge have been moved to Cota Street.
18. The empty lot next to the eastbound hold signal at Castillo street now has housing built on it.
19. CTC and motor switches have replaced spring switches and ABS/train orders through Santa Barbara.
20. SP ran and east west railroad, UP now calls it north/south

I am sure a few other changes have taken place that I have not noted above.

Josiah

#21. Traffic never looks like that anymore during daylight hours.

Wow, I love that last shot!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

Photo 1 is one of the most remarkable "urban" railroad photos I've ever seen, and of a beautiful city like Santa Barbara, too! What was the area in the upper right corner of the photo, to the right of the line of palm trees. On the edge of the photo it almost looks like a shore line. Thanks for the great photos.

Great picture...very nostalgic. If you look closely, you can see the old SB roundhouse next to Cabrillo Blvd., just below the structure with the tower. It was a very ornate building for a railroad roundhouse. Stood for years until Fess Parker (Davey Crockett) bought the property for his Red Lion Inn. But, he did design the rotunda part of his Inn to resemble the old SP roundhouse...Still not quite the same...

Charlie,
Thanks for the awesome picture! Hands down the best yard picture I have ever seen of SB. It is great to see where the tracks used to go downtown and all the structures that were there. Having lived in SB my whole life I always wondered how it all fit together, and you provided the clarity with this wonderful view. I was wondering where that curved track on the south side of the roundhouse and yard used to go. Was there a couple of industries by those 3 buildings? Thanks again for the nostalgia and if you have more we would love to see them.

Who is that peering out of the Volkswagen bus?

The last pic looks like "Dink" Swain ready to swing up on the cab. Those are the old DLO-TIV refers ahead of the box.

Nudge

Amazing last photo!

spnudge Wrote:
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> The last pic looks like "Dink" Swain ready to
> swing up on the cab. Those are the old DLO-TIV
> refers ahead of the box.
>
> Nudge

DLO-TIV which stands for ?