Nostalgia & History > The TBX passing through Belmont Ca 1960

Heres another of my SP rear end shots from the 60's. This time caboose 1294 brings up the rear of the TBX Bayshore-Oakland train passing the Belmont Station.

Robert Morris Photography
http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/index1.html

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Right in my old backyard! Looks way better then. Say it with me... "It's all crap now!"

"Its all crap now"!!!!!!!!!

Belmont before the grade separation!

That big building on the left, which was built sometime in the 19th century, was moved to the other side of El Camino when they built the grade separation. Now it fronts on the south side of Ralston.

Perhaps, before us old guys kick the bucket, we should map out where all the old industry/house tracks were on the peninsula, because there were a bunch of 'em, andyou would never know to look at this area now. Just "East" of this shot was a switch off the Westbound main that led back into a small industrial park that was still served into the early '90S IIRC.

When the line was elevated, all of the turnouts to industrial sidings were eliminated in the Belmont/San Carlos area save one, which came down a steep grade from the elevated mainline to cross Old County Road into an industrial park. That siding has now been closed off as well.

And here's a photo of that track in San Carlos, which has been blocked with this bumping post since they built it.

I have a non-foamer friend who posted this picture on my facebook page about a month ago in an attempt to stump me regarding where it was taken. He didn't stump me, I knew the spot right away.

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Agree there was a bunch of them, rails and old bridges show up all over that Industrial area.

There is a series of Maps floating around somewhere that shows the spot numbers and any names for the old industrial tracks, fascinating series. I forget what the name is right now but I'm sure there's a few folks out there that know. Every so often an Author's name of the Mapping project shows up.
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... we
> should map out where all the old industry/house
> tracks were on the peninsula, because there were a
> bunch of 'em, ...

I remember as a youngin in the early 1990s seeing that area receive cars. If you know where to look now you can still find evidence of long gone rail service. There are rails in the ground in at least one place today off Quarry Rd. I remember them switching the beer distributor quite often as well as some buildings past the gas station on Harbor Blvd. towards US 101. I grew up in San Carlos so Belmont was a stones throw. The only spur left in San Carlos does indeed have a bumper installed on it. I need to scan some of my old pictures...

Previous TO post with photos 2 & 3 probably taken in Belmont, CA: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1143391,1143943#msg-1143943

Photo 1: Bird's eye view of Belmont, CA. If you do any "railroad archaeology" using Google maps, you should easily be able to see evidence of the old lead coming off the main line and then cutting South across Harbor Blvd and crossing Quarry Rd. Also seen is the spur heading East towards US 101.

2: Location of lead coming off main.

3: Old right of way now now an alley behind some buildings.

4: Spur(s?) heading towards US 101.

5: Crossing Ralston heading south towards old beer distributor.

6: Approaching Quarry Rd.

7: Across Quarry Rd. is the only remaining trackage I can find.

8: Closer bird's eye view to the remaining trackage. Anyone know what this spur was for?

9: Remaining Spur in San Carlos, CA.

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4, 5, 6

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7, 8, 9 (another view of the bumper)

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The remaining spur used to service one of those concrete mixing plants.

When I was a kid, the concrete ready mix plants in Redwood City, Menlo Park and Palo Alto all had spurs. And the Bruce Bauer Lumber Yard in San Carlos (between El Camino Real and the tracks, north of Brittan Avenue) also had a spur. The San Carlos Bruce Bauer is long gone, but their Mountain View lumber yard is still in business. It's right next to the tracks, but the spur is long gone.

SPIN maps. I've seen them as part of various SP websites, there may have been one linked on a TO thread about the Milbrea-Burlingame (??) area.

Is that a white aft-facing white light hanging about one foot above the RH rail?
...Lorenzo