Nostalgia & History > SP memories from Porterville, CA

I never saw much of the SP running through Porterville; they like the Santa Fe were pretty irregular. But I did manage to catch a train and a light engine move.

The first three photos were taken on December 20, 1989. In the first photo, the 4112 is switching one of the orange packing houses in Porterville, while photos 2 & 3 are of the train heading south to Terra Bella. The train is paralleling Main Street, and out of view to the left is the site of the future Wal-Mart distribution center. The sun has set and the fog is rolling in. Couldn't stand the fog.

---

---

---

Next, on August 30, 1991 I caught 3788 heading to Terra Bella to switch out a car at one of the industries. I was hoping for a full train in daylight, but it was not to be. This was the last time I saw and SP engine on this line; a few months later the San Joaquin Valley Railroad would be operating it, and my chances of seeing and photographing trains of this line would increase dramatically.

#1. Heading south at a good clip past the Emlco Cold Storage facility.
#2. Terra Bella.
#3. Switched the car, now back to Fresno. You can see why they wanted to be done with this line.

---

---

---

Just for the fun of it, I'll post these two of SP 6356 switching out cars in Ducor, CA about 11 miles south of Porterville. Date was April 6, 1991.

Thanks for looking back with me.

Tom

---

---

Great stuff, love seeing the photos of these lines when they actually saw trains. Keep'em coming!

There used to be a foundry across the tracks from the Success Branch wye in Porterville. Up until 1985 I always saw some kind of covered hopper cars spotted there. At one time I photographed stored wood chip cars downtown Porterville.

I remember SP stored cars between Terra Bella and Ducor. At one time I saw 3 or 4 miles of stored freight cars !!!! I was also told that location was the dividing line between divisions SJ and Sac ???

I only saw 1 SP train in downtown Porterville !!!!


Great pictures


Jay

Great stuff, guys Dig thru those boxes of photos and find some more!!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 12:36 by TomPlatten.

When I was up there in the late fifties for a time, the SP used to tie up one or two locomotives in Porterville. Of course that was in the pre-graffiti era! The wye for the Success Branch crossed Main ST.--protected by a wig-wag--and proceeded east down the middle of Locust St to the Packing houses that survived up to that time. I saw a train eastbound in late 1956, and NW-2 in Zebra pulling a caboose and two reefers creeping along. The last train on the branch--according to my--sources was in early 1957 because the branch was officially abandoned by 1958!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/12 15:32 by TomPlatten.

Yet the track was still in place in the street up until the late 80's. There was
a pallet manufacturer right across from the Success wye who took loads of lumber
in the mid-80's. The warehouse at Ducor was spotted for some SF hi-cubes which
were unloaded around the same time. By 1986 the SP had quit soliciting freight
and shippers such as Waterman Industries in Exeter started switching to truck for
their core sand and other needs.

To this day there is still a switch stand on the sidewalk at the southeast corner of the Main St & Locust St intersection in front of the Porterville Electric Co. No track around for miles anymore, but the switch stand survives.

Both Terra Bella and Ducor are on the San Joaquin Division. In the last years of operationby the SP, the track between the two station was out of service and provided a separation between local trains that operated on the Exeter Branch. Terra Bella and west was served by the Terra Bella Local and Ducor and east was served by a local out of Bakersfield, the Earlimart Local I think.

Cliff
lamta_jay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There used to be a foundry across the tracks from
> the Success Branch wye in Porterville. Up until
> 1985 I always saw some kind of covered hopper cars
> spotted there. At one time I photographed stored
> wood chip cars downtown Porterville.
>
> I remember SP stored cars between Terra Bella and
> Ducor. At one time I saw 3 or 4 miles of stored
> freight cars !!!! I was also told that location
> was the dividing line between divisions SJ and Sac
> ???
>
> I only saw 1 SP train in downtown Porterville
> !!!!
>
>
> Great pictures
>
>
> Jay

Great classic SP power on those locals, love the SPSF painted GP35's! I know how hard it is chasing a one train-a-day or less operation, I usually bypassed branch lines instead opting for the mainline. Thanks for sharing these gems!