Nostalgia & History > El Monte B4 Metrolink

Since I grew up in Arcadia, El Monte, California was always a great place to watch trains. My first choice was the ATSF in Arcadia but since trains on the Second District were few at best the SP at El Monte was the best option to see some trains. I do also remember the PE State Street Line crossing the SP just east of downtown El Monte.

I watched the Sunset go through town but that was mostly after dark. The Sunsets I remember had some of SP's E units, FP7's and I even saw one of the commute Torpedo Boat GP9's used.

All of these pictures were taken at Tyler Ave. westbound, where now Metrolink has their station.

#1 is the San Gabriel Switcher pulling into the siding with SW1500 # 2501 in April of 1972
#2 is a WB with an SD40 leading and the classic El Monte station sign ib October of 1979
#3 is a transfer run from City of Industry to Taylor Yard with SD7e's on these trains. Sometimes SD9e's were used. September of 1984.

Thanks for looking and reading


Jay



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/12 08:34 by lamta_jay.

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Here are 3 more from the same location

#4 THe SP started using power like this on some of the West Colton drags like 9951 and a DD35 in March of 1979.
#5 has a classic bay window caboose passing where there is now the platform for Metrolink. This picture also shows the signal Bridge for the Junction with the line down the freeway. IIRC this train used the Alhambra line not the freeway, 12/1984
#6 3 B Boats lead a piggyback through El Monte with 7766 in the lead. August of 1986

Once again thanks for looking

See you down the tracks !


Jay

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Great photos. The U50 DD35 photo is a classic! Thanks for posting.

Regards, Jim Evans

What was the point of that ultra high signal mast at the East end?

ats90mph Wrote:
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> What was the point of that ultra high signal mast
> at the East end?

So you could see it from around the curve just west of the bridge.

my childhood home was el monte, before we moved to hacienda hts. in '63. sp f units and gp9s galore in daylight and scarlet 'n gray! thanks for sharing.

The signal bridge is still there... although the signals were removed long ago.

CMS Wrote:
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> The signal bridge is still there... although the
> signals were removed long ago.

Which is still a mystery! There must be a reason why the cantilever still stands there to this day.

FiveChime Wrote:
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> Great photos. The U50 DD35 photo is a classic!
> Thanks for posting.
>
> Regards, Jim Evans

A friend of mine managed to catch a U50 being used, of all places, on the Anaheim Hauler on the Santa Ana Branch! He has photographic proof of it running alongside the Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5).

Jay,

I remember the Team Track still in place where the pavement is now in your first photo.

--Jim Baker

I remember the gazillion pigeons around the place because O.H. Kruse Grain was right there too!

When I worked nights at Hoffman Electronics (a mile or two west of downtown El Monte), I'd sometimes go by the SP on my way home. One night I found a train "in the hole" there, and the crew on the ground chatting with a hobo who had left his boxcar to see what was happening. This may have been the train with two old Geeps with an SW1500 in the middle. I joined the party, and soon an eastbound hotshot came racing through. I asked, "What's the speed restriction on this section?" One of the crewmen answered "60" then he added, "They were doing a SOLID 60."

Photo #1 sure brings back a lot of memories. From October of 1971 until the last of June of 1972 I was the head brakeman on the San Gabriel switcher. The conductor was Jeff Pointer and my braking partner was Jim LaValley. We were on duty at CoI at 0900 and would depart around 1030-1100. We would work our way towards the city of San Gabriel and when reaching San Gabriel we would run around our train. At that point Jeff and Jim would take off and finish up the work by themselves. My wife would pick me up 4 days a week so I could attend my college classes from 7-10 PM, Monday thru Thursday. The next morning my wife would drive me to Jeff's house so I could ride to work with him.



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