Nostalgia & History > San Jacinto, CA. E O T

I always looked for the End Of Track on every branch line I ever followed

October 3, 1987 and the station still stood

I think this track has been removed now. The potato customer on the left in the slide has switched to trucks. ATSF now BNSF charges too much to travel up this line now. I think the branch ends around Hemet now mostly for storing baretables.

Thanks for looking
See You Down thee Tracks


Jay

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Great shot. Please share more if you have them.

sphauler
San Berdo, Ca

Followed the rails through Hemet and out the other side, to the North? But the tracks are blocked in a number of places. Not real sure where the operational red flag is but I think it's way back near hiway 215, maybe the cement plant at 'Romoland' but not even sure they get that far.

The red flag is geographically east of the I-215, allowing for just enough room to switch the lumber yard east of the 215. The track to Hemet is not in good shape, joint bars missing, etc. There is at least one fence across it between Hemet and San Jacinto. The Riverside County Transportation Commission owns the entire line from Highgrove to San Jacinto. The current Perris Valley Line project only extends as far as the I-215, what they call South Perris. Extending service to Hemet is currently awaiting future plans (funding).

some of the tracks have been pull up there hasn't a train into hemet since 2005 when pull potatos out of san jacinto


tom cataldo

hemet,ca

I recorded some AWESOME video while chasing the local on that line. Its like the land that time forgot in many areas. I just wish I knew how to post video on TO. lol

This is from 2001.

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What are 'pull potatoes' ? Like russetts but bigger or what?

As info, some of the rail in the potato house is Krupp rail from 1886.

So 2005 was the end of local service past Perris. What is the furthest-south current BNSF customer on the sub?

Thanks!

Posted from Android

Landon Miller
Lake Forest, CA

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> What are 'pull potatoes' ? Like russetts but
> bigger or what?

Not sure where above you found that term, but I would expect it to mean "reject potatoes".

Almost all fruit and vegetables in those days was sorted visually for quality, using human eyes and hands.
While I'm much more familiar with citrus grading of that day, I would guess the processing line for potatoes ran something like this:
1. Pick potatoes from field mechanically or by hand; store in large hoppers
2. Truck hoppers to processing plant, dump into input hopper
3. Run through potato washer (remember, they are a root vegetable and are covered in dirt.)
4. Grade mechanically by size or weight. May use photo eyes, scales on the convener belt, or something similar.
5. For an output line where visual quality is important, visually grade for quality.
6. Convey to potato sacks and bag
7. Truck or train to warehouse or destination.

The visual grading was typically done on a convener belt about 1.5 - 2' wide and maybe 20-30 feet long. There may have been a second 'reject' convener or some other way of dealing with rejects. A whole bunch of people, often women, would watch the potatoes on the conveyor and look for cuts, bruises, too many eyes, or other reject conditions they have been taught to look for. Seeing a bad potato, they would reach out, grab it, and pull it off the main conveyor, tossing it in a reject bag, bin, chute, conveyor, or other non-good place. The good potatoes continue down the line and are bagged and sent to market, or some other place the visual quality matters.

The reject potatoes might be redirected to a line where the potato needs to be good but not visually so, such as an instant mashed potato line or peeled canned potatoes or some such.

Interesting view today. Even the palm trees managed to make it through the years!

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SoCalCynic Wrote:
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> So 2005 was the end of local service past Perris.
> What is the furthest-south current BNSF customer
> on the sub?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Posted from Android

Star Milling and the adjacent Mayer Farms team track.