Nostalgia & History > Tony Perles: SN delivers BART test car

One of the stranger trains Tony Perles captured on Kodachrome was the Western Pacific/Sacramento Northern move that delivered BARTD Laboratory Car B to the test track in Concord, CA, which paralleled the old SN mainline. Two old F-units with two even older wooden cabooses spotted the flat car and its unusual burden beside the test track, and later a pair of cranes hoisted the car over the fence from the 56.5" inch gauge SN rails to the 66" gauge test track. I think the location of these shots is right about where the current BART maintenance yard is located in Concord, but would appreciate any corrections. Photos courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.

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Hard to believe this was nearly 50 years ago. What a mix of equipment...

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

You seldom see reference to the original system name: "BARTD"

The feasibility studies in the last '50s and into the '60s used this acronym.
When I last looked... the study documents were in the library at CSUEB in Hayward.
The studies also usefully EXCLUDED any potential ridership through the South Bay into Santa Cruz...
since, of course, Santa Cruz was not a "Bay" county!

I'm sure the solo drivers on Highways 17 and 85 were pleased to know they don't exist.

Those lab cars are fascinating. There were three of them and they were built by the Western Pacific using parts supplied by Budd at the Jeffrey Shops in Sacramento.

I've seen some black and white photos of this same move in the Portola archives. Cool stuff! Great to see in color!

WP and SN had a very close relationship to BART. A section of WP main on Altamont was used for testing concrete ties for the system, and of course the line parallels several SN and WP routes. Even the current Santa Clara Valley extension is being built on WP right of way.

Hey, Evan, wonder if RVJ and Portola could collaborate on a special Headlight issue concerning the relationship of BART with the SN and WP?

Z

I agree that this was shot right across from the current BART Concord Yard.

Gary

Thanks for the photos! Great catch for Mr. Perles. I presume this is the same Anthony Perles who literally "wrote the books" on the San Francisco Muni system. Somewhere I have photos of the SN F-units (I think they came from the New York Ontario & Western) at Stockton Tower in 1970, as they were powering the SN "detour" route that they used after ferryboat "Ramon" was condemned around 1953.

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> Thanks for the photos! Great catch for Mr.
> Perles. I presume this is the same Anthony Perles
> who literally "wrote the books" on the San
> Francisco Muni system. Somewhere I have photos of
> the SN F-units (I think they came from the New
> York Ontario & Western) at Stockton Tower in 1970,
> as they were powering the SN "detour" route that
> they used after ferryboat "Ramon" was condemned
> around 1953.

Hey Mr. Dnry--
Are you by chance thinking about THIS photo at Stockton, CA ??

The Pittsburg local is seen using the wye from the Santa Fe to the WP at Stockton Tower.

SN 301 -- SN 301A-- ex NYO&W # 501

SN 302 -- SN 301D-- ex NYO&W # 502

Cheers.

KRK

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Thanks for the photo; I took some in March 1970 when I was in Stockton to get a ride on the Cal Zephyr before the WP segment disappeard. Since I worked for Santa Fe at the time, I had no trouble gaining access to the tower, and while chatting with the operator, I heard a call coming in over the radio monitor. The op said, "That's the SN", so I quickly went down to ground level and photographed the F-units (I think they were a bit cleaner when I was there) and noted how there was one of those old-timey looking cabooses on each end of the train, so the engines just had to swap ends to go from the ATSF to the WP line that would finally get them to Sacramento.

I don't think I've ever seen the lab car before, that's a very unusual looking piece of equipment, especially compared to what they run now. Seems like such an expensive way to deliver a new car, but I guess that's what happen when you don't use standard gauge. I think Evan is correct on the location, there's a concrete water channel that passes under the BART tracks at the south end of the Concord yard, and I think that's visible behind the men on the ground in photo #3. The PG&E yard and training towers are in the empty field behind the locos, looks like there was a lumber yard there at the time.

Sure glad they built BART when they did. I used it to commute to my job in The City when we lived in Walnut Creek and then Concord. I still use it when I visit the Bay Area offices a few times a year.

Nathan