Nostalgia & History > Sou.Pac. Rialto Local.

May 2, 1992.
SP 7269 departs West Colton caboose first westbound on the cutoff to Bench where
it will enter the former Pacific Electric line to San Bernardino. It then turns
west through Rialto.
(Bob Sinclair video).

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That train went up the branch to Fontana to set the cars out for short-term storage. They had at least 2 trains that did this.

Curious about the SP tank cars. They look rather old, especially compared to the ones at the bottom of the video at the tank car facility in the first minute of the video. What were the SP tank cars used for? And how old would they have been in this video?

Nathan

atsf121 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Curious about the SP tank cars. They look rather
> old, especially compared to the ones at the bottom
> of the video at the tank car facility in the first
> minute of the video. What were the SP tank cars
> used for? And how old would they have been in
> this video?
>
> Nathan


The tanks cars look like they were used in diesel service.. or water cars for a variety of uses. Years ago I worked the Coast and we would pick up diesel tank cars at Gemco that went to SLO to fuel the units. SLO did not have a pipeline to a storage tank. Sometimes the SP would ship tank cars full of water for fire service or for use on a MOW work train. The track looks in sad shape 25 years ago !!

The track is still there, but ends on the west side of Rialto. It's now over 100 years old, except where SP rebuilt it at grade crossings.

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SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> atsf121 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Curious about the SP tank cars. They look
> rather
> > old, especially compared to the ones at the
> bottom
> > of the video at the tank car facility in the
> first
> > minute of the video. What were the SP tank
> cars
> > used for? And how old would they have been in
> > this video?
> >
> > Nathan
>
>
> The tanks cars look like they were used in diesel
> service.. or water cars for a variety of uses.
> Years ago I worked the Coast and we would pick up
> diesel tank cars at Gemco that went to SLO to fuel
> the units. SLO did not have a pipeline to a
> storage tank. Sometimes the SP would ship tank
> cars full of water for fire service or for use on
> a MOW work train. The track looks in sad shape 25
> years ago !!

Interesting, thanks for the info.

That heavy rail-bond is a heritage from the Pacific Electric!
It is amazing that it still exists after all these years.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

That was the PE mainline to San Bernardino.

Out

atsf121 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Curious about the SP tank cars. They look rather
> old, especially compared to the ones at the bottom
> of the video at the tank car facility in the first
> minute of the video. What were the SP tank cars
> used for? And how old would they have been in
> this video?
>
> Nathan

As Jim said above, these cars were usually in captive diesel fuel service or water service by this time (And a few still remain in service today for the UP.). They were usually (Maybe always by this time) SP's class O-50-13 which were built in 1942.

Mark