Nostalgia & History > San Diego & Arizona Eastern combo 175

Enjoying Wayne Scarpaci's new book on the SD&AE, with its wonderful color paintings. it reminded me of why the SD&AE combo 175 still exists to this day in operating condition at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris. Here's how it happened.

I grew up in the Florence area south of Los Angeles a couple of blocks west of the PE's four tracks -- It's now included in the dreaded South Central area. Laying in my bed at night, I could hear the PE cars blowing their whistle for Florence Ave crossing. They all had their certain sounds -- the Watts cars, the blimps and the PE freight motors with their locomotive bell ringing. On a clear night I could hear the dink, dink, dink, dink of the two wig wags at Florence.

About a mile east of us is Alameda Street, the main rail and traffic artery then from LA to the harbor. You always could find a switcher somewhere on it. After graduating from high school, my first job luckily was at First and Alameda, just across the street from the SP's rat hole. Then there were all sorts of one and two car sidings, some between the front loading dock and the sidewalk, some disappearing into a building or around a corner. I regret never taking a slide of any of them, as Kodachrome was expensive. Further south a few blocks was SP's Central Station where rows of heavyweight head end cars filled the yard. During the Christmas mail rush they put on a real show. Further south was the PE's Eighth Street yard, and you could always see a PE motor shuffling box cars.

Further south on Alameda the industries became heavier, and at Tweedy Ave. on the east side was the BOP assembly plant (Buick, Olds, Pontiac), with lots of cars always being switched. They even had their own turntable. On the west side of Alameda was the large Finkelstein Iron & steel yard, where many railroad cars rolled in whole and out in bite sized pieces.

On one of my trips down there I spotted the end of a passenger car and turned around for a look. There was the SD&AE combo 175 and coach 208, looking very shabby, inside and out, tagged for Finkelstein. Thinking about them that night, I gathered up all my nerve and went back their yard. Both cars had been switched inside their fence by then. Their office was a typical junk yard office, messy. I told them what I was there for and was ushered into Charley Finkelstein's office. Charley bore a striking resemblance to President Kennedy, both hair and facial features. I explained my mission and asked the price of the 175. He thought a minute and said "one thousand dollars". For a 24 year old kid in the early sixties, that was big bucks. Asking the price of both, he said I'll make you a deal son, eighteen hundred for both. I made a decision then, I still regret to this day, no 208. Back then everything was cash, no easy payments or credit card transactions. We shook hands, and at that time both cars fates were sealed. 175 would go back out of the yard and 208 would be cut.

The 175 coupled together with the PE 418 went out through Pasadena and then Perris. At Perris, the end of the Santa Fe track was about a mile short of our property. Us kids thought of making some "snap track" as in model railroading. We made up about a dozen panels and used out big power, about an early fifties White Superpower five ton truck sold to us from the PE, with a stiff leg A frame on the back. We towed the cars with our Bulldog Mack. Somehow all was accomplished without any injuries.

Once at Perris, 175 languished many years while us kids built track and cut huge crops of weeds. A few years back Hollywood discovered our cars for use in the movie "The Shining". Four of our heavyweights were painted inside Barn 7 with some very expensive paint and appropriately hand lettered. One problem, they looked really shiny so they were sprayed with a concoction of powdered milk and water, making them looking dusty from a cross country trip. After filming at the San Bernardino station, they were washed and looked new again. We occasionally use the 175 on our short mainline.

After all these years, standing trackside seeing the 175 rolling past filled with happy children and adults, it still gives me a good feeling. It's kind of fun to hop on for a ride sometimes also.

In today's world you can buy an Apple IPhone X for the same price as the 175, and on easy time payments on the credit card also.

Ray Ballash
aka Watts local

What a great legacy to your childhood experiences... and to your parents for giving you your good instincts.

-- Greg

Ray,

I remember you telling me this story. Must have been about 2011. We were sitting in the car in Barn 4. I never saw the car outside of Barn 4 and unfortunately never photographed it.

Marty



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 21:35 by MartyBernard.

For all the bad luck that dogs this RR, what a refreshing good news story for once. A great history lesson too, Thank you for being at the right place at the right time!

Ray, you might remember that I had tipped you off that these cars were en route to LA, when I was working at Colton, saw them both heading west on a local freight.

Here's #175

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Great Story. Thanks for Sharing!