Nostalgia & History > mundo: Depot Friday - SP Colton, CA

Ed Von Nordeck took these photos of SP's passenger depot at Colton, CA. The prints that accompany the negatives have September 1957 printing dates on them, which is likely close to when the photos were taken given the 1956 roll date on one of the rails in the foreground.

According to Henry Bender's Southern Pacific Lines Standard-Design Depots, the core of this depot was built in 1887, replacing the 1875-vintage structure shown in the background of the second shot, which was converted into a freight depot. The 1887 depot was expanded to the dimensions shown and given a stucco exterior treatment in 1922. It survived on-site, much modified and privately owned, into the 21st Century:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2218407,2218601#2218601

It was razed in 2012 to make way for the UP flyover of the BNSF main line a short distance west of the depot.

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One of the diamonds for the Pacific Electric crossing is visible in the foreground of the third photo above. Ed took a few additional views looking north and south along the PE line in 1957 in the first two views below. The last view, from a print with a print date of March 1959, shows the crossing out of service and the diamond for the SP main line removed:

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I worked summers and vacation relief here from 1952-1962 as a information - ticket clerk. Office was converted from the open waiting room on the east end of the station.
The City ticket offices at the San Bernardino California Hotel and the Riverside city ticket office at the Mission Inn Hotel were closed and this was the starting of what became the Central Travel Service Agency in Los Angeles closing all the city ticket offices in Southern California.

With the crossing diamond just outside the office, it was very noisy, particularly with the Kaiser Ore Trains short cars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/18 02:50 by mundo.

Being only a couple of months old at the time these photos were taken
and only seeing this depot as a privately owned, fenced in business,
I would like to thank you for sharing these photos!

Thanks Again,

Mike

6 diamonds! Excellent shots Ed & Evan!

Very nice photos of an exceptionally clean and neat station.
That is a lot of baggage wagons piled up to the side.
Thanks Ed and Evan for these.
Gary

Excellent, especially the grays, there is an amazing amount of detail to be seen.
Thanks Ed for the excellent original work and Evan for getting that good work into digital format.

Nice history here, guys! I gotta wonder how many of those baggage carts were ever in use at one single time...

Lance/199

Wondering if any of the baggage carts are available for sale?

Kent in CArmel Valley

Any close-ups of the freight depot?

DynamicBrake Wrote:
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> Wondering if any of the baggage carts are
> available for sale?
>
> Kent in CArmel Valley


After 61 years?

A great look at Colton in the 1950s and the information on the city ticket offices was very informative.

cliff