Nostalgia & History > Huntington Beach local 1996

I spent most of my adult life in Orange County, California, especially Huntington Beach where I lived for more than a couple decades and owned a business there for over 10 years. I was never a big SP fan though so even though I saw the local pass through town now and then on its way to and from Reliable Wholesale Lumber, I never paid much attention to it.

Then in 1996 the "yellow borg" took over SP's operations and I figured it was only a matter of time before scarlet and gray SW1500s were replaced with visually banal armor yellow gensets or something along those lines. So one day while I was out and about running errands I saw the headlight in the distance as the local moved north from central Huntington Beach up toward Westminster and on to Anaheim where it was based. I happened to have my camera with me so I figured it might be worth it to record the train on film before the UP "messed things up". So I did.

All those years in Huntington Beach and I believe these are the only photos I ever took of the local. These were taken where the line crosses Center Avenue near, what is now, Bella Terra mall. You can see the old Levitz Furniture that used to be on Edinger Avenue there.

The SP is long gone and I have since moved away from crowded OC. While I work in a dumpy urban Central California city for BNSF, I live in a peaceful rural setting far from the "madness" of urban California. HB was a nice place to live back then but every time I visit now I'm glad I got out. It'll never be the same.

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Great shots!  Having been the Assistant Trainmaster at Anaheim from 1974-1976 where it originated and terminated, I was very familiar with the Huntington Beach local.  In those days it also served the Los Alamitos Branch where a lumber yard was located.  Levitz was a good place for the crew to "hide" midway through their day.  It took me a long time to find the favorite hiding spots of the 16 locals/roadswitchers that worked out of Anaheim in 1974 as some were inside warehouses with the doors closed!  But, I finally did and most of the crews and I got along very well.

Pete
Pleasant Hill, CA

Pete, you might enjoy some of my older posts on the West Santa Ana branch since that job also came out of Anaheim IIRC.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1804237

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1804222

Good stuff covering the West Santa Ana Branch!  In 1974-1976 that job was known as the Bellflower "Switcher" and usually took a number of empty tanks from Anaheim to Douglas Oil in Paramount where they were spotted.  Hot asphalt/oil was picked up at the plant and hauled back to Anaheim.  Your shots bring back a lot of memories of my days wandering around the extensive branch line operation in the Anaheim area.

Thanks!

Beautiful--Thanks so much--XOCBoy

Steve Donaldson
Pacific Grove, CA

Zephyr Wrote:
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  But, I finally
> did and most of the crews and I got along very
> well.
>
> Pete
> Pleasant Hill, CA

You are certainly right about tha.......

V

Butte St Brakeman (SLOCONDR)

Looks like retired SP hogger L. B. "Loren" Yates at the throttle.

Tim Dickinson
Retired SP Hogger
La Verne, CA

Here's a closer look at the crew Tim. Hope retired life is treating you well.

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Crews wanted their "down" time in peace and would sometimes do nothing for hours while they all took naps, not exactly what we wanted as management, but you can understand then why they found places to "hide"...