Nostalgia & History > SP Joint Facility Trackage with ATSF, UP & Others - LA Division

Here is the joint trackage list and map for SP's Los Angeles Division effective on June 1, 1971. I never worked LA Division so have no knowledge of that area. Interesting that there was activity on tracks owned by the USAF and even the Yuma Valley RR. 
 

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Yes the USAF track age is off of the siding at Tangair.. There is a Wye there also. I only went down the track to the end Once to deliver a portable missile on a flat car to one of the buildings. As I remember the track was good for 25 mph. There is a ballon track at the end. When the runaway was lengthened hoppers of cement were set out on the interchange that came from Mojave.
Yes lots of the trackage is now gone.
In my career have been over all of the lines with the exception of the Chino Branch and never went to Villa Park. Have never been east of Mira Loma on the UP. I have been over the entire Santa Fe Districts from San Diego to Daggett. Never have been on the White Hills Branch. Never have been east of Claremont on the old PE.
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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/21 17:50 by SanJoaquinEngr.

I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB (1973-1977), and at that time, the trackage ran from the siding at Tangair through the base to the large loop of track near the warehouses at the north end adjacent to the Base HQ. This arrangement allowed the SP switcher to come onto the base heading north, spot their cars, and then loop around to they'd be heading south. Movements were very scattered and an SP switcher ( SW1500, I think),  would bring a car or two onto the base from time to time. The most common car I would see would be a USN Helium Car spotted near where the weather people would off-load the helium for their weather balloons. On rare occasions, a Minuteman missile carrier would be brought in. 

Having worked on the Los Angeles Division my entire SPRR career, I fondly remember all of these joint facilities.  As the PACE (Paper and Carbon Everywhere!) Officer, (it really meant Projection and Control of Expenditures) I would have to review all of the joint facility expenses and request audits if necessary.  It was kind of a game between the two or three companies involved in the "joint" facility to see who could charge whom for repairs, maintenance or upgrades.  Heaven forbid there was a derailment on a joint facility!  Things got very interesting if that occurred.

Pete
Clio, California

Several years before the SP / UP merger, I received a letter from my UP counterpart advising me of a derailment at Lyoth, where the two railroads had a crossing in the rural Tracy, CA area. The letter pointed the old finger at the SP as being the primary cause of the derailment. Although the derailment had been a a few months earlier, I headed there immediately, suspecting that I might be too late, but every day counted. I scoured the area on foot and even at that late date, was able to find and photograph evidence that disproved the UP’s claim. Lyoth was a rather desolate area. When I saw photographs in a book taken there decades earlier in steam days, I was amazed at what it once was. 

My counterpart had a streak of laziness in him and we tangled on more than one occasion. After the merger his true colors became more obvious due to the higher SP caseload in which he was told he would participate. Rather than accept his new marching orders, he took early retirement.