Nostalgia & History > An SP F Unit Friday

SP Train 91 the Coast Mail between Los Angeles and San Francisco crossing the Pajaro River in 1961.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

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Nice one, Bob! I'll bet you can still hear those 567s at work passing right next to you... :^)

Lance

Unique image Bob. I never get tired of seeing F units in the Black Widow scheme.

Jan Austin
Chico, CA
Photography by Jan G. Austin

Very NICE sahot!!

Larry

Superior scene!
Bob

The 6221 seems to have lost its original Leslie horns.  Too bad.  Those Nathan replacements just weren't the same.  I remember that Pajaro River bridge with its earthquake protection signals on each end.  I'd pull up to the bridge on a red and let the head brakeman walk across safely doing his inspection and then I'd have to follow with a thousand tons of locomotives.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/21 13:14 by ExStarlightHog.

Superb!

Kent in CArmel Valley

ExStarlightHog Wrote:
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> The 6221 seems to have lost its original Leslie
> horns.  Too bad.  Those Nathan replacements just
> weren't the same.  I remember that Pajaro River
> bridge with its earthquake protection signals on
> each end.  I'd pull up to the bridge on a red and
> let the head brakeman walk across safely doing his
> inspection and then I'd have to follow with a
> thousand tons of locomotives.  

Been there, done that as a brakeman. Always wondered what I was supposed to be looking for as I certainly wasn't a qualified bridge inspector. I guess the company was more worried about my safety as I'd be across on firm ground if  the bridge collapsed under the weight of the train. 

Excellent shot, Bob!

RC Lundgren

I have been out there in the night to check that bridge.
For a transportation employee, seeing that the bridge was still up and the rails straight was good enough for restricted speed.
The MofW and Signal inspections looked at the footings on each end and for signs of concrete cracking.
This is very close to Hollister and the San Andreas fault.
IIRC Maximum speed there is limited by the curves on each end.

Seems to me the speed limit here was 35.  Going east you had to slow down to 25 for the spring switch at Logan which wasn't that far after crossing the bridge.  I forget if the "P" signal protecting the bridge also protected the facing-point switch or if there was another "P" signal just before the switch.  It's been a very long time since I took a train east (south) of Gilroy. 

I believe it was 35 mph both ways from end of double track at Logan to Corporal; I don't remember it being 25 going eastward through the switch at Logan but I could be wrong. There was a signal at the east end of old Chittenden siding that protected the bridge and another signal that protected the facing point switch at Logan. 

As a note, the earthquake detector was actually located at the old yard office in Watsonville, not at the bridge. The problem was that it was possible for a vehicle to bump the detector cover and set it off causing signals at Logan to go red.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/21 10:56 by Railbaron.

Railbaron Wrote:
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> I believe it was 35 mph both ways from end of
> double track at Logan to Corporal; I don't
> remember it being 25 going eastward through the
> switch at Logan but I could be wrong. There was a
> signal at the east end of old Chittenden siding
> that protected the bridge and another signal that
> protected the facing point switch at Logan. 
>
> As a note, the earthquake detector was actually
> located at the old yard office in Watsonville, not
> at the bridge. The problem was that it was
> possible for a vehicle to bump the detector cover
> and set it off causing signals at Logan to go red.
I know the speed through the switch at Logan was 25 for both directions.  Sometime in the 70's SP raised the westbound speed to 35 through the spring switch so that the points wouldn't tend to come back as much as they did when it was only 25. 

Thanks for the correction; guess my mind doesn't work as good as it did 50 years ago.