Nostalgia & History > -- 1973 -- three views from Islay Hill

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_fnrnPrx8-6BRDx27UjY-2M1GRTkEcfp?usp=sharing

Full resolution above, previews below.

Islay Hill is at https://goo.gl/maps/tSK1oo4ZbujJkqFc7

First two pics are a PSSE with 82 cars and 6200+ tons
on 23 August. In the first pic they're on double track,
on single in the second pic -- double track was cut
back from Hadley in 1957 or '58. (For the first few
years, end of double track was MP 253.29 and the
second track south of there was shown as a siding
extending to MP 254.86, which presumably is where
the double track ended in 1973.)

The spring switch normal position was for the
westward track, suggesting that the eastward
track was the one removed east of East SLO,
but west of Hadley the westward track was
the one removed.

Guess we can see the narrow-gauge ROW
in the first two pics -- where does it run in
the third pic?

At the center of the second pic, on the west
side of Edna Rd, is the first house I lived in.
Less than 300 yards from the end of the
airport runway, so I was a plane fan years
before I was a railfan. Don't remember
Southwest DC-3s, but they must have
made an impression.

Third pic is a helper on its way to rescue an
empty reefer train that stalled coming out of
Casmalia, also on 23 Aug. Two SD45s pulling
120 empties -- on paper they should be able to
manage that, but the next day two U33Cs
stalled with another reefer train, a bit shorter.
According to the UP chart the climb is three
miles of 0.7%, then 1.6 level miles, then 3.3 miles
of 1.0%.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/22 16:39 by timz.

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Boy it sure don't look like that now!

Very nice! I miss the good old days.

Great views from Islay Hill...

In pic 1 you can clearly see Tank Farm Road. Very first time I was in a car that exceeded 100mph was on that road (in a station wagon with a freshly rebuilt motor)!

I had trouble finding Hwy 227 (Broad St/Edna Rd) in the second pic, but you can clearly see the dangerous Hwy 227 diagonal crossing in pic 3.

Stalled trains on the climb from Surf to Shuman certainly weren't uncommon, even in the early '80's. Either they were underpowered or had junk power (bell ringers).

Allen

Posted from Android

Did you get shots of the stalled Reefer train?

Not this one -- I got the one the following day,
being pushed thru Callender by the SF.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/22 15:16 by timz.

timz Wrote:
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> Not this one -- I got the one the following day,
> being pushed thru Callender by the SF.
Gotta picture you can post?