Nostalgia & History > Three from Lenzen Ave Roundhouse, San Jose, CA, 1990

Back around 1990, plus or minus a few years, my job took me to the Silicon Valley area on multi-week temporary duty sojurns quite often.  I learned to pack my camera bag along with my clothes bag so I could bag some of the classic SP action still going on around the area then, and have a few decent images from the trips.  Here are three of them, all taken around the engine service area at Lenzen Ave Roundhouse in San Jose.

1) Engine service area, Lenzen Ave. Roundhouse, San Jose, Ca, October 1990. SP 2629 was one of the many SW1500 switch engines Southern Pacific rostered for serving yards and industry tracks in the area, and Caltrain 911 was one of 20 F40PH passenger engines used in the Peninsula commute service between San Jose and San Francisco. Lenzen Ave was the service terminal for the commute power laying over between runs in those days. I was impressed enough by the tall sand tower to get this view of it.

2)  October 1990, a hostler engineer brings six F40PH locomotives from the San Francisco Peninsula commuter fleet onto the lead to Lenzen Ave Roundhouse in San Jose, CA, for service at the end of the day. At the moment, he has climbed down to stand at the rear end of the lead engine, while in the background a string of boxcars is being switched on the drill track for Newhall Yard in the nearby city of Santa Clara. The signal bridge supports signals for both the Newhall Yard throat and the approach to Cahill Street Station in San Jose, where these engines ended their commute runs not long before, leading Caltrain gallery cars from 4th and Townsend in San Francisco.

3) I  *think* this is the power from the Permanente Local resting betwen runs at the Lenzen Ave service tracks.  I've read that the Perm ran out of Newhall Yard in those days.  I only managed to catch it in operation on the Vasona Branch once while I was in the area.

All this is now history, but I'm glad I was there to see it, now a third of a century ago.

- Kit
 

Kit Courter
Menefee, CA
LunarLight Photography

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At first glance, it looks like the Caltrain engines are doing freight duty.  That would be a first, because I've never heard of that happening.  I'm sure Cal Trans would have objected to SP wearing out their locos on freight.  This shows that perspective is everything. 

Must be Hostler's bringing fleet power back to the Roundhouse late evening.  One of them standing by the switch.

sphogger

Your first photo is inspired! If I'd come up to that scene, I'd have probably cursed all the junk in the way of a good roster shot. Well done!
Fred

Indeed! I can assure readers that the F40s were never pressed into freight service but the perspective is deceiving upon first glance.However, it's always fun to see someone else's pics from an area that was my own backyard so to speak.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/23 16:37 by rattenne.

Love the throwback photos Kit, I never did get to San Jose to chase trains until too late - after the UP merger.  But it sure was fun checking out all the stuff, including the Vasona branch.  I'm trying to remember when I saw my first CalTrain F40, I liked the paint scheme.  Was a lot flashier, and cleaner, than the SP!

Nathan