Nostalgia & History > Westbound Wednesday - SP Del Monte, South City, 1959 DH Photo

The SP Del Monte left Monterey around 7:30 AM and returned there around 8 PM.
At San Jose the commute car was added westbound and dropped eastbound.
Don Hansen photo from 1959 at South San Francisco of the westbound Del Monte.
Regards, Jim Evans



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 08:48 by FiveChime.

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Great SP look back!

Larry

Jim - nice shot!  So had the US-101 overpass not been built by 1959?  Or is this railroad-east of the overpass?

I never liked running those Geep's long hood forward, unless you collided with something big.  But that never happened.   



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/23 09:24 by ExStarlightHog.

That's pretty wild with the Motel sign to the right side. With all the tracks in the foreground it shouldn't be too tough to figure out the exact spot.
Still digging through Signor's new book, lots of info on SSF in there.
t4p.

dwatry Wrote:
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> Jim - nice shot!  So had the US-101 overpass not
> been built by 1959?  Or is this railroad-east of
> the overpass?

I don't know when the 101 overpass was built but this looks like its railroad-east like you are wondering. Looks like Bayshore Boulevard descending to the underpass on the right. 

TCnR Wrote:
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> That's pretty wild with the Motel sign to the
> right side. With all the tracks in the foreground
> it shouldn't be too tough to figure out the exact
> spot.
> Still digging through Signor's new book, lots of
> info on SSF in there.
> t4p.

I was wondering about that sign. To me the first letter looks like a B. Here's the 1965 aerial of the Airport Blvd. underpass are from the trackmaps collection for San Francisco and South City. Looks like a department store of some kind.  

I was lucky enough to catch a move to the Baden Branch tracks west of that property there by the South City Switcher spotting a couple cars of lumber for South City Lumber back in 2014. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 09:41 by phthithu.

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Yeah, the streetlight just picture-right of the engine
must be at the underpass. The overpass dates
from 1947-48.

Great-looking train.
Bob

timz Wrote:
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> Yeah, the streetlight just picture-right of the
> engine
> must be at the underpass. The overpass dates
> from 1947-48.

I was writing a reply saying 1937 and then decided to check. Turns out its 1927 if you can believe that. 
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.650982,-122.4089819,3a,75y,343.18h,90.11t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s7U7nAD6hmjcxlhpDpG7Lsg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D7U7nAD6hmjcxlhpDpG7Lsg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D350.2554%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

The northbound side says 1935: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.650982,-122.4089819,3a,75y,343.18h,90.11t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s7U7nAD6hmjcxlhpDpG7Lsg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D7U7nAD6hmjcxlhpDpG7Lsg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D350.2554%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu



 

My memories of the Del Monte are probably from the early 1960s.  It nearly always consisted of two passenger Geeps and three lightweight passenger cars, often in Daylight colors.  Commute cars were added westbound in San Jose.  Grew up in San Jose.  Once my family went to San Francisco for the day and we were allowed to ride in the "Del Monte" section of the train.  I was a very excited 12 year old.

Stan Praisewater

Yeah, they built half the underpass in the 1920s.
Dunno if they thought that would be big enough
for a while -- turned out it wasn't.
 

timz Wrote:
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> Yeah, they built half the underpass in the 1920s.
> Dunno if they thought that would be big enough
> for a while -- turned out it wasn't.
>  

Oops I missed the overpass part of your earlier comment thought you were talking underpass with the 1947 date. My bad. 

I wonder where the South San Francisco Belt's trackage began. Did they run all the way to the South City yard tracks i.e. over the underpass? 

Excellent shot, Jim!

texchief1
RC Lundgren

B-O
Bowl or Bowling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 11:15 by TCnR.

I have great memories of riding the old Del Monte from 1948-1951 on round trips from Monterey to San Francisco.
It was pulled by steam.  Those were great days for the Del Monte and the City was glorious.   Sad that the Del Monte is long gone,
and sad what has happened to San Francisco.   

Skip Marquard
Carmel Valley, CA

A Classic Scene in all respects!  Really like the LHF running; spent too much time around SOU.
ALLEN

Yes, it's train #77, so it's heading into SF.

Dave 

TCnR Wrote:
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> B-O
> Bowl or Bowling.

Nice one, TCnR. Well, you're right, but that wasn't just any ordinary bowling alley--it was the World's Finest! 

These directories at the Library of Congress are pretty handy although not searchable have to go through them page by page to narrow down your target: 
https://www.loc.gov/resource/usteledirec.usteledirec03547/?sp=234&st=image&r=0.334,0.311,0.659,0.329,0

https://www.loc.gov/collections/united-states-telephone-directory-collection/?fa=location%3Acalifornia%7Clocation%3Amarin%20county

 

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Here's an E.K. Muller photo of SP 4445 on Tr.91 passing under the US-101 overpass at South San Francisco a few years before Don's shot.  Photo courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.

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