Nostalgia & History > For the Barbarians #19

On The Coast you shread mud, not snow!
SR

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This would have been in early 1978 as heavy rains hit the SP coast route hard with several mud slides and washouts. Two Jordan spreaders were brought in and worked out of Santa Barbara to clear the mudslides  Plus this happened at Ortega siding in Summerland as the ground dropped a few feet toward the beach  SP tried to fill in with ballast and such but it was a losing battle as the siding was eventually cut off near the West end .This photo is looking toward the West with Highway 101 just above the tracks to the right.

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Yeah, that all sounds right. I remember there was a real SoCal style mess going on. My photo wasn’t an accident, I knew I’d find the spreader around somewhere.
Thanks for clarifying the background!
SR

Posted from iPhone

That 2nd photo is pretty scary, seeing such a large chunk of land just drop downward.  Did it get worse?  Has it stabilized?  

This was nearly 50yrs ago and the RR is still there. The Ortega siding is long gone, but the main is still there.
SR

Barbarian #13 shows the bugle outs from sliding back in the 70's in an aerial shot.  Nothing has moved that much in the last number of years, but history indicates it probably will move once again in a wet year.

For the Barbarians #13

 

long range plans per LOSSAN is that the Ortega siding will be replaced for passenger trains.

A quite adequate siding for passenger service can be built, using the footprint of the east end of Ortega.
If Caltrans can convince the UP that they don't neet 10,000 feet to meet all those long freights running there now.
Old head railroaders even knew how to do a saw-by meet when one train was too long for a siding.
Psst. Omaha: Look up the defintion of "Saw By", maybe you can author a thesis on a clever way to maximize the use of assets.