Nostalgia & History > This week's baeraarchives pics

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267772684825

Pic 1 has to be Richmond, on the bridge over MacDonald.
There was a bus garage over there? Until BART evicted them?

Pic 2 they're just starting out of Berkeley? The xing is Delaware?

Pic 7 must be starting at Richmond and 8 looks SE from the station.

No clue about 16. Pic 18 -- a PA with two F's at Richmond.
Must be some pre-BART alterations in the foreground?
Ditto pic 22.

19 must be San Jose backwardsly? Was the Geep's short
hood always toward Monterey?

SD7-powered fantrip in pic 24 -- NWP?

Guess 21 is Richmond somewhere SE of the station.

How about pic 7 in the other bunch?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/257715453829

Can anyone tell whether pic 16 in the second batch is backwards?
(The numberboards are still at the front of the engines --
maybe the pic is pre-CTC. Maybe that explains the signal.)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/26 14:55 by timz.

24 reminded me of the NWP, too. That building on the right looks similar to the barracks buildings at the Nike missile bases in Marin. 

timz Wrote:

> SD7-powered fantrip in pic 24 -- NWP?

Pacific Coast Chapter R&LHS "Sonoma Express" excursion from Oakland to Sonoma via Martinez and Suisun.  Photo shows the train at Sonoma facing compass east and railroad west.  The depot is visible in the distance on the left.

> Can anyone tell whether pic 16 in the second batch is backwards?

I don't think it's backwards.  The passenger car letter boards show three words whose lengths suggest Southern Pacific Lines as such, not reversed.

Early Daylight cars said "Lines"?

timz Wrote:

> Early Daylight cars said "Lines"?

See for yourself: https://spdaylight.net/Consist.html

timz Wrote:

> Pic 1 has to be Richmond, on the bridge over MacDonald.
> There was a bus garage over there? Until BART evicted them?

There still is a bus garage over there: https://maps.app.goo.gl/VyhZ4Sci9qxPX8T48

> Pic 2 they're just starting out of Berkeley? The xing is Delaware?

This is Barrett Ave. just starting out of Richmond.  Delaware wasn't that wide, and there would have been more than three tracks at the crossing.

> Pic 7 must be starting at Richmond

Yes, note the same building in the left background as in photo 2.

The pair of steam engines in the second photo from the second batch are running between San Jose's old arcade depot at Bassett St. and the roundhouse. Their Pushme-Pullyou appearance is attributable to one loco being assigned to variously a Peninsula/Santa Cruz/Mulford lines train, and the other to a the Milpitas Line train. The structure behind is the several times enlarged former SF&SJ passenger station, which for the last ~50 years had served as the yard office and freight depot. I would date the photo to 1933-35 due to plain black appearnce of the engine. The Bassett St. depot closed at the end of 1935, obviating such moves.

EO
Wx4.org

It sure is very strange and unfortunate that they are disposing of this very rare collection of pictures.  Why wouldn't it, for example, have been given to the Western Railway Museum archives?

EO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The pair of steam engines in the second photo from
> the second batch are running between San Jose's
> old arcade depot at Bassett St. and the
> roundhouse. Their Pushme-Pullyou appearance is
> attributable to one loco being assigned to
> variously a Peninsula/Santa Cruz/Mulford lines
> train, and the other to a the Milpitas Line train.
> The structure behind is the several times enlarged
> former SF&SJ passenger station, which for the last
> ~50 years had served as the yard office and
> freight depot. I would date the photo to 1933-35
> due to plain black appearnce of the engine. The
> Bassett St. depot closed at the end of 1935,
> obviating such moves.
>
> EO
> Wx4.org

Neat stuff! The other picture I'm familiar with for that freight house is a photo of it burning down in 1970. I believe that was posted here so I hope no one minds me reposting the photo--credit details are on the photo. 

---

---

Okay, there's no problem with pic 16 in the
second batch. It is frontwards and the train
is pointed compass-SE about to turn to the
north at Chorro, and apparently the signal
(semaphore?) is at the RR-east end of the
siding, and the pic is 1941 or earlier.
The 6/41 timetable shows Chorro 111 cars
long and the previous timetable (3/40) it
was 40 cars. (Still no CTC in 6/41.)

Must be the Noon Daylight.

phthithu Wrote:

> Neat stuff! The other picture I'm familiar with
> for that freight house is a photo of it burning
> down in 1970.

See also this old thread, initially misidentified as Lodi:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,6042061

phthithu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Neat stuff! The other picture I'm familiar with
> for that freight house is a photo of it burning
> down in 1970.

I kick myself every time I see a photo of that freight house (and all of the other ancinient wooden warehouses that used to line the north side of the tracks in the area). I had plenty of oppotuniries to photograph it, but failed to do so, excepting one shot at the same location as the steamers shot, except with a freight train blocking the view. Darn negligence, I'd Say.

EO
Wx4.org

timz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay, there's no problem with pic 16 in the
> second batch. It is frontwards and the train
> is pointed compass-SE about to turn to the
> north at Chorro, and apparently the signal
> (semaphore?) is at the RR-east end of the
> siding, and the pic is 1941 or earlier.
> The 6/41 timetable shows Chorro 111 cars
> long and the previous timetable (3/40) it
> was 40 cars. (Still no CTC in 6/41.)
>
> Must be the Noon Daylight.

According to Church, double-headed Daylight engines climbing Cuesta ended shortly after the GS-3 class were delivered, after which freight locomotives were the helpers (mainly 2-10-2s). The GS-3s were all delivered by December, 1937, so this suggest the photo was taken before the Noon Daylight  was inaugurated on March 30, 1940. 

Southern Pacific dropped  the word "Lines" on June 14, 1946. I have yet to see any photos of a passenger engine or car lettered "Southern Pacific Lines" after June, 1947,

Topfuel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It sure is very strange and unfortunate that they
> are disposing of this very rare collection of
> pictures.  Why wouldn't it, for example, have
> been given to the Western Railway Museum archives?

It was given to the Western Railway Museum and they are the ones who are selling it.

This was discussed extensively:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,6209974,6210493#msg-6210493