Nostalgia & History > Two SP 2-8-0s at Bayshore in 1961

In May 1961 I happened to be at Southern Pacific's Bayshore Roundhouse when SP forces brought in 2-8-0 SP2706 from the Bayshore deadline so I took a series of photos of the event. Also present on another garden track was 2-8-0 SP2836, fresh from being used in stationary boiler service elsewhere.

I will show a series of photos showing the 2706 on the turntable and parked at Bayshore with 2-8-0 SP2836, along with GP9 #5798 and an ALCO RS-11. At the time I didn't know why the 2706 was moved to the roundhouse, but I later found out it was selected to be donated to the City of Watsonville.

There will be two shots showing SP2706 sitting at the end of a track at Watsonville Junction (Pajaro) in July 1962, prior to being moved to its display site in town. Then I'll show one slide of SP2706 on a lowboy trailer in Watsonville after being acquired by Rick Hamman. The day they loaded the SP2706 on the lowboy was the day of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. I would soon be involved with the unloading and the first restoration efforts on the 2706 in Santa Cruz. A few years later John Manley purchased the 2706 (and the tender of 0-6-0 SP1298) and move them to GGRM. I guess you can say I've had a 40-year affair with the old gal.- Tony Johnson

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Here's the 2706 taking a spin on the Bayshore turntable in May 1961. - Tony

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Now the 2706 is shoved off the turntable and on to one of the garden tracks. - Tony

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The 2706 sits on the garden track. - Tony

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The 2706 sits with a ALCO RS-11, GP9 and another 2-8-0. - Tony

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Looking along the running gear of SP2706. - Tony

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Another shot of SP2706 and GP9 SP5798. - Tony

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I gave the wrong caption to the previous photo. That was SP 2-8-0 #2836 and GP9 #5798. Here is a shot of SP2836. - Tony

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After taking some closeups I wandered around the roundhouse. Here's a shot looking through the roundhouse at the turntable and 2-8-0s. - Tony

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My next meeting of SP2706 was at Watsonville Junction in July 1962. SP's shop forces at Bayshore had made the locomotive look pretty for her new display site in Watsonville. - Tony

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Here's a broadside shot of SP2706 at Watsonville Junction. A much younger (and skinnier) me stands to the left, while Bayshore Tower 3rd Trick Operator George Janes stands to the right. - Tony

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The last shot is of SP2706 sitting on a lowboy trailer on Walker Street in Watsonville. This was on Oct. 26, 1989, a few days after the Loma Prieta Earthquake... and yes, it was on the lowboy when the earthquake hit. - Tony

The aftershocks of the earthquke still affect me. I forgot to attach the photo. Sorry! - Tony

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TonyJ Wrote:
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> A much younger (and skinnier) me stands
> to the left

And not as furry as you are today, either!

Had you started growing your beard when this photo was taken?

And not as furry as you are today, either!

Had you started growing your beard when this photo was taken?


Listen here, Topper, my old friend. If I had any feelings they would be hurt. For the record I didn't start growing my beard until I retired ten years ago. Working in the retail grocery-produce business, and not being allowed to grow a beard, I wanted to at least say I grew a beard once. It was when I was going to shave it off that Marjorie told me to keep it as it help hide the ugliness. That hurt, too! Unforunately, it's true. :-)

Great shots, Tony. You must have recorded the last steam deadlines on the SP. Also glad for the update on the 2706. I wondered what happened to it after it disappeared from Santa Cruz (pictured there on 3/5/90.

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Keep it coming. Although my other half wonders why I have spent a lot of time on the computer as of late.

Nudge

After I took the shots of it ready for display in 1962 at Watsonville, it wasn't until 1984 that I saw it again. By that time it looked terrible, while jungle-gym bars on it, paint gone, and grafitti all over it. Then in 1989 my wife and I next saw it on the lowboy trailer and I wondered what was up. A railfan friend that worked at the Santa Cruz Mission St. Safeway Store told me it was parked on a siding near his store. I dorve out there and met a man (Jack Hansen, I think) from RC&BTRR in Felton. He told me about Rick Hamman buying the locomotive and his plan to restore it. I then became involved in working on it.

You should have heard us as we built the ramp from the spur to the rails on the flatcar holding SP2709. We we wondering how easily the 2-8-0 would go down the ramp. A few of us thought it wouldn't stop until it reached the Beach Boardwalk. In the end it actually had to be "pulled down" the ramp. - Tony

Keep it coming. Although my other half wonders why I have spent a lot of time on the computer as of late.

Nudge

It's also keeping me away from working on our SP flanger at the Railroad Park.