Nostalgia & History > SANTA FE Train # 4 in El Cerrito..

Well, this shot will certainly excite our frequent contributor "STASH".. He lives in El Cerrito, CA..

ATSF PA # 57 heads toward Richmond with Train # 4 on the 'Oakland Branch' passing thru El Cerrito, CA on 3/11/50.
Note that cool looking Semaphore signal..

Photo courtesy of John Illman..

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Well, I'm only an occassional "lurker" from accross the Bay and it excites me, tnx KRC for sharing so many local views this New Years Day.

KeyRouteKen Wrote:
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> Well, this shot will certainly excite our frequent
> contributor "STASH".. He lives in El Cerrito,
> CA..
>
> ATSF PA # 57 heads toward Richmond with Train # 4
> on the 'Oakland Branch' passing thru El Cerrito,
> CA on 3/11/50.
> Note that cool looking Semaphore signal..
>
> Photo courtesy of John Illman..

KeyRouteKen Wrote:
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> Well, this shot will certainly excite our frequent
> contributor "STASH".. He lives in El Cerrito,
> CA..


Not far from Stash World Headquarters! The hill in the distance is Albany Hill. Closer to the train is Kearney St. paralleling the track. The train is eastbound running toward Richmond which is about 3.5 miles away. The Santa Fe Railway is a ped-bike trail now; BART elevated structure runs above. Toward the tail end of the train in the photo is a BART station. The motel and other buildings to the right were demolished for new housing and retail. The semaphore signal puzzles me; that line was not ABS. Perhaps had to do with a curve to the left ahead of those Alco units; just don't know.

The Oakland District lasted until 1979. Today, a few remnants exist. A whistle post opposite my house; battery boxes for grade crossing signals and such.

Then and now.

In El Cerrito (Calif.), Santa Fe is gone but the railroad known as BART rolls by frequently. Plenty of new construction over the years but Albany Hill is still a landmark. BNSF is busier than ever, but in place of the long gone Oakland District trains now access UP at Stege (a mile away) to reach Oakland.

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stash Wrote:
> The semaphore signal puzzles me; that line was not
> ABS. Perhaps had to do with a curve to the left
> ahead of those Alco units; just don't know.
>

I assume that the signl is a Distant signal, giving a fixed APPROACH indication for the upcoming crossing with the SP mainline. I may be wrong, but I don't think the overpass across the SP was put in until later? Perhaps someone else know more.

Love the shots of the ATSF Oakland Branch. Keep 'em coming Ken!

John Cockle
Berkeley, CA

Why are there 3 1/2 baggage cars and only 4 (I think) coaches on this train. Did it pick up another section somewhere?

Thanks,
Tom

tbailey Wrote:
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> Why are there 3 1/2 baggage cars and only 4 (I
> think) coaches on this train. Did it pick up
> another section somewhere?
>
> Thanks,
> Tom


Although I don't know for sure, I'd guess the train was #2, The Scout, for Chicago. (I believe the Golden Gates were all streamlined trains.) The Scout also had a section from LA to Barstow.

SW1200 Wrote:
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> stash Wrote:
> > The semaphore signal puzzles me; that line
> was not
> > ABS. Perhaps had to do with a curve to the
> left
> > ahead of those Alco units; just don't know.
> >
>
> I assume that the signl is a Distant signal,
> giving a fixed APPROACH indication for the
> upcoming crossing with the SP mainline. I may be
> wrong, but I don't think the overpass across the
> SP was put in until later? Perhaps someone else
> know more.
>

> John Cockle
> Berkeley, CA
>
>

Time Table 97 for the Valley Division dated
September 24, 1950 indicates that the Oakland District
had signals from Richmond to signal 32. The last digit
on a signal number for the Santa Fe indicated direction
and not the nearest 1/10th of a mile (whereas SP's last digit
indicated not only direction but nearest 1/10th of mile).
So, it's possible for signal 32 to be located at
mile 3.9 or so. The timetable lists Cerritos as mile 4.5.
My guess is that this photo shows the beginning of ABS.

The only crossing of the SP at this time was between Berkeley and
Oakland over the former Red Electric line.

Notice that the semaphore is a shorty, which is rather
unusual. One wonders if the shot taken at this location
had a hiway overpass. Railroads frequently
shorten its semaphores near overpasses (be they hiway
or railroad) for better visability.

Until I saw this picture, I had no idea that signals
where installed on the Oakland District. I lived in Berkeley
for over 8 years and was quite fond of the Oakland District.

BCHellman Wrote:
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> The only crossing of the SP at this time was
> between Berkeley and
> Oakland over the former Red Electric line.
>
> Notice that the semaphore is a shorty, which is
> rather
> unusual. One wonders if the shot taken at this
> location
> had a hiway overpass. Railroads frequently
> shorten its semaphores near overpasses (be they
> hiway
> or railroad) for better visability.
>
> Until I saw this picture, I had no idea that
> signals
> where installed on the Oakland District. I lived
> in Berkeley
> for over 8 years and was quite fond of the Oakland
> District.
>

Very interesting. My timetable is newer than your 1950 edition and I didn't know any ABS existed.

No highway overpass existed at the location, just a curve westbound. After the freeway was built, the line passed beneath it. But in the days of this photo, Highway 40 was San Pablo Avenue at that location.

stash Wrote:
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> Not far from Stash World Headquarters! The hill in
> the distance is Albany Hill.

Yeah, too close! I think I see toddler Stash wandering around in the background of that shot there...

After looking at my Spring 1949 ATSF System Passenger Time Table, I believe this train was a a combined Scout and California Limited operating between Oakland and Barstow. Scheduled to arrive in Barstow around 10:30 p.m., it then joined with the main California Limited (which had departed from Los Angeles at 7 pm). From Barstow at 11:37 pm, the combined trains traveled to Albuquerque, where the California Limited diverged to the northern route (Raton, NM and LaJunta, CO) while the Scout traveled the southern route (Belen, NM, Amarillo, TX). According to the T/T, the two trains arrived in Chicago about an hour apart on the third day.

Didn't KPIX's Evening Magazine do a story of the last run on the Oakland Local??

ClipX Wrote:
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> Didn't KPIX's Evening Magazine do a story of the
> last run on the Oakland Local??

Yes they did. And also one on the WP in the Feather River Canyon. That story was notable because the helicopter carry the camera crew clipped a power line and crashed whle pacing the train.

I recently was at an event with Jan Yanahiro, the former co-host. I asked her about the tapes and whether she had access to them. She responded she had tried for years to get Westinghouse Broadcasting to sell her the library of Evening Magazine shows, but they refused. It's a shame, there's some really cool nostalgia locked up in those tapes.