Nostalgia & History > Alcatraz by Train

I found these in the San Francisco PUblic library site showing trains being barged to the rock for unloading of new prisoners when it first opened

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At the Mole

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Unloading at the rock

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Close up of prisoners

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Gaurds

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Leaving Tiburon

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Some additional information on that special move (or moves) would be a good read. Where did the prisoner trains come from, routing, equipment, handling details, etc.

I believe that at least one train came from Atlanta.

I toured "ALCATRAZ ISLAND" last year when I vacationed in San Francisco. It was very fascinating to say the least. If anyone visits I recommend getting the headphones. While touring, the narrative you receive is fantastic. It holds a special fascination for me because I work in Corrections.

BaltoJoey<----playing Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang"

PS: the correct term is correctional officers

Could that barge be any more warped? Kinda Scary.

I had no idea that there was any kind of rail facilities on the Island...fascinating!

At first I wondered why they just didn't transfer the prisoners to the barge and then take them to Alcatraz, but after thinking about it, it does make sense. No use in creating the additional risk of escape while transferring them from the train to barge on the mainland. That is fascinating. I had no idea that sort of operation existed, or that the NWP was used to transport the prisoners!

No rail facilities on the island. It looks like they just tied up the barge to the wharf, walked the prisoners off the cars, on to the barge, and on to the wharf.

If anyone's old enough to remember the 1960s series THE UNTOUCHABLES with Robert Stack as Eliot Ness, they had one episode about the moving of the prisoners. Of course Hollywood had the Capone Gang holding the town of Tiburon hostage and the FBI later walking down the street in a line shooting machine guns. They did have a short bit of archival footage of the ferry move. - Tony J.

I suspect that the rail voyage to Alcatraz was only used for the initial transfer of federal prisoners when the joint opened. Once it was fully populated there would likely only be a few prisoners moved in any given week, certainly few enough that shackles, manacles, and shotguns would suffice.


BlackWidow Wrote:
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> At first I wondered why they just didn't transfer
> the prisoners to the barge and then take them to
> Alcatraz, but after thinking about it, it does
> make sense. No use in creating the additional
> risk of escape while transferring them from the
> train to barge on the mainland. That is
> fascinating. I had no idea that sort of operation
> existed, or that the NWP was used to transport the
> prisoners!

The railroad ferry move must have been for the first bunch sent to the island when it opened. Later on Alcatraz was serviced by the Warden Johnston. The Redwood City Sea Scouts were using this fine old vessel in my day on the Bay.

http://www.wardenjohnston.com/

sphogger Wrote:
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> The railroad ferry move must have been for the
> first bunch sent to the island when it opened.
> Later on Alcatraz was serviced by the Warden
> Johnston. The Redwood City Sea Scouts were using
> this fine old vessel in my day on the Bay.
>
> http://www.wardenjohnston.com/


sphogger, you wouldn't know the name of the RR barge in these pics or what ferry it may have been before, would you?

Thomas

Are the bars on the car windows temporary or did the S.P. keep a couple of coaches
specially adapted to haul prisoners?

I can't believe I never heard of this... I've seen few shows about the place, and I don't think they ever mentioned it.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Directional RR Radio Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

Sorry Thomas, I was aware of the Warden Johnston but that's about it. Interesting move on the barge, I wouldn't have wanted to be on those cars, they look ready to roll off into the water...

sphogger

sphogger Wrote:
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> Sorry Thomas, I was aware of the Warden Johnston
> but that's about it. Interesting move on the
> barge, I wouldn't have wanted to be on those
> cars, they look ready to roll off into the
> water...
>
> sphogger


I'm guessing there were some people around back then hoping they WOULD roll off!

Thomas