Railroaders' Nostalgia > SP's San Jose Roundhouse "rope track"???

Attn. Elderly Coast Coots,

Do any of you recall a "rope track" at SP's San Jose Roundhouse, presumably the lead in the foreground of this photo that accompanied an inquiry by John Signor? Does this photo show the rope? I kinda recall that engine crews pulling something to notify College Park Tower that they wanted to depart the east end of the roundhouse for Cahill depot, but I don't recall the name "rope track".

John? Mike?

EO
Wx4.org

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Maybe this has some info, at the bottom of the discussion:

Date: 09/25/05 16:34
San Jose Roundhouse
Author: sphogger

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1005423,1006091#msg-1006091

+ after reading the old post and looking at the new photo there appears to be two ropes on one pole and one rope on the right most pole. Reach out and pull the rope.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/26 17:38 by TCnR.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe this has some info, at the bottom of the
> discussion:
>
> Date: 09/25/05 16:34
> San Jose Roundhouse
> Author: sphogger
>
> https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11
> ,1005423,1006091#msg-1006091
>
> + after reading the old post and looking at the
> new photo there appears to be two ropes on one
> pole and one rope on the right most pole. Reach
> out and pull the rope.

Well, I feel a lot better now. Early in my career I was the herder at the opposite end of the roundhouse, and although I thought that I sorta remembered some unique way of waking up College Park Tower, I was not sure whether this was a real memory or encroaching dementia. Likewise, I had a suspicion that Signor was pulling my leg.

As to "rope track", being an actual name, all that I remember is numbered tracks (#1 at far left acted as the receiving track for power from Cahill, hence the spring switch) and the east roundhouse lead that led to the signal, the track in the photo foreground.

EO
 

Sounds like the boys at the Archives haven't sent you to Dunsmuir Hardware for some Flight Line yet.

EO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Attn. Elderly Coast Coots,
>
> Do any of you recall a "rope track" at SP's San
> Jose Roundhouse, presumably the lead in the
> foreground of this photo that accompanied an
> inquiry by John Signor? Does this photo show the
> rope? I kinda recall that engine crews pulling
> something to notify College Park Tower that they
> wanted to depart the east end of the roundhouse
> for Cahill depot, but I don't recall the name
> "rope track".
>
> John? Mike?
>
> EO
> Wx4.org

The rope is next to the track where the 3025 is. We just referred to it as “the rope”. The track on the left is a lead track. The engine on it is most likely returning from the depot. A herder at the other end will line them into whatever service track the RH Foreman wants them to go.

Posted from iPhone

Seems to me that one pull of the rope was to go to the depot and two pulls meant you wanted to make a move past the signal and then back into the RH.

ExStarlightHog Wrote:
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> Seems to me that one pull of the rope was to go to
> the depot and two pulls meant you wanted to make a
> move past the signal and then back into the RH.

Yep. A fellow wrote me to say that it was a buzzer in the tower that functioned as the alerter. The towerman had a lineup anyway, of course. Low tech at its finest!

When I hostled at SJ RH, the rope was at the A signal controlled by College Park.  One pull was west main, two was east main and three was the freight lead.  We'd head to the depot to swap out power and then run lite back to the house.  Those were some fun times.  Pay was rotten, but as the junior fireman, that's where I could work.

rtm8575 Wrote:
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> When I hostled at SJ RH, the rope was at the A
> signal controlled by College Park.  One pull was
> west main, two was east main and three was the
> freight lead.  We'd head to the depot to swap out
> power and then run lite back to the house.  Those
> were some fun times.  Pay was rotten, but as the
> junior fireman, that's where I could work.

Were you one of the hostlers that I "convinced" to handle his own switches with a bottle of Old Crow so that I could get a week's worth of nightly rest with minimal interruptions while herding at the College Park end of the roundhouse?

As to the "pulls", I found a comment on TO's by Seller Nugent that is a bit different than yours: one pull to go against the grain to the depot and two to go west.

Otherwise, after originating this post in February, I decided that this all merited a web page. In the process I discovered that I had unknowingly photographed the rope several times over the years, such as in the Fall of 1973, below. That's Roadmaster Elmer Stone in the dress jacket surveying the difficulties.

EO
Wx4.org
 

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