Somewhere along then, Tunnel 7 burned on the grade and the Coast was shut down for a long time. That's when they moved all the train crews to Oakland & LA. The engine crews stuck it out and kept SLO as a terminal even though nobody was turning a wheel.

It was funny in that the crews kept reporting smoke for weeks and the SP did nothing. Only after it became a full blown fire, they fired the last crew for not reporting it and shut down the Coast. The crew got all their back pay way down the road but I always wondered if the gang in the glass house was trying to get Atk or one of the commute unites to purchase the line and fix the tunnel.

I know first hand there was fire above Tunnel 6(cement lined) in an old ventilation shaft at the east end. It was being put in because of the steam exhaust but was left unfinished because of the diesels. Some college kids discovered the opening and it was used as a party place until one of their fires got away from them. It didn't stop the SP from running trains. We could see the smoke and smell wood burning going through the bore. When they did find the source they pumped foam into the upper shaft for weeks before it was out. The foam was coming out of the weep holes in the concrete. Trains were run as usual.

Looking back in history, there were a lot of tunnel and bridge fires that reared their heads. A lot of them on lines the SP didn't want anymore.

Nudge