Re: Effects on NWP
Author: HUTCH 7.62
Date: 09-17-2016 - 22:03
Nudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 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
Back in 92 when I was twelve I met a SP agent at the JPB inaugural run party at Christopher ranch's warehouse just south of Gilroy just past hwy 25, who claimed the coastline was for sale.