I had to go to Watsonville to pick up painting supplies this past Friday, but ended up spending the day with the SC&MB crew. They are staying very busy with tank cars coming in and going out of storage along with a steady flow of refrigeration cars for Lineage. MH 89 was waiting on parts so the F-units were put back in freight service.

When I arrived at Lee Road the crew was trying to remove a frozen lock from one of the switch stands. After several attempts it was decided that a locksmith was needed to remove the lock.




The F-units were low on oil so they headed back to Lineage to start the locomotives and move them to the Agron spur to service them. While at Lineage I noticed that two large refrigeration cars were spotted at the loading doors and two more were waiting to be spotted.




At Agron the F-units took on oil.




Doing this would not be on my bucket list.






When does a short hood become a long hood? When it is viewed through a wide-angle lens.




In the meantime I headed over to Lee Road to wait for the locksmith to arrive. In the adjoining field, while I waited, tractors plowed the field preparing the soil for planting.




Soon afterwards the locksmith arrived and made quick work of removing the stubborn lock from the switch stand.




With the switch stand lock replaced and the oil replenished on SC 1101 and SC 1102 the job commenced. The first order was to split up and move the newly arrived tank cars from the main to the siding by Big Creek and the industrial lead to Americold.










With the main clear the cut of 15 tank cars west of Lee Road were coupled and taken to Watsonville Junction for interchange.










Here is a road name you don’t see very often.




Traffic was light heading back down Walker Street.








There are several encampments along the line in Watsonville, but this one is unique. They should get the good encampment housekeeping seal of approval. There is no trash, everything has a place and it is in its place and they even have a nice garden.




One of these days I must remember to get a better look at this boxcar that has incorporated into the shed at a business on West Beach Street.




There were 4 tank cars still on the Americold industrial lead and it was decided to shove them to the other side of West Beach Street.








After they cleared the crossing I got off and shadowed the consist as they shoved back and on to the Americold spur.








It was late and time for me to head back to Aptos. As I was leaving I could see the Lineage crew loading one of the refrigeration cars. It was very satisfying to see this level of activity on the branch line.