Also, Watsonville produced a lot more strawberries back in the 80s. You still see the

Driscel(spell?)name.

I wasn't aware that any strawberries were shipped by rail. Most going by truck. Their "picked" life was short compared to other items hauled by rail.

When we would switch the sheds on the ECP they would give us cases of carrots, tomatoes, lettuce. (They were too ripe to ship) We made sure we had a cardboard box for asparagus in Gonzales. There was a truck parked half way into the shed where a chute sent the pieces for cow feed. As a fireman it was your job to go in and hold the box under the chute. These were the mostly tops or the top 6".

We got peppers at King City (not bells). Artichokes were loaded in Castroville and I only saw a case in the change room at Wat. Jct. Once and awhile you would get waxed bell peppers at Oceano but not too often.

There was a Coors Dist at the west switch at Ventura that would give us soon to be outdated beer and we would sit in their tap room until a relief crew showed up. If you were going to die at Ventura going east, you pulled your train to the clear to hold your motors and then would run around the train with the power. Nice spot, waiting.

No More Free Lunch Today.


Nudge