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Re: Freight car Friday: Cement and Borates
Author: Carol L Voss
Date: 01-26-2019 - 15:58
DCA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Carol:
>
> Apparently, then, the Permanente Branch has no
> traffic these days. I no longer live in the area
> but years ago (possibly when you were in the
> Cupertino area) I was on the County FD and
> assigned to several of the County fire stations
> there. That included Monta Vista on Stevens Creek
> Blvd., Cupertino station, also on Stevens Creek
> Blvd., and West Valley, on Cox Ave. The
> Permanente Local was a near-daily fixture in those
> days, running right past the backyard of the West
> Valley fire station with a lot of coal loads
> inbound and a lot of (mixed) SP power.
>
> I wonder whether UPRR is continuing to maintain
> the branch, which as you know, once handled daily
> passenger trains up the west side to connect with
> the mainline near Palo Alto (that was before my
> time in that area, and after the northern portion
> of the Vasona Line became Foothill Expressway).
IIRC, The Perm apparently still runs 2 or 3 days a week out of Warm Springs since Newhall yard is gone. They used to take 60 coal carloads up every coupke of weeks, and gypsum and taconite and return with some cement , but most all the cement goes by truckload out of the plant. They also used to have a beat up old caboose tacked onto the end butnotsure about that anymore. Been too many years since I chased it.
C
-------------------------------------------------------
> Carol:
>
> Apparently, then, the Permanente Branch has no
> traffic these days. I no longer live in the area
> but years ago (possibly when you were in the
> Cupertino area) I was on the County FD and
> assigned to several of the County fire stations
> there. That included Monta Vista on Stevens Creek
> Blvd., Cupertino station, also on Stevens Creek
> Blvd., and West Valley, on Cox Ave. The
> Permanente Local was a near-daily fixture in those
> days, running right past the backyard of the West
> Valley fire station with a lot of coal loads
> inbound and a lot of (mixed) SP power.
>
> I wonder whether UPRR is continuing to maintain
> the branch, which as you know, once handled daily
> passenger trains up the west side to connect with
> the mainline near Palo Alto (that was before my
> time in that area, and after the northern portion
> of the Vasona Line became Foothill Expressway).
IIRC, The Perm apparently still runs 2 or 3 days a week out of Warm Springs since Newhall yard is gone. They used to take 60 coal carloads up every coupke of weeks, and gypsum and taconite and return with some cement , but most all the cement goes by truckload out of the plant. They also used to have a beat up old caboose tacked onto the end butnotsure about that anymore. Been too many years since I chased it.
C
