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Re: E9A & B on the "San Joaquin" May 1974
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 01-16-2009 - 00:33
>My memory may be a little hazy (given that my tenure in that neck of the woods was back in '72 to '76, unless one also includes my brief Amtrak period in '87), but it appears to me that Drew has parked along the highway and has walked over to the right-of-way just west of the east siding switch - it would be behind his right shoulder a little bit.
Technically there is no siding, but yes, he's standing near what used to be the dirt crossing into the County Spur. I think you can still "park" there (last time I went by about 2 years ago people were still dumping trash there), but the crossing has been gone for over 20 years.
>I'd always heard the crews, yardmasters and clerks refer to the track running parallel to the main on the other side of the train as being called the "Shell Siding." You say it's the "Tower Siding?"
The Tower wasn't a main track. It may have been a "siding" eons ago, but I don't know. I've never heard the term "Shell Siding" (worked there on and off 1974-1987). During this time, there was no siding at Avon either. The tracks in the "Shell Yard", from left to right, facing west are the Lead, Old Main, and Crowley's. At the west end, the Lead became the LCL Lead, which used to go to a small LCL facility in what became the parking lot on the [railroad] east side of the old depot. The track which used to be directly across from the depot, on the water side of the main lines, was the Back Track. The track on the water side of the main at Mococo is the Slag Spur.
>Tank cars are visible on it in the distance. The west switch (the location of an unusual head-on collision) was just east of the crossing that was east of the spring switch at Mococo. The mast for the "P" signal appears to be just barely visible.
This happened at the crossover just east of the spring switch. I was there for the clean-up on that one--one end of an empty pig vaulted over all the pipelines and landed in the two WB lanes of Marina Vista. WMJ is supposed to have come out, looked at the pile of stuff, and said "I'd like to see MHH cover /this/ one up". The Stauffer people who came down to pump out the sulfuric acid car that was leaking into the spilled diesel fuel didn't like it when I mentioned that it was how ethylene gas is produced.
>Given the distance between the train and the overpass, which was at least a quarter-mile east of the spring switch, the train must be more than a half-mile east of Mococo, wouldn't you say?
>Looking at a SP Western Division timetable from 1987, the Martinez depot was located at M.P. 4.7. Double Track ended 1.3 miles east at Mococo, M.P. 36. Avon was 2.1 miles east of Mococo at M.P. 38.1. Payton, of course, isn't listed, but it must've been at least M.P. 37, wasn't it?
Not much more than half a mile because MP 36 is directly underneath the freeway overpass. Peyton is approximately MP 36.75, and "W/E" Avon is MP 38.1 "Mococo" was listed as being at MP 36, but the spring switch was really nearer 35.8.
Technically there is no siding, but yes, he's standing near what used to be the dirt crossing into the County Spur. I think you can still "park" there (last time I went by about 2 years ago people were still dumping trash there), but the crossing has been gone for over 20 years.
>I'd always heard the crews, yardmasters and clerks refer to the track running parallel to the main on the other side of the train as being called the "Shell Siding." You say it's the "Tower Siding?"
The Tower wasn't a main track. It may have been a "siding" eons ago, but I don't know. I've never heard the term "Shell Siding" (worked there on and off 1974-1987). During this time, there was no siding at Avon either. The tracks in the "Shell Yard", from left to right, facing west are the Lead, Old Main, and Crowley's. At the west end, the Lead became the LCL Lead, which used to go to a small LCL facility in what became the parking lot on the [railroad] east side of the old depot. The track which used to be directly across from the depot, on the water side of the main lines, was the Back Track. The track on the water side of the main at Mococo is the Slag Spur.
>Tank cars are visible on it in the distance. The west switch (the location of an unusual head-on collision) was just east of the crossing that was east of the spring switch at Mococo. The mast for the "P" signal appears to be just barely visible.
This happened at the crossover just east of the spring switch. I was there for the clean-up on that one--one end of an empty pig vaulted over all the pipelines and landed in the two WB lanes of Marina Vista. WMJ is supposed to have come out, looked at the pile of stuff, and said "I'd like to see MHH cover /this/ one up". The Stauffer people who came down to pump out the sulfuric acid car that was leaking into the spilled diesel fuel didn't like it when I mentioned that it was how ethylene gas is produced.
>Given the distance between the train and the overpass, which was at least a quarter-mile east of the spring switch, the train must be more than a half-mile east of Mococo, wouldn't you say?
>Looking at a SP Western Division timetable from 1987, the Martinez depot was located at M.P. 4.7. Double Track ended 1.3 miles east at Mococo, M.P. 36. Avon was 2.1 miles east of Mococo at M.P. 38.1. Payton, of course, isn't listed, but it must've been at least M.P. 37, wasn't it?
Not much more than half a mile because MP 36 is directly underneath the freeway overpass. Peyton is approximately MP 36.75, and "W/E" Avon is MP 38.1 "Mococo" was listed as being at MP 36, but the spring switch was really nearer 35.8.
