Re: Arvin Activity - SJVRR
Author: Ruben
Date: 03-09-2021 - 20:56
In the 80’s and 90’s the SP and Santa Fe would run late afternoon usually around 6-7 with empty reefers. I grew up in Lamont, it was common to see Santa Fe GP35’s and 30’s when they operated the line and SP GP9’s and SW1500’s. They would deliver empty reefers to Kern Ridge Farms and the Grimmway Sycamore facility for loads and make the trip back to the Lamont to switch the Grimmway packing house. That was always neat because you could hear the locomotives powering up and the cars rattling. Since the rails are all jointed the trains were pretty noisy at night. During potato season it was common to see trains 20-30 cars with two units. I used to ride my bike to the P.Delis Potato shed and watch the train block empties on the sighting to swap out later on the way back. Once the potato sheds closed in Arvin and Lamont traffic was light and the SJVR trains operated a few days of the week delivering to Grimmway in Arvin. When Grimmway stopped shipping by rail you were lucky to see one train a week. As mentioned earlier SJVR delivers to Digiorgio Winery “Heck’s Cellars” when needed. The only big customer on the branch is Kern Refinery, SJVR delivers crude twice a week in loads of 50 cars. The rail is welded from Magunden to the storage tracks at the refinery.