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Walker Street Waltz
Author: Nick Wolters
Date: 12-03-2021 - 08:38
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A sunny Tuesday in March finds St. Paul & Pacific 1500 contending with motorists on Walker Street in Watsonville while engineer Kevin Hill keeps a light hand on the throttle of the GP15-1. A lone centerbeam released from Big Creek Lumber heads to the UP yard at Watsonville Junction.
Impaled by steel for decades, Walker Street hosted stubby spurs that fanned out from the main line to various packing sheds and canneries on either side of the roadway. Thousands of carloads of perishables were shipped annually from the Watsonville area as Southern Pacific reaped the benefits of its proximity to the fertile Pajaro and Salinas Valleys. Improved trucking practices sliced into SP's agricultural base beginning in the 1960s and the railroad never fully recovered. Now all that can be seen in the pavement on Walker Street are scars from the past.
-Nick
A sunny Tuesday in March finds St. Paul & Pacific 1500 contending with motorists on Walker Street in Watsonville while engineer Kevin Hill keeps a light hand on the throttle of the GP15-1. A lone centerbeam released from Big Creek Lumber heads to the UP yard at Watsonville Junction.
Impaled by steel for decades, Walker Street hosted stubby spurs that fanned out from the main line to various packing sheds and canneries on either side of the roadway. Thousands of carloads of perishables were shipped annually from the Watsonville area as Southern Pacific reaped the benefits of its proximity to the fertile Pajaro and Salinas Valleys. Improved trucking practices sliced into SP's agricultural base beginning in the 1960s and the railroad never fully recovered. Now all that can be seen in the pavement on Walker Street are scars from the past.
-Nick
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 Walker Street Waltz |
Nick Wolters | 12-03-2021 - 08:38 |