> is the area that the Mythbusters use for their explosive stuff (with a lot
> of rail in the background) part of the Port Chicago complex??


Very often, they are at the Alameda Naval Air Station.

They also did an episode or so at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. I remember one there about the survivability of peeing on an energized third rail.

Don't know about Mare Island

MOTCO (Military Ocean Terminal COncord), sometimes referred to as Port Chicago by us civilians, is actually the town site of the original town of Bay Point, the eastern terminus of the Bay Point and Clayton Railroad.

I doubt the Mythbusters would have been allowed in there, as the military is damn per-snickity about any sort or civilian activity anywhere near the place. Any, even slightly unusual civilian activity, even a considerable distance outside their fences; will get the Feds or the sheriff on you very quick. I know this because my son has done security there, as a sheriff's deputy working along with the Feds.

In the past, they even tried to get the railroad mainlines rerouted away from the area of the loading docks, but there was no practical way to do that. They did manage though, to bulldoze the whole town flat, and then later force the county to close all roads anywhere near the place (for miles in most directions).

The closest any ordinary civilian can get now, is a small parking lot and cul-de-sac near the entrance gate on the north side of Concord, beyond the neighborhood of Clyde. You can't see a thing except weeds and a worn out road; but even there, you will have to justify to their satisfaction why you are there.

If the Mythbusters ever did get into MOTCO, I'd sure be interested to know, and would watch the episode they did there.

OPB