Drew Jacksich Wrote:
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> Carol, there was a short span of time before the
> cab vanished from the Perm that it did not go to
> Hollister but was still used on the Permanente due
> to the need to double and sometimes triple the
> hill out of Monte Vista.

Yes, you're right about that. I'm just saying that in the last days at Newhall before we moved down here in 3/99, the caboose was in such incredibly bad shape that they had to BO it. Carl and I used to spend a few hours every week riding around Newhall yard with the Buddha (who is alive and well in , would you believe, BUNKIE, LA,) and it was because of this that we had first hand knowledge of the really bad situation with that caboose. When Jack Wyrick retired in '96 from SP and the Perm, I videoed his last run up the hill. Part of the video (and no, I am not going to spend hours trying to find it) shows the 4 guys who rode up there----one engineer, one conductor and two whatevers------------with 2 of them sitting in the bay window of the caboose reading the paper as they slogged thru Campbell (along the southwest expwy) etc.
They needed the guys to tie down the cars up at the plant IIRC-----anyway, it isn't the way they do the railroading today, but it was great fun. And just for the record, Tuesday we took some friends up to San Jose for a nostalgic bit-----------my grandparents lived in Monta Vista (now Cupertino) and I could see the trains thru the orchards from their property. Carl's grandfather had his orchards on what is now, surprise, Voss Avenue, there in Cupertino off Foothill Blvd and if you take Voss Ave up to the top , you can, if you know where to go, look down into the cement plant. It used to be that you went up from Monta Vista to Hoo Hoo Hill and the Hoo Hoo Inn. Carl and I go back a Loooooooooooooong way just as you do, Drew. You were next to Newhall, we were out there in Cupertino. I recall the noon whistle at the plant. I recall my grandparents having to have blackout window shades in WWII because the plant manufactured magnesium for bombs--------------and when Stevens Creek dam gets really low, you can see the foundations of what were the summer cabins of my great uncle, and both sets of grandparents, which is where my parents met, and of course, they knew the Vosses who were farming there at the time. San Jose is a VERY small world.
Great memories.
C.