Long before I hired out, I was assigned to the USS David R. Ray, DD-971 and enjoyed two visits to NAVWEPSTA Seal Beach. The first occourence was during the early part of the Gulf War, and that was a long affair taking on shells and rockets. What was really cool was we were switched three times that day, all of which was observed by me. I'll not soon forget how fast and skillful the train crew was, considering what they were switching! I always thought it was pretty cool how they put flags at the top corners of the boxcars. And those were the boxcars of my model railroad youth: AAR Standard 40 and 50 foot cars, plain-bearinged and all. Really cool! I'm glad I got to see that operation, anyway.
Wihen they scrap this operation, will they also be scrapping all the cars up near Port Chicago? Those cars, albeit weathered and rusted in varying degrees, would certainly compliment RR museums, etc., but getting them out alive would be difficult with plain bearings.