Tony J. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jim Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, this is a great site. I've bookedmarked
> it
> > in the past. Once minor correction to the
> Vasona
> > Branch. It was abandoned in January 1964, not
> > 1962 as stated. Also, it did not pass through
> the
> > Stanford Campus. It was several miles away.
> It
> > was used by a daily commuter train until it's
> > abandonment, as has been discussed by me and
> > others here.
> >
> > The abandoned section is often called the Los
> > Altos Branch, and the surviving section from
> San
> > Jose to Vasona to Permanente is what is usually
> > referred to as the Vasona Branch. This is
> > splitting hairs and someone can correct me if
> you
> > don't agree.
> >
> > I've found a few minor errors here and there,
> but
> > it is basically a very fascinating web site.
> > Thanks.
>
>
> Correct. When SP operated the branch between
> Mayfield and Vasona, they referred to is as the
> Los Altos Branch, and sometimes as the "Mayfield
> Cutoff" since it was originally a shortcut between
> San Francisco and Los Gatos, and beyond to Santa
> Cruz. After abandonment of a portion of the line
> between Alta Mesa and Simla, the section of the
> old San Jose-Santa Cruz line, plus the remnanat of
> the Los Gatos Branch, became the Vasona Branch.
>
> Tony

Wow, you really bring back major memories for me since I used to watch the steam trains on that branch in Monta Vista thru the prune orchards across from where my grandparents lived on Alcazar Avenue. And then there was Hoo Hoo hill and the Hoo Hoo Inn going up the grade toward "the plant" which is what Permanente was called by the locals. I recall my grandparents having black out shades on their windows during WWII because "the plant" made Magnesium which had something to do with bombs and etc. At noon every day, there was a loud whistle that we all heard. Simla, I think, was where the branch went off to "the plant". And of course my husband's grandfather had an orchard up the hill on what is now Voss Avenue and at the top, you looked down into "the plant".
Funny thing, we just drove by there today on 280 on our way back from a day at the DeYoung etc. and we met our friends in the parking lot at the corner of Stevens Creek Blvd and De Anza, across from what used to be the Cali feed and grain place and in another direction, the former initial headquarters of Apple but which, in the '40's, was the Cupertino hardware store and post office. And oh yes, Mark Cali , son of above, was a Boy Scout in my father's troop back in the '30s and went on to be a lawyer in San Jose and on and on and on it's a damn small world.
My, how times do change!
C.