First off, before I go on with my story on the Carl's Jr. food story at Mojave, one poster above was correct, the Mojave Depot was torn down on October 1, 1992. I looked it up in my own notes and that date is correct.
Back to 1983, when the SP San Jauquin Division was re-established, Lloyd Nations was the Superintendent, and he got tired of receiving complaints about the onduty Mojave Trainmaster denying certain crews these meals, he put out a message saying that all the crews could have whatever they wanted at anytime, and then orders then increased. On March 20, 1986, the Mojave Operator was eliminated, and the food orders became the responsibility of the "Do it all Yard Clerks". At the same time, AT&SF crews were no longer allowed to order food, but towards the end, they weren't hardly ordering much anyway. Then, when the Talking Detectors were placed in service in this territory,(seems to me about October 1987) it became an utter disaster. A railfan friend of mine and I were on our way home from a camping trip at that time, when a Westbound Train called in a food order leaving Oban. The crew gave their order, a Detector stepped over the rear portion of the order!