No change in policy. The storage operation was simply moved away - probably for political reasons, related to the grand exodus of the military in general. Actually, the Concord operation was amoung the last to go from Northern California.

In the few years just before the republicans took over the congress in 1992, the military was supposedly being "Downsized". What actually happened was that most California military forces were simply moved to expensive new facilities elsewhere. Concord's weapons storage operation was transfered to Nevada. Most of the other California Operations were transfered to several brand spankin' new bases in Washington, where the "Speaker of the House" haled from. Figures! But some claimed that California was being punnished for voting for Reagan and then for Papa Bush (1st term).

As a long time resident in the neighborhood, I can tell you this about the vietnam era incident you mentioned. (was there that day)

The usual silliness was for protestors to lay down in front of freight trains believed to be carrying munitions - playing chicken with moving trains, getting out of the way just at the last nick of time. Many were just ordinary SP, SN or ATSF trains passing through. A few attempts were made to interfere with actual Navy RR movements, which were almost always heavily gaurded by marines. This usually resulted in confrontation - sometimes violent.

Occasionally, the protestors would succeed in stopping a train. The usual procedure in that case was to move the train very slowly through the protestors laying on the tracks, while marines and national gaurdsmen bodily picked up each protestor and tossed them aside out of the way.

But on the day you mentioned, the Navy train had not yet been stopped and protestors were getting out of the way as described above, when one of them failed to get out of the way in time. The rest is history, as they say. Too bad! --- But mother nature does have a brutally harsh way of dealing with all kinds foolishness - always has.

A policy change of sorts did occur afterwards, in that when munitions were moved by rail, the military closed the public streets near the rails and secured the area by sometimes brutal force. Ultimately, whole neighborhoods near the rails were eminent domained, bulldosed, and the area closed to the public permanently.

Some 25 years later, the upper part of the base was closed, leaving the port facility at Concord still operational, complete with container handling cranes. I don't know for how much longer though, as most newer container ships are too big to make it up the river to Concord's facility - the dredged channel (35ft) just isn't deep enough. The navy supply ship I served on during the vietnam war could scarely make it even then. The newer ones simply don't come in at all. Only smaller civilian ships ever call there now - and not often.

Though all of this sillinees at Concord was foolhardy and stupid, perhaps bordering on sedition, it was innocent and nieve; nothing compared what was going on in Southern California between L.A. and San Diego. There it was sedition for sure, and violent too, in that many attemts were made to derail munitions trains to the naval bases in San Diego. One such attempt mistakenly got the packed 20 car ATSF passenger train I was riding to catch a Ship in San Diego; derailed us - what a ride. Didn't we summarily shoot sabotuers during WW2.

We did hear over "Armed Forces Radio" that the FBI got the perps - don't know whether they were convicted though. It all makes you wonder! --- Whatever - that such things are happening again in America is sickening!

Oh well! I better shut-up now, before..........

OPB