Some of Coleman's questions might seem inane to some, but whatever.... The fact is that they always cause a lot of interesting discussion. Inane or not - keep 'em comming.

And yes the Navy did take over the Bay Point and Clayton Railroad, which ran from Port Chicago (originally known as Bay Point) a few miles to the Cowell Cement Works in the upper west side of the valley. There was supposedly a branch started to the town of Clayton, but I don't think they ever made it. In fact, after living here for most of sixty years, I have never found any shread of evidence of any r.o.w. to Clayton.

Most of the r.o.w. and land surrounding the railroad became the upper storage area of the base (took up the whole east side of the valley), while the railroad's main customer, the Cowell Cement Plant, was ending its operations. I don't know if maybe the cement plant closed because of the loss of the railroad to the Navy, or if the nearby lime deposits had just played out, causing the railroad to become defunct anyway.

As to the Brian Wilson incident. I did not mean to imply that his was the cause of the bulldosing. Actually though, if memory serves, the Wilson incident occured in the next neighborhood up - Clyde; which also had to endure a lot of grief because of the protests.

But the bulldozing did occur - at the point of a gun I might add. I was there. I saw from the streets, armed marine platoons force some homeowners out (those who had refused to leave their homes after the eminent domain hearings) - followed immediately by a bulldozer driving right through the house. The marine patrols continued for months afterwards, even while empty lots remained. The main streets remained open to the public for years to come. They are closed now.

The local Concord paper reported several other such incidents. It was a sad and bitter time - after those citizens, always supportive of the military, had endured so much and so many years of violent protests and strife in their community, to then be forced from their homes by our (their) own military.

The Navy's official explanation for the eminemt domain and resultant bulldozing, was that they needed a "Buffer Zone" to protect civilians from harm should another major explosion occur.

This never made much sense to me! - considering that twenty some odd years had passed without too much concern; that ammo handling was continuing all along-side the whole eastern side of the City of Concord anyway (next to 100,000 civilians); that the original explosion produced very few civilian causualties in Port Chicago (only a few hundred lived there anyway); that not a lot of severe damage occurred in town there; and that several miles away in the heart of Concord, a lot of damage occured. Windows were blasted out and doors blown off their hinges. One of them was my Mother's childhood home. Arguably, more damage was done in Central Concord - but then, there was much more there to damage. At best, the resultant buffer zone improvement was woefully short of the stated need.

Whatever the real reason for the eminent domain, it is obvious to me that it was only the dire contingencies of WW2 that caused the based to be put here in the first place, in such an comromised location. It should have been replaced or simply closed back then. But it was actually the last base in Northern California to be closed when the left wing policians started dismantling our military in 1992.

At least the Navy Railway was interesting while it lasted. As a kid, I could watch them switch cars full of munitions from the my school yard at lunch (the view wasn't very good - but I could see 'em). It was especially interesting at Clyde, where it crossed the Sacramento Northern Railway at grade, and was in very easy public view. They interchanged empties there; while munitions loads were interchanged at a more secure place. It was good train watching, even after vietnam started. That is, until the protesters came. The MPs became much more touchy, but worse were the more beligerant "peace" protesters - It was no longer a happy place.

There was a relay interlocker at Clyde, where as a youth I spent many an hour while my grandfather maintained the place. Between school yard train watching, and our numerous trips together while he maintained Clyde, the catenary at Marysville, and other places, I think I know where my love of railroading comes from.

Now that would be great subject to hear from others about! What caused you love of railroading?

OPB