I no longer live in the Bay Area but it's sad to know the WP line into San Jose is being removed, especially as I have some fond memories from when I worked there for a while in the late 1960's, prior to moving over to the S.P. San Joaquin Division.

After getting out of the military I hired out on the Stockton extra board as a WP brakeman, and often caught the San Jose Turn, which nearly always had at least two F-7's plus a GP-7 or 9. After dropping most of our train at Milpitas, the power, caboose and a few cars meandered down to the William Street yard and tied up for dinner.

As my parent's house was nearby in Willow Glen, and the dinner tie-up was not hurried, one of my family would usually pick me up and I'd go home for dinner. On two occasions the engineer and conductor I was with agreed to let me bring along one of my younger brothers (one each time) for the return over Altamont Pass to Stockton.

Neither of them ever went railroading but both remember well the rides they had in the cab of a hard-working F-unit going back over the hill.

That was a long time ago and though it was a rules violation even then to have visitors in the cab, things were different then and a bit more laid back than what railroaders have to deal with now.