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It seems to be an active afternoon here in the San Jose CA area for freights at the moment! Right now I am hearing about the UP 6063, UP 6018 and the UP 6068 on the radio. The UP 6063 looks like the QRVDO for the Coast Line on the UP Trace. UP 6018 would be the QRVMN also running down the Coast. Last but not least it looks like the UP 6068 is an ANPMI auto train that is ending its run at Milpitas. This 6068 is the ONLY train that I am hearing about that will not run down the former SP Coast Route. I hope these numbers help the photographers keep tabs on today's Coast Line freights! --Daniel
Posts: 283 | From: Palo Alto,CA | Registered: Jul 2000
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Daniel, You post a lot of info here. Unfortunately on my last trip up north I didn't have much time to look around...just drove around the Palo Alto area, watching CalTrain. Do you know if there used to be a spur that branched off from the main near the Oregon Expressway bridge? It looked like one of those bridges in that area might have been for a former branch. Thanks MP
Posts: 874 | From: South Bay (LA County), Calif, USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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Thank you for your interest in our Railroads M Palmer! As I remember, that bridge over the Oregon Expressway had a team track that went behind the then Southern Pacific RR California Avenue Station. This track was removed, unfortunately, sometime in the early-1980s when the SP began to sell off some of their property. If you think about it, there would have been no other reason to have a separate bridge over the Oregon Expressway pointed in that direction, if it were not for that team track.
In addition to that, the SP Los Altos branch did also leave the Commute main line in a westward direction about 2 tenths of a mile south of the Oregon Expressway underpass. This line ran down to Vasona Junction just north of the town of Los Gatos. The Los Altos Branch provided a short-cut to Santa Cruz until 1940 when rainstorms washed out the line in the Santa Cruz in about 1940. The Los Altos branch was removed in the early 1960s except for a half-mile spur at the northernmost end of the branch. I do remember a grade crossing on El Camino surviving until the mid-1980s when EVERYTHING on the branch was torn up. A wye track at the Cal Ave junction did remain with a short stub track as a leftover of the Los Altos Branch until this mid-1980s time frame.
For more on the history of the railroads in our area I recommend "The SP Coast Line" book by John Signor and "Prune Country Railroading" by Norman W Holmes. These are two VERY good books to read for more on the history of the former SP Commute Line on the Peninsula. --Daniel
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