RAILforum: WW2 effecting the surfline??

This is topic WW2 effecting the surfline?? in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

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Posted by chubbes (Member # 3250) on :

Did WW2 effect the running of Civilian San Diegans along the coastline or of any train wht so ever on the surfline. At one point believe we had a lights out after a certain time and the trains ran right along the coast so did they do anything about it???

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

Good question. I'm guessing the passenger cars probably had blackout shades on the windows. Don't know what they did about the locomotive headlamp, though.

Posted by chubbes (Member # 3250) on :

i heard from another forum that they put a special headlight shroud over the E1s headlamps. Anyone have a pic of this?

Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :

I must say, Mr. Chubbes, this is one interesting question you have raised.

I know that the skylights not only at New York's "Old Penn" but also at Chicago Union Station were painted over; come now, did the Germans have A BOMBER with that kind of range (a piece on History Channel suggestes they were developing one along with nukes and ICBM's)?

No question whatever, Japanese submarines could have made it to the West Coast, and could well have landed sabeturs such as the Germans DID on the East. Lighted rail passenger cars could easily make the landing of "bad boys" easier.

I will fish out some TRAINS from that era and see if I "stumble" on to any pertinent info. If I do, I will share same here at the Forum.

[This message has been edited by Gilbert B Norman (edited 07-17-2004).]

Posted by chubbes (Member # 3250) on :

This is putting my 2 most favorite and knowladgable subjects 2gether

[This message has been edited by chubbes (edited 07-17-2004).]

Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :

I lived in Balboa, CA during WWII and remember that the streetlights were all blacked out on the ocean side. My mother also made blackout curtains for the house and I remember riding with my aunt at night using only the running/parking lights on her car.

The Japanese did indeed have submarines that made it to the west coast. They were able to lob a couple of shells at the Elwood Oil Field just north of Goleta. They did little real damage but it was a psychological scare. Some of the wood from the old Elwood Pier that has shell damage is in The Timbers Restaurant building at Winchester Canyon Road just off of 101.

The SP (Now UP) line runs very close to this spot.

There is, by the way, still an SP sign on the overcross at Hollister Avenue in Santa Barbara. it's pretty weathered and has had some graffitti damage but it survives!

On another note, I drove through Gaviota yesterday and saw firsthand the devastation that the fire caused. You'll remember that this closed down both north and south bound Amtrak and UP traffic for several days.

Frank in Sunny, 80 degree SBA

Posted by chubbes (Member # 3250) on :

but did u remember any thing different on the Headlamps of the trains