(r to l) SP 4322, SP 4378, SSW 9403(l to r) SP 3198, SP 3206, SP 32?4April 2011 from Google and the shot above. SP 4649
Oakland was a busy SP hub with the port there and all. it was no uncommon for Dad with Mom and sometimes their grandson to drive there for amusement and getting out of the house.
By 1984 SP was a bit like a study in weathering techniques for aspiring model makers and there was a variety of units.
I did the Google map thing and for sure the Cold Storage brick building is gone.
If you click that link under the 2011 vs 1984 you can see why I will not be driving down there to replicate the image…. it’s quite a place now – unfortunately.
We moved back home in April and I finally have time to post. We have been unpacking and remediating the mess left by the renters and making improvements and setting up the garage and offices and working from home and and and !
Strange how moving back to your childhood home can make you think.
For example, there are some taller trees here about and the road names are the same but they are not as ingrained as they were when they were on my paper route.
Occasionally I am struck by the same difference from 1974 to now. The bad memories are stifled and the good surface more often lately.
Interestingly, “my” office was my late brother’s bedroom and then mine in the early 2000s and Dad’s (Fred III)’s office after he retired.
In this same room these same slides were stored for years.
They were sorted and thinned – but not labeled ( Thanks Dad ! )
And now here I am sharing these same slides. Is it weird? Yeah, it is. But it’s sure nice to be home.
Many of the SP slides are in a foot locker – like an Army one – that I think was my Uncle’s from World War 2. Its stuffed with yellow boxes and therefore it’s a grab – bag to start posting from again.
MAY 1985 in Oakland, Ca. I suspect a “museum” move of some sort. SP 3765 lights ablaze at Jack London Square. My beautiful picture
Yes it’s a little blurry – I thought it was me but it is – still kinda neat and it “feels” fast.
I am guessing that this is pre Amtrak or right at the start when they didn’t re-logo for a while.
This time I think we are at Oakland, California 16th Street passenger station based on the tower, the overheads behind and the assembled power pole at the right.
There are still a few along the Nimitz freeway (CA Highway 17 now Interstate 880 for more funding ).
Fred's Slides 