I think we are in San Jose or Santa Clara but I don’t know. What I do know is that in June of 72 we lived in Burlingame and Dad worked in the San Jose office sometimes so I base my guess on that alone.
The website that I get information from is http://www.rrpicturearchives.net and it’s not looking good today so I cannot state what type of engine this is. I mean I can guess its an Alco product but I am unsure.
We drive past Colton yard when we go visit my mother in law in Palm Desert so I recognize these near Cherry Ave.
February of 1984 would be cool days and colder evenings in the very busy Colton.
They are on a loop so I hope that you can stop them and zoom in for details.
So much variety back then.
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.
The Chico station looks pretty good in the slide from may of 1985.
Now is looks pretty haggard, ( Click to see on Google Machine ) You have to zoom in a bit to really snoop around the station.
There are a few 2017 & 2019 images at this link > IMAGES < that show the exterior and interior. Used to look nice, wish we could take better care of things
It’s driving me nuts – looks familiar but I cannot place it & Dad never wrote locations on slides.
Also – The RR archives doesn’t come up with this as a U class but there is a SD 40M-2 with that number….
What the heck is happening !
I zoomed and searched and stood back an thought it over and really, where doesn’t matter. The texture and colors and composition ( yes on the shady side ) say “model me” some day.
The tower behind the power pole in back should be a clue but, for me any way, it’s not.
Any ideas?
Ozol is a great name.
It’s 13 points in Scrabble. Its basically not there ( GOOGLE LINK ).
Wiki says it is a Defense Fuel Support Depot .
Ozol was a generic term around here for anything west of Martinez and east of C&H at Crockett.
Google machine says :
The EMD, Electro Motive Division, GP40P-2 is a type of four-axle, 3,000hp, diesel locomotive built specially for the Southern Pacific railroad in 1974.
It is a rare version of the GP40, with only three built (SP #3197–3199), but all remain on the Indiana Harbor Belt and Union Pacific railroads.
Although that was in 2013.
I do know that the single shot is very detailed and I quite like it.
Hi again, been a while.
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.
Yes it’s a little blurry – I thought it was me but it is – still kinda neat and it “feels” fast.
Hope all are well
Welp today would have been Fred’s 92nd birthday and I managed to grab this print of his.
Although undated it represents SP 4449 before restoring to make The American Freedom Train and then the Daylight thereafter.
Dad lived a few houses off the SP Peninsula line where 4449 and friends used to run by all day, shaking the house like a Three Stooges movie. He credited his interest in trains to this Amazon proximity to these giant, fire breathing beasts.
That was when San Mateo Drive was dirt … he told me about the sight of the elephant towing the steam calliope north up the slight hill with the man playing the circus “oomph path path oompah” music frantically, much to his amusement as a little boy.
That makes sense to me, the train connection…. Also the imagination of those traveling passengers and the places that he could only dream about.
Later in life we visited all 50 states, most several times, large part of Canada and Mexico too… all the while photographing the trains you see here.
Happy Birthday Dad, you would have been humbled by the appreciation shown by followers here.
But dude I wish you had marked the date and location on all these…
Fred's Slides 