The C&H Sugar Plant at Crockett, Calif.

Crockett is a very rare town for the West Coast. It’s a very gritty unincorporated blue collar town nestled beneath the massive pair of bridges that carry Highway 80 over the Carquinez Strait. The 3,200 souls that live in the town enjoy impressive views from impressively old victorian-era structures that climb their way up the very steep hillside. Each building is nicely weathered from the various airborne particles from the refineries and the plant itself, it’s a very modelgenic town to say the very least.

The Plant is really quite impressive and like no other (surviving and operating) industry in Northern California, a classic multi-story brick edifice that would be more at home in the hills of Pennslyvania. The amazing thing is that over the last century, the plant has been extensively modernized, but overall still looks remarkably original.

As far as one can infer, bulk cargo ships convey their loads of raw sugar into the plant for processing into a variety of products and leave the plant in Insulated boxcars (in sacks) and as molasses or sugar slurry in tank cars. They might also use airslide covered hoppers but I didn’t see very many of them or a means by which you can load them.

On to the photos!

Overall View.

The AMTRAK depot at Emeryville, Calif.

The depot is very well designed and a model of what a modern depot should be. Plenty of room for the platform for baggage and passengers, and plenty of AMTRAK employees around to help. The walkway over the tracks is a great place to watch trains go by.

Steam Locomotive Controls: The Backhead

Running a steam locomotive requires much more than knowing what part does what, but it’s a necessary first step. Learn what each control does on the backhead of the steam locomotive and why it’s important.

Up for inspection is an OIL fired 2-6-2, the RVRy’s #7. The layout of the controls is for the most part identical to how a full sized locomotive operates, and ALL the controls present on the full sized locos are displayed here.

To see a larger version of this photograph, go here: http://www.weatheringman.com/Backhead_Detail_.html

Okay, follow from “A to Z” to learn about each part:

A- Atomizer- atomizes fuel oil and sprays it into the firebox to ignite and keep the fire going

B- Blower- manages the draft of air flowing from the back of the boiler through the tubes and out the stack, helps complete combustion of the fuel by supplying oxygen.

C- Throttle Lever- Does the obvious.

D- Independant Brake Lever, which is used to apply brakes to the drivers and tender trucks to stop the locomotive

E- Train Brake Lever, if all the cars were equipped for airbrakes it would apply the brakes on all the cars behind the locomotive.

F- Firebox Door- used to access the firebox prior to steam up, a lever on the side manages the draft on the bottom of the firebox, inspection hole is used to manage the color of the fire, which tells you how complete your combustion is and how efficient you’re running your locomotive. Idealy it should be a bright golden orange.

G- – Gauge Glass Valve- Used to flush out gauge glass to measure how much water is in the boiler.

H- Water Check Valves- If the gauge glass is broken you can quickly check where your water level is by quickly turning the top or bottom valve for less than a second so you don’t scald your fingers.

I- Gauge Glass- Measures water level in the boiler to make sure you’re making steam, but also operating safely with enough water to prevent damage to the crown sheet. 1/4 or 1/2 the height of the glass is ideal.

J- Oil Firing Levers- Used to finely control the amount of oil being sent to the atomizer to be burnt as fuel.

K- Left side blowdown valve- used to blow crud out of the cylinders and the boiler to keep it from becoming a gunky mess.

L-Oil shutoff valve- the master on/off switch for the fuel.

M-Headlight toggle switches

N- Air Pump Lubricator- Keeps the Airpump lubricated and (hopefully) working smoothly.

O- Left Side Water Injector- Injects water from the tender into the boiler, performs same task as “S”

P- Steam Air Pump Lubricator Valve- For the most part it turns on a small supply of steam to turn the lubricator on and get the pump started.

Q- Shop Air Valve- To gain pressure more quickly, we hook the boiler up to an air compressor, turning on this valve and plugging in the air hose is all this is for.

R- Turret Valve & Main Steam Pressure Gauge- Measures the PSI (Poundsfor Square Inch) of steam pressure in the boiler and the turret valve controls the movement of all steam to te controls in the cab.

S- Right Side Water Injector- Injects water from the tender into the boiler, performs same task as “O”

T- Independant Brake Pressure Gauge- Tells you how many pounds of pressure you have in the airtanks that the steam air pump compressed for you to apply your airbrakes with.

U- Train Brake Pressure Gauge- Same as above, but for the entire train.

V- Right Side Blowdown Valve- Does the same thing as left side.

W- Cylinder Cock Lever- Drains sitting water out of cylinders, typically done before and as the locomotive begins to move, that’s why you always see jets of steam shoot out of the cylinders as a steamer pulls away from the station or a stop and not too long after it ceases as the engineer decides the water has been drained.

X- Reverser/Johnson Bar- Controls the valve gear which determines the direction in which the siderods, motion and drivers travel.

Y- Whistle Cord

Z- Fore and Aft sanding levers put sand on the rails in front or behind the drivers for traction.

I hope you learned something new, it’s a complex machine to operate but it’s quite a specticale.

The Fruitvale Avenue Railroad Bridge of Alameda, Calif.

The Fruitvale Avenue Railroad Bridge was built in 1951 by the Army Corps of Engineers, you can learn the entire history of the bridge, and also learn some fascinating information about how the bridge works and the unorthodox way it recieves electric power to operate. In addition to the views of the bridge I took a few months ago from the Alameda side of the bridge, check out these 3 aerial views, presumably taken by helicopter.

This bridge replaced the much older swing span that originally carried SP Interurban Electrics across the channel, as seen in this photo from my personal archive:

This is an SP Interurban Electric Crossing Fruitvale Avenue Bridge towards Alameda in 1935

This Overall view is looking south-east towards the Oakland Airport and San Leandro. The adjacent Miller-Sweeny bascule-lift bridge (built 1971) carries automobile traffic on Fruitvale Avenue.

Looking up to see the 175 foot high lift towers…

Sitting at 65 feet the span is left open, and the massive counterweight also sits in position midway up the tower, and slides up or down to counter the weight of the span when raised or lowered.

The control tower that operates the Miller-Sweeny bridge also controls the Railroad Lift bridge.

A closeup shot of the far tower on the Oakland side.

The bridge never saw Interurban Electric traffic (that having been removed in 1937-1941) However it did see the occasional steam locomotive and 50 years of diesels, from 1951-2001. The Southern Pacific crossed on this bridge into Alameda to interchange with the Alameda Belt Line, and serve a handful of industries on the south side of Park Street. The Alameda Belt line was gone by 1998, when traffic at the naval base ended in the early 1990’s and the Del Monte Packing house closed its doors. In later years the Union Pacific handled the dwindling amount of traffic until the rails were pulled up on either side of the bridge sometime early in the 2000’s.

A Railfan Report

On Monday 7/20/09 I went to Binney Junction in Marysville, CA to do some railfanning with a friend. Binney Junction is a diamond where the WP (now UP Sacramento Sub) and the SP (now UP Valley Sub) cross each other. The first train I saw at Binney was a southbound BNSF manifest heading south on the Sacramento Sub, it had one GEVO and two C44-9W’s, the 2nd C44-9W was a treat, because it was still in Santa Fe Warbonnet paint. The next 2 trains were southbound UP manifests, and both were on the Valley Sub. The next, and last train to pound the diamond on the Sacramento Sub was a southbound UP stack train, which was lead by an SD70M. After the stack train came the “Rocklin Rocket” which was a local that used to run from Roseville – Ostrom, but it now runs from Roseville – Oroville, it was southbound and was transferring from the Sacramento Sub to the Valley Sub. After the Rocket came the southbound “Redding Turn,” which is a train that runs from Roseville – Redding and return, the train was lead by a GEVO. The next train was a northbound manifest, and was lead by a GEVO. After that came 2 back to back northbound intermodals, and they were both lead by GEVOs, and that would be it for us, and it was time to call it quits, so we went home.

It was a great day at the diamond.

A Railfan Report 6/23/09

(Delayed due to vacation, the SP Turntable article will appear monday)

On Monday 6/22/09 RailfanHunter went to Haggin Junction to catch 2 special trains in one day. The first train of the day and the only train I saw on the Sacramento Sub that day was a northbound BNSF manifest lead by 4 BNSF Heritage II C44-9W’s, one of which had its paint peeling near the roof. The next train was the eastbound California Zephyr Train #6. P42DC’s 85 and 65 were leading the train, which also had a baggage car in Amtrak’s Phase III paint. Next up was westbound San Joaquin Train #701, which was lead by CDTX F59PHI #2004. A few minutes after the passage of 701, other railfans started to show up, which told me that the specials would be rolling through at any minute. I relocated to a different area of the wye to get better angles of the specials. About 3 minutes after I had adjusted my tripod, the Disney Christmas Carol train came into view. after making a slow runby past my camera, the train took the wye, to be turned to go westbound toward San Francisco. As Christmas Carol train was finishing up it’s turnaround at the wye, and was on the west leg preparing to switch back onto the mainline to start its westbound journey to San Francisco, the UP passenger special came into view. I sat at a red signal while the Christmas Carol train cleared the block. After the Christmas Carol train cleared, we wondered why the passenger special hadn’t moved yet, and according to the scanner infomation, the crew on the special was arguing with the railroad museum if they should be wyed, or just roll on through the junction. While this argument was going on we heard the dispatcher direct the ZNPOA intermodal through Haggin and that he did, as it came roaring out from behind the special passing through the interlocking and putting on an awesome show as it headed for Oakland. About five minutes passed before a decision was made with the special and the museum. It was Decided the the special would not wye, but instead bypass the wye, and head into the museum locomotive first. The special was headed by a clean SD70M and had 6 UP passenger cars in tow.

It was a great day for railfanning at the wye.

A Railfan Report 6/15/09

On Sunday 6/14/09 RailfanHunter took the Amtrak Capitol to Davis to do some railfanning. The Davis Wye is a well-known railfan location, it is a Junction between UP’s Martinez Subdivision, and California Northern’s West Valley Subdivision. For those of you who don’t know what California Northern is I’ll give you some information on the railroad. California Northern is a shortline railroad that was formed in 1993. It was formed in response to the Southern Pacific’s “spinning off” of some of their branchlines during the 1980’s. The Southern Pacific had the CFNR serving the industrial spurs along the West Valley Line and Napa branch, including the famous napa pipe company. California Northern’s eaarly roster consisted of former C&NW GP15-1 locomotives, but later they purchased SD9’s, which were later sold to the Fillmore & Western Railroad. They now have purchased several locomotives from leasing companies, including a GP20 still in the failed SP-Santa Fe Kodachrome paint. Now, onto the trains, and my day at Davis.

The first consist I saw were a two California Northern GP15-1s coming in as a light engine move, they went down to pick up a waiting cut of cars on a siding just east of the station platform and the wye. After coupling onto the cut of car the train had to wait for a Union Pacific intermodal to pass. The intermodal was a mix of autoracks and doublestacks, and was headed by an SD70M. After that, several Amtrak Capitols were moving in and out of the station, with their destinations being Emeryville, Sacramento, and San Jose. The next UP train to come through was a stack train headed up by a General-Electric Evolution Series locomotive, this train had a single midtrain helper. After leaving the station for about an hour to have lunch at the In-N-Out Burger, I headed back and was happy to see a green signal, it was for an eastbound Amtrak Capitol Corridor coming into Davis for a station stop. The next and final freight train of the day was an eastbound UP stack train with an Evolution Series locomotive leading, it was a suprisingly short train. After several other Capitol Corridor arrivals and departures, the westbound California Zephyr Train 5 came into view. It was ver confusing, because it went through the station, when it usually stops. It had 2 private cars from the original California Zephyr, which ran from 1949 – 1970.

All and all it was a great day for railfanning at the wye.

A Railfan Report 6/3/09

On Tuesday 6/2/09 RailfanHunter decided to go to a well known Californian train watching location, Union Pacific’s Haggin Junction in Sacramento. Haggin was originally just a flyover between the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific with the SP on the upper line and the WP on the lower line. After the UP/WP merger in 1982, Haggin became a small interchange yard between the UP and the SP. After the UP/SP merger in 1996, and after UP completely absorbed SP in 1999, Haggin became a wye and junction between Union Pacific’s Martinez and Sacramento Subdivisions. Haggin in the morning hours is great for BNSF fans because of BNSF run-throughs on the Sacramento Sub. It is great for intermodal fans in the afternoon hours, because of heavy UP intermodal traffic over both subdivisions. The Sacramento Subdivision will see more action than the Martinez Subdivision on a daily basis, because the Sacramento Sub is a major line for intermodal traffic over the UP, and is also a major line for the BNSF, so it can transfer to its own tracks (BNSF Stockton Subdivision) at Keddie Junction in Stockton. The Sacramento Sub runs from Stockton – Oroville, and the Martinez Sub runs from Roseville – San Jose. I saw 12 trains during my trip to Haggin; two of which were BNSF freights, four Amtrak Capitols, six UP freights, and a UP highrailer.

It was a great day out at the junction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF1e77eyOE&feature=channel

A Railfan Report 5/24/09

On Sunday 5/24/09 RailfanHunter decided to railfan the UP Fresno line in Sacramento. I set up at a small yard that had a switcher, an SW1500, but it was parked for the weekend. Today was AC4400 day on the Fresno Sub, because just about every train I saw had an AC4400CW leading. I had 3 major catches, two SP AC4400CW’s, one leading and one trailing, and a light move of 25 locomotives. I saw the daily westbound San Joaquin train #701, and a stack train, as well as a few manifests, Although grain traffic was the heaviest today. I was hoping to see a BNSF train but to no avail.

All and all it was a great railfanning day.

A Railfan Report Special Edition: 5/12/09

On National Train Day (5/9/09) I visited the California State Railroad Museum for their special celebration. Locomotives usually hidden off in the SP Sacramento Shops were pulled out for display. Handcar rides were also given, and in the museum itself there was an Amtrak California coach on display and open for touring, as well as seven tables of railroad themed giveaways, which is always a pleasure to find.

Locomotives on outdoor display:

Southern Pacific E9A 6051

Union Pacific 0-6-0 4466 blowing its whistle on compressed air

Sacramento Northern SW1 402
Sacramento Southern GE44Ton 1240
Sacramento Southern SW8 2030

Union Pacific Motor Coach

…and of course the Granite Rock 0-6-0T was out to pull the Sacramento Southern passenger specials.

The weather was perfect and made for a very enjoyable day.