The Last Xmas Party at Newhall Yard Office, San Jose, 2003
last update: 6-8-2015

Like Bayshore Yard, Southern Pacific's San Jose Yard that stretched from its Newhall St. Yard office to Santa Clara station is gone. The UP replacement is one track, called track 14 for some reason, the last time that I checked. In 2003, everyone knew that its days were numbered, so UP employees threw one last and well-attended Xmas party at the yard office. If you are able to fill in some of the blank names in the following photos, please send a note to : wx4org@ yahoo.com
_{-E.O. Gibson}

Don L. Brown, SP/Caltrain then-retired conductor (see the story about him), is standing at right in post-retirement checkered-shirt attire The gal is Caltrain Conductor Jan Freitas. Next to Don is SP/Amtrak Conductor J.J. Murphy. The ugly stiff stuffing his face is me.

L: ?; R: ?, then-retired SP/Caltrain conductor
The monitor screen located in the yard office radio room shows the view of Santa Clara's depot platform,
as seen by the Browkaw Road "Spy-Cam", which could rotate 360 degrees.

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From left: SP/Caltrain Engineer/dispatcher Jim Barry, same retired conductor as above, unknown, SP/Caltrain Engineer Bob Castiglione.

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Then-retired SP, the late San Jose Yard Engineer Frank Vargas.

Not exactly a portrature tour-de-force: SP / Caltrain Engineer J.R. "Bubba" Achison
hiding the face of Engineer Jim Barry, with SP/UP Engineer Gary Hundsaker on the left.

The woman in the foreground is Terry ____, a former Amtrak dispatcher and SP telegrapher. She used to attach flowers to the train orders that she hung for crews at Gilroy. Murphy, Brown and Freitas are also visible. The others are unknown.

Outside the west side of the yard office, Caltrain Dispatcher / Engineer John Delacy (blue coat nearest to camera), along with unknowns.

The fellow in the red baseball cap is Caltrain Engineer Jim Smith; others unknown.

Out behind the yard office at the BBQ pit is UP/WP conductor Nance Miles III (apron), Don Brown (orange vest and two unknowns.

L: Caltrain Engineer Ron Brown, Don Brown's son, along with Amtrak/Caltrain Superintendent Charlie Miller and his secretary, Peggy Fisher, who used to work at Newhall. These two were part of the fundamental glue that enabled Amtrak to hold onto the Caltrain contract for so long . Ron Brown slid over into my Commute pool job when I retired.

SP/UP Conductor Willie Witzel, a true legend in his own time. After he tied a handbrake, you needed a club to undo it!