A 1972 Peninsula Headend Trip
with Fireman Greg Welker
 SP Pages

Greg Welker, now one of Caltrains more elderly engineers (hey, he's older than me!), first went firing for Southern Pacific in 1971. Greg is one of BLE Division 65's stalwarts - he spent more than two decades as secretary/treasurer and other positions for 65 and predaccessor Division 161. Certainly no engineer currently running on the Commutes has done more for his union brothers than Greg. He's always shown considerable insight in union matters, and all of the rest of us are forced to admit "Welker was right!"

The following paragraph is Greg's own description of the trip, while the captions come courtesy of Wx4 staff writers.

"The photos were taken in August of 1972 on a weekend commute run from San Fran to San Jose with engineer H. K. Johnson.  I worked with him for quite awhile, and he was a real neat guy and an old school engineer.  He retired not long after I came to work.  We worked train 114 Eastbound and train 169 Westbound on a Saturday.  The Geeps were equipped with controls on both sides, and in an effort to cut out the hostlers or something some wise SP official decided to run the dual control Jeeps without wying them.  So, we were long end down and nose back.   I particularly like the photo that shows the Redwood Jct. Tower.  I went up in it a few times when I worked the Redwood Locals and passed it countless times on freights to Newark over the Dumbarton bridge.  I can't believe I never took a photo going over that bridge.  I also went into the old Redwood City depot on numerous occasions.  It was a really neat depot, real old timey.  The whole place was locked into some type of time warp and we somehow passed over into it."
Headed up to 3rd and Townsend from the 7th Street Diesel shop, Greg's light engine is about to pass the old 4th Street Tower...
...waiting to depart next to King Street, we see SP's now-gone freight sheds on the left...
...running parallel to 7th Street (out of sight at right) opposite the Greyhound bus terminal, we see the site of the former Mission Bay Roundhouse directly ahead, beyond the freeway overhead...
...leaving Tunnel 2, we enter The Viaduct, a fill that extends to the mouth of Tunnel 3 in the distance; the first undercrossing is Army St., along which once ran an Ocean Shore Railway branch...
...accelerating out of Bayshore Station past Bayshore Yard (out of sight at right), we see San Bruno Mountain straight ahead; is that "the cactus" air spot just beyond the pole with the transformer?...
...now mid-way between San Bruno and Millbrae, we are accelerating up "The Hill" towards milepost 13 (at trees in distance); BART recently (circa 2000) replaced the trees at immediate left with a 20 foot wall...
...stopped at Redwood City, we see now-gone Jefferson St. grade crossing and the two signal bridges beyond; this writer's least favorite job in the world was the dreaded Night Redwood Local, which usually worked nearly against the hog law switching the Redwood area....
...a half mile further and we are crossing Chestnut St; long-departed Redwood Tower stands at the base of the Woodside Road overcrossing; the tracks curving to the left beyond are the double-tracked main line leading to the Dumbarton Bridge, with Redwood Yard in sight just beyond...

...(left) we're now approaching landmark tree El Palo Alto and the 1901-built San Fracisquito Creek bridge, also visible at extreme left in the above photo taken at Palo Alto platform; these two scenes have changed little since 1972...

...(left) coming into Santa Clara depot (platform visible beyond engine), we see a Fairbanks-Morse switcher at the Brokaw Road end of Newhall Yard, which was considerably larger in those days, having 33 usually-plugged tracks; above we see the yard just south of Santa Clara platform...

...(left) with a little different timing, the Geep might have knocked this Volkwagon off of Stockton Avenue and right into the College Park passenger shelter, just beyond (out of sight on right); such close calls with autos or pedestrians are still nearly a daily ocurrance for engineers; College Park Tower is barely visible at left middle; (above) College Park Yard was a busy place, too; the top of the largely unused piggyback crane shows at extreme left; the third rail over from the switch in left foreground is #21 Track, otherwise known as the Western (Milpitas) Main - until the 1935 line change, this track was the Coast Main that continued past San Jose's former Basset St. Depot and down the middle of Fourth Street; the roundhouse is just out of view to the right...
...crossing the Santa Clara St. underpass and headed into #1 Track at Cahill St. Depot, San Jose; the track at far right is the Freight Lead (2003: Roundhouse #12), used by most freight trains, except those to/from The Western (Milpitas Line), which used #1 Track; not many subs were in evidence this day...
...the Geep has run around the consist, and while the carmen lace things together, the conductor hands Engineer Johnson the Clearance and protecting orders (if any); in those days, Rule D-251 provided the needed authority for trains to run "with the grain" on the Peninsula's double track, not schedule or Form G authority...
...all set to go, the ever-present and appropriate liquor ads prominently in view; notice the wonderful pepper trees that were axed in the mid 1990's as part of a depot renovation and "upgrade" project; humpf, some upgrade...
...back at the Visitacion (east, south) end of Bayshore Yard; note the stored passenger cars, recently displaced by the onset of Amtrak; the classification track leads at this end were controlled by power switches from a shanty just visible at mid left...
...(above) at mid yard we see a collection of open trilevel auto racks, as well as the roofs of the roundhouse and back shops; (left) back at San Francisco; the cut of Subs in the Coach Yard at left in the photo stands where the present (2003) crew quarters and newer 4th Street (5th St., geographically) Tower are located; a routine trip recorded for posterity and a timeslip filled out - it's time to go home.
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