Southern Pacific Lines

Coast Line Division 

“The Route of the Octopus”

 
 

S.P. Locomotive Support

Ash Pits

  1. Using oil rather than coal the SP did not require ash pits at most of their locomotive service facilities. Remember, there really is little to no ash produced in burning oil (beyond the stuff going up the stack). SP engine terminal photos, at least on the West Coast, don’t show anything that looks like an ash pit.

  2. Tony Thompson


  3. SP's oil-fired locomotives did not have ash pans under their fireboxes, hence no need for ash pits at terminals.

  4. Joe Strapac


  5. The SP did need ash pits as far West as Arizona, mostly for the AC9's

  6. Drew Jacksich

  7.                                                                        http://www.flickr.com/photos/28101583@N07/5672153522/in/photostream


Coaling Facilities

  1. At the time of the Espee's acquisition of the El Paso & Southwestern in 1924, not only did it get the railroad (which was a completely coal burning railroad), but it also made itself responsible for a coal contract for the next 25 years from the Dawson, N.M. mines. The former E.P & S.W. line, being a coal burning road, already was equipped with coaling facilities.


  1. Afterwards the SP built a number of reinforced concrete coaling towers in the late 1920s thru the early 1940s on their mainline east of Tucson to Deming N.M. on both the Tucson and Rio Grande Divisions. The towers were located on the North Line of the Rio Grande division at Tucson, Mescal, Bowie, Deming, Lordsburg, Dawson, etc. There was a wooden coal tower in Osborn, Az. (also known as Bisbee Junction). Fairbanks-Morse built some of the concrete coal chutes.

  2. Bill Daniels


  3. San Simon had a steel one that was like the one at Globe. They were very similar.

  4. Mike Smith


  5. In the decade following the acquisition, the Espee converted several of their locomotives to burn coal, as well as buying additional coal burning locomotives for use on these lines, including the AC-9 class. The SP started converting many of their 2-10-2s in 1925. Right after the coal contract expired in 1949, all AC-9s were converted to oil fuel.


  6. Apparently, in the late 1930's, Espee had second thoughts on using coal for a fuel since many of the locomotives previously converted to coal were reconverted to oil. And in the late 1940's the diesel made renewal of the coal contract a non issue. As to the coal towers the Espee built on the mainline east of Tucson, apparently they were either rarely or never used. At least one survived to be demolished by the UP.

  7. Bill Daniels

Reference

    E.P.&S.W RR Coaling Tower in Osborn, AZ. SP Common Standards Books, Volume 4

  1. The coaling station plan is for a small wood structure.

  2. Charlie Morrill


  3. Part of the El Paso coal dock is shown on page 46.

  4. Tony Thompson                                             Southern Pacific Freight Cars, Volume 5: Hoppers, Tank Cars, pg. 46


  5. See:    Google: Images: Mescal, Arizona Coal Tower.

  6. Logan J. Bertolette


  1. Mescal, AZ coaling tower before demolition   http://www.flickr.com/photos/ssave/sets/72157630134853522/

  2. George Lane


  3. The coaling tower was in place, not over the former EP&SW tracks (which are clearly indicated on the drawing), but over the SP tracks.  See:                                                    Maintenance of Way Department, drawing #5145, dated September 24, 1925

  4. Logan Bertolette


                                                                          RAILROADS OF ARIZONA VOL. 1, Myrick


  1. The library at the University of Texas El Paso has many SP records for the divisions in Arizona and New Mexico. Unfortunately, the PDFs on their website are not searchable. Contact me off list and I will send you the PDFs, which I made searchable.

  2. David Coscia                                                 http://digitalcommons.utep.edu/finding_aid/1/




  1. Numerous pictures have appeared in the SPH&TS Trainline and books by Knoll, Myrick and others.

Modeling Coal Service

   When modeling those SP coaling towers, remember they were little-used because coal-fired engines were kept east of El Paso.

Reference

   Osborn, AZ. wooden coaling tower shown:    SP Common Standards Books, Volume 4, pages 68-70 reduced to HO Scale.

   Bruce


  1. The Trains index also shows the following:     “Coaling tower how-to - SP's facility at Benson, Az.”, by Sims, Donald

  2. The scratchbuilding techniques you'll need to assemble any structure. from “1001 Model Railroading Ideas” June 1973 p. 32


Fueling Station

Reference

  1. If photos of the NWP diesel fueling facility in Eureka in 1958 will help, go to NWPRR.net and check out the scans of the fueling facilities in Eureka taken in 1958 and 1961.

  2. Richard Todd


SLO Fueling Station

  1. In the 70’s, tank cars were used to refuel locos via hoses on the track next to the sand track

                                                                          Coast Line Pictoral, pg. 179

Modeling Diesel Service

    Diesel Service - Water Filler Details           Model Railroading        Feb 1993


Loco Facilities

    Loco Facilities - Eugene         Railroad Model Craftsman   Dec 1965


Machine Shop

    Machine Shop- Dunsmuir Ca.                Mainline Modeler                 Jul./Aug 1981


Oil Building

    Oil bldg. picture SLO         Trainline             T-13/8


Oil Storage Tanks

SLO Oil Tanks

  1. The oil storage tank was across from the roundhouse. There was a boilermaker helper in the 50’s, name of Sundquist, it was his job to pump those tanks.

  2. Mac Gaddis

Surf Oil Tanks

  1. Photos on pgs. 128 and 226 of Signor's "Southern Pacific's Coast Line" show one of the 5000-barrel oil tanks at Surf  (while the map of Surf on pg. 129 of the book calls the tank that was north of the depot a water tank, the capacity designation of "bbl" points to it holding oil, not water).

  2. John Sweetser


Sandhouse

  1. There is no one standard SP sand house even though that is what the plan on pages 3-5 of the Common Standard Plans Vol 4 states.


  2. Some modifications to the book's plan would be a sloping roof on the upper dry sand bin instead of the hip roof and open frame work between the lower building and the upper bin. The footprint matches the foundation still at Oakridge and the overall dimensions and framing match photos. The Oakridge sand house looks like the one at Klamath Falls, Crescent Lake, and Alturas.

  3. Larry Castle


Locomotive Sand Source

  1. Pacific Sand & Aggregates at Lapis produces among other things, Locomotive Sand and has since before WWII. A second producer, Monterey Sand Company in Sand City, ships engine sand by rail, as does Pac Sand.  A third shipper of importance is Owens Illinois, shipping glass sand to its plants at Oakland, Portland and Tracy. They had no mention of engine or loco sand.  Del Monte Properties also produced many products without mention of loco or engine sand and shipped by rail.  The latter two plants were at the end of the Monterey branch west of Pacific Grove. It seems very likely that SP would have provided suitable SP cars for them and that supply would have been both adequate and available for use in shipping ATSF purchased locomotive sand to Richmond.

  2. John Barry


  1. At one time, SP obtained its sand from Asilomar (west of Pacific Grove/Monterey,at the end of the Monterey branch), the same location mined for sand to make glass by many norCal glass makers. SP used SP-owned 2-bay covered hopper cars stenciled for "Sand Service" to haul sand from Asilomar to Bayshore and West Oakland engine facilities.

  2. Bob Pecotich

SP Sanding Practices

  1. Photos at locomotive terminals show sand shipped in GS gondolas (covered hoppers,100-ton grain hoppers, were used after 1960). One place it came from was the Monterey Branch, specifically the Lone Star (later RMC Lonestar) plant at Lapis.

  2. Tony Thompson


  3. In the 60's and 70's there were at least two sand producers in the Monterey Bay, Del Monte Sand and the other Monterey Sand.

  4. Jerry


  5. A single-sheath outside braced box cars had stenciled something like "Company Sand Service - When Empty Return To SP Agent _____" 

  6. Mike McGinley


  1. There was a former O-50-2 (SP 50674) that the car card states "Equipped for handling dry sand." (SPMW 3049 (3rd)). SPMW 3316 (2nd) was a 1909 AC&F box that was used in sand service around Taylor Round House.

  2. SP DTCTR

Reference

                                                                          http://caviews.com/sprr.htm

                                                                          http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/sp16.htm


SLO Sandhouse

  1. The sandhouse was near the roundhouse, just east. It had a galvanized iron roof. The sand house varied somewhat in appearance over the years. A GS gondola was used at the sand house.


  2. After the steam era, diesel fuel cars were parked by the sand house.

Paint

Roof

  1. It appears that the galvanized iron roof of the sand house was painted moss green in the steam age, a common practice for locomotive support buildings.

  2. John Sweetser

Walls

  1. For the color of the walls, see the photo on the top of pg. 94 of Dill's "Southern Pacific's Scenic Coast Line." This hue is NOT boxcar red as some peoples who reside in the northerly latitudes would have you believe (be aware, though, the photo has been printed too light, as are the majority of the photos in this book).

  2. John Sweetser

Reference

    Southern Pacific's Coast Line Pictorial, Pg. 171


  1. I have additional slides taken in the 1980s--I was planning to build this structure once upon a time.

  2. Tony Thompson

Modeling Sandhouse

  1. Sandhouse - Sacramento Kit         Mainline Modeler                Dec 1985




S.P. Yard Support

Caboose Service Building

  1. SP had the need for a caboose service building. It would be a location that housed item that would be put on a caboose.

San Luis Obispo Caboose Service Building

  1. In San Luis, it was the northernmost (westward-most) of the small complex of buildings across from the freight house and north of Osos Road. You can see one end of those buildings in the bottom photo on page 139 of the Coast Line Pictorial book.


  2. Here's a link to the blog post:                        http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/01/modeling-caboose-servicing.html

  3. Tony Thompson


  1. They had several programs on cabooses, where they changed wheels, heavy repairs, and did some other improvements, even painted them. They had a thing called a “bazooka,” in five minutes you could paint the whole side of the caboose. That was after they masked all the windows and that.

  2. Mac Gaddis


Car Repair Facilities

SLO Car Repair Facilities

  1. There was a car repair facility on the south end of SLO. They had 15 or 18 machinists, but only one electrician (Mac Gaddis)there for several years. The car shop was a good size, probably 75 or 80 people just in the car shop alone, working on car repair. They had inspectors in the yard. It was a 200-mile inspection at San Luis, so that’s where they inspected every car, lifted every lid.


  2. There were nine or ten carmen in the yard, they did all the inspections on the through trains, and locals too. There was a three-car rip track there too, in the shop area. They could change out couplers and trucks.

  3. Mac Gaddis

Car Foreman’s Office

  1. Then there was the car foreman’s office just south of the boiler house, and some shanties they used. Johnny Zacker was the lead car inspector in the 50’s.


Coal Storage Bins

  1. SP used coal in their caboose stoves from the early 1940s through the middle 1950s. Coal was also used in the small SP buildings, i.e. depots, crew bunk houses, yard shacks, etc. Storage bins were to refuel cabooses at terminals. Some roads had coal bins that made from heavy boards and posts.

  2. Charlie Morrill


  3. The coal came into the yard in gons and was distributed at various locations by a switch crew and unloaded by section men. Took the switcher about a full tour of duty cover the locations. The bins were filled about twice during winter and once in the late fall.

  4. Patrick


  5. On the Cotton Belt the coal was loose. The coal was carried to the caboose in a bucket. Those employees who maintained the cabs were responsible for filling the caboose coal bins.


  6. In LA the SP purchased the coal in sacks and sacks were placed into the coal bins in the cabooses.

  7. Paul C. Koehler


  8. SP used bags in at least some cases. On page 159 of my caboose book is shown bagged coal at the Oakland caboose track. Bags probably stayed at the caboose track.

  9. Tony Thompson


  1. In SLO there was a big coal storage area next to the Electrical Shop.


Electrical Shop

SLO Electrical Shop

  1. The electrical shop was in a long, low building across from the depot and just south, just by where Osos Street went across. Actually it was several buildings together.

  2. Mac Gaddis


Freight House

    Freight Houses Part #6         Mainline Modeler                Jul./Aug 1981


Long Beach Freight House

  1. The Shasta Division Archives in Dunsmuir has a plan for the Long Beach freight depot (plan MWD 1794) and ticket office (plan MWD 1818). Contact person for the Shasta Division Archives is Bruce Petty, who can be reached through his Los Angeles River Railroads website.
    John Sweetser

SLO Freight House

  1. Contact the SLO Railroad Historical Society. Contact Andrew Merriam.


Operators House

    Operators house           Model Railroader                   Jan 1946 


Parts Servicing Depot

    Parts Servicing Depot         Mainline Modeler                  Aug 1987


Power House

  1. These power house's were used in SP terminals that provided steam to the roundhouse, fuel oil steam pumps, heating fuel oil tanks, and a small generator for lighting. The design is found from Common Standards Plan book 2. There are many Oregon locations that had them and they were all over the SP. 

  2. Bruce Petty

Reference

  1. See San Jose photo at the top of page 54 of Tom Dill's Scenic Coast Line book

Modeling Power House

AL&W Lines

  1. Bruce Barney's AL&W Lines has an SP power house HO scale kit.


  2. This model is from the Common Standards Plan book 2. This kit is a variation from normal wood laser kits in that the walls are laser cut corrugated styrene and the roof is styrene over wood. It is a very accurate and fun to build kit.

  3. Larry Castle


  4. See uploaded photos of a pre-production model. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Espee/photos/album/138060654/pic/list

  5. or see Larry Castle folder in the photos section of the SPHTS group.

                                                                          alwlines.com


Refrigerator Car Housing

    Refrig car housing - Thorne, NV                    Railroad Model Craftsman    April 1992, page 90


Scale Tracks

  1. The method that was used when the car would fit on the scale was to push the car onto the scale, pull the pin to insure no binding from the following car, weigh the car, then the crew kicked this car off the scale as they spotted the next car. Only cars exceeding the length of the scale platform were ever weighed one truck at a time. An exception would be a car weighing in excess of the scale capacity.

  2. Lou Wells

  3. SP Weighmaster


  4. SP Scale Tracks were a gauntlet track. The car or cars were switched over to the scale rails while the rest of the cut traveled down the running rails. No need to uncouple any cars in the cut just to weigh a few. Not all cars needed to be weighed. The one in Santa Barbara was that way.

  5. Paul C. Koehler


  6. The purpose of the gauntlet track (which was not limited to Espee usage) was to avoid placing the weight of the locomotive on the scale tracks, and overloading the scale, which would ruin it.

  7. Bill Daniels


  1. Locate a 1946 Circular 4 (List of Stations and Agencies) for the appropriate time period. They include a list of all scale facilities, both private and railroad owned, by division. This information includes type of scale, manufacturer and capacity. The scale at Selby, on the Western Division was a Fairbanks unit that was privately owned. As of three years ago the scale track and scale beam were still in place, though the scale house had been burned down many (over 20!) years ago. The 1943 Rules book mentions that locomotives were not to be run over the scale platform, there does not appear to be an offset track on this scale, so there was some sort of scale lock mechanism to allow the locomotive to pass over the scale.

  2. Pat LaTorres


  1. Based on a quick look at the 1946 circular 4, there was no universal standard track scale. Capacities ranged from 100 to 200 tons and lengths from 42 to 66 feet long.

    Wendell


  1. Here's a link to the photo of a scale track:

  2. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Espee/photos/album/869558507/pic/1346767022/view?     picmode=medium&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&dir=asc

  3. James Bradley, Jr.


Scale track Santa Barbara

   Based on the 1946 circular 4, in that year, Santa Barbara is shown with a 100 ton, 50 foot, Howe scale.


Scale track San Jose

  1. There’s a photo of the scale house in San Jose, CA to the Espee misc photos file. Not sure of date, switches are stub type.


Scale track San Luis Obispo

  1. A typical structure at the scale track in SLO was a small scale house on the east side of the scale track.

  2. Tony Thompson


  3. Weighing was usually done on a short scale that weighed one truck at a time. A cut of cars would be slowly dragged (with brakes screeching) across the scale, and the weighmaster would weigh each truck, then report the sum of the two as one car's weight. They would then subtract the light weigh weight to give the load weight.

  4. Bill Daniels

Lettering & Numbering

Drawings

  1. In addition to the two plans mentioned, the Calif. State RR Museum Library has a 1942 plan for signs at scale tracks.


Stations listed with a scale

  1. Station Symbols by Division, 1940


  2. DivisionStationSymbol                        DivisionStationSymbol

  3. WesternOaklandOAK                        Rio GrandeGlobeGLO

  4. SuisunSUI                                                  DouglasDO

  5.                                                                                           El PasoELP

  6. StocktonStocktonSTN                                       LordsburgLDS

  7. TracyTY


  8. Sacramento Sacramento SAC                        New MexicoTucumcariT

  9. MarysvilleMY                                      San Antonio SA

  10. RosevilleROS

  11. TruckeeTK


  12. ShastaAshlandAD                            Tucson         TucsonTUC

  13. GerberGBR                                    YumaY

  14. Klamath FallsKF                            PhoenixPHN

  15. WeedW                                        Hayden Jct.HJCT


  16. PortlandAlbanyAB                    Los AngelesLos AngelesLA

  17. BrooklynBKN                               LA General Shops LAG

  18. EugeneEGN                                                CalexicoCLX

  19. MarshfieldMFD                              ColtonCOLN

  20. RoseburgRBG                                  San PedroSPD

  21. SalemSLM                                        Santa BarbaraSB

  22. SpringfieldSPG


  23. CoastBayshoreSF                                San JoaquinBakersfieldBAK

  24. San FranciscoSF                                        FresnoFRN

  25. San Luis Obispo SLB                                    MojaveMOJ

  26. San JoseSJ

  27. Watsonville Jct WJCT


Reweigh Station Symbols

  1. Code            Location   Code  Location

  2. COLNColton, CA             OAKOakland, CA

  3. FRN          Fresno, CA    OGOgden, UT

  4. HO          Houston, TX    OmOmaha, NE

  5. LA          Los Angeles, CA    POPocatello, ID

  6. NA          Nampa, ID    ROS Roseville, CA

  7. TUC          Tucson, AZ


Section Crew Bunks

SP 4 board fences

  1. Fences were used by the SP around the section buildings.

  2. 4 board fence 3 foot 9 inches high per plan 3566. 

  3. Gates 3 feet 6 inches wide and 3 feet 9 inches high per plan 4275.

Modeling Section Crew Bunks

AL & W Lines

  1. Available as HO scale laser kits                             alwlines.com


Section Foreman’s House

  1. There were two widely-used designs for two-story section foreman's houses. An old design was similar to the depot at Lang, which in fact was a section foreman's house at one time. A variant of this design had a cut-out porch, as seen in the photo taken at Altamont on pg. 18 of the Winter ' 94 (No. 42) issue of SP Trainline. Yet another variation had the framing for a cut-out porch but with the porch filled in.


  2. Examples of what apparently was a newer two-story section foreman's house design can be found on pg.102 of Signor's Donner Pass book (photo taken at Blue Canon). This design was widely used on the SP, including such places as Oil City near Bakersfield and Goleta. In 2005, there was an existing former section foreman's house of this design at Wyo in northern California.


  3. See the photo on pg. 228 of Thompson's & Signor's "Southern Pacific's Coast Line Pictorial," which shows the two-story section foreman's house at Summerland (the SP station name for the location was Ortega).


  4. The ground floor plan of the Goleta section foreman's house was identical to that of the "White Mens Section House". There were two-story section foreman's house designs that apparently preceded the "White Mens Section House" design.

  5. John Sweetser

Reference

  1.                                                                             SP Trainline, pg. 18, Winter ' 94 (No. 42)

  2.                                                                             Donner Pass, pg.102 by Signor

  3.                                                                             Southern Pacific's Coast Line Pictorial, pg. 228

Drawing

  1. The plans are MWD 8072 created in June 1923 and are available from the CSRM. This plan was used for the Road Master's, Section Foreman's, or Signal Maintainer's house as needed.

  2.                                                                             Oregon Historical Society, "White Mens Section House" dated Mar. 9, 1897

Modeling Section Foremans House

AL & W Lines

  1. The rooflines of the Section Forman's house are quite complicated with mini dormers and different slopes over the porches and ALW got them right. The porch details on both kits are very good.

  2. Available as HO scale laser kits                             alwlines.com


Section House

  1. The SP Section House in Summerland, is just RR east from Santa Barbara. It appears on several of the old maps. The Summerland building was constructed in the 1899-1900 time period and was associated with at least a couple bunk houses west of the depot. The structure in Summerland was two stories.

  2. Bruce Morden


  3. There’s one section house preserved at Rancho Camulos near Piru on the old (pre-1904 Coast Line). Also aware of the section house at Swansea on the SP Narrow Gauge.

"White Mens Section House”

  1. The design of the Summerland section foreman's house matches an SP plan now in the collection of the Oregon Historical Society titled "White Mens Section House" and dated March 9, 1897. A still-surviving example in 2005 was located at Wyo in the Sacramento Valley. The "Bed Room" in the "White Mens Section House" was a dining room at Goleta.

  2. John Sweetser

Reference

Drawing

  1. The plans are MWD 8072 created in June 1923 and are available from the CSRM. This plan was used for the Road Master's, Section Foreman's, or Signal Maintainer's house as needed. A later plan was made in 1944 and used after that. There is a photo included of a building from the new plan.

  2. The photos are here:                                       http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Espee/photos/album/822582519/pic/list

  3. Larry Castle

  4.                                                                        Oregon Historical Society, "White Mens Section House" dated Mar. 9, 1897

Modeling Section House

AL & W Lines

  1. There are several of this structure in Oakridge (corresponding to the SP12 kit), one is still used by the railroad (UP).

  2. Bruce Barney


  3. Available as HO scale laser kits                       alwlines.com


Signal Maintainers House

SLO Signal Shop

  1. Then up across from the depot was a signal shop and a telephone shop. Dave Gleason was the lineman there in the 50’s.

  2. Mac Gaddis

Reference

Drawings

  1. The plans are MWD 8072 created in June 1923 and are available from the CSRM. This plan was used for the Road Master's, Section Foreman's, or Signal Maintainer's house as needed.

Modeling Signal Maintainers House

AL & W Lines

  1. Available as HO scale laser kits                       alwlines.com


Switchmen Building

San Luis Obispo Switchman Building

  1. There was an old combine way down at the south end of the yard, or maybe it was an RPO. Switchmen used it, and it might have been for storage.

  2. Mac Gaddis


Switchmen Shanty

  1. Switchmen / herders had shantys. Within all yard limits where Yardmasters were used, there were switchmen and they worked in that shanty. All the Shantys were different, no two the same. Some were big enough to get a picnic table (or two) in them, others were one man structures (like a herder parked out at the end of a lead (yard throats). They used them to get out of the weather and all had a phone, speaker, pneumatic tub (to the yardmaster) or, in some cases, all three in them. The big ones would have a locker room/wash room too. Most were at locations were where the switchman would go on and off duty. That means that a switch engine would tie up at the same location. The old ones were make out of redwood, just like the depots.

  2. Mike Smith



Telegraph Office

  1. The article in Trainline # 65 shows the as built telegraph office in Eloy Arizona on page 13. There were no drawings for a standard 24' x 32' telegraph office in the Fall 2000 issue of SP Trainline. Another standard 24' x 32' telegraph office was found at Towle on the Donner Pass line. One could figure out some dimensions from photos considering that horizontal siding had to be either 7" V rustic or 8" V rustic (more likely to be 7" V rustic).

  2. John Sweetser

Modeling Telegraph Office

AL & W Lines

  1. The telegraph office in Eloy, AZ is the same as AL&W Lines model SP#1 except for the chimney and shingle style.

  2.                                                                        alwlines.com

  3. Larry Castle


Wood Shed

Modeling Wood Shed

AL & W Lines

   The structure's size is about 1" by 1.5"

  1. Available as HO scale laser kits                       alwlines.com


Yard Office

  1. Yard Office - El Paso, Tx.         Mainline Modeler                     May 1992



 
Southern Pacific Lines
Modeling S.P. Yard Structures
Loco Support Structures
- Ash Pits 
 Coaling Facilities
 Fueling Station
 Machine Shop
 Oil Building
 Sandhouse

Yard Structures
 Coal Storage Bins
 Freight House
 Operators House
 Power House
 Refrigerator Car Housing 
 Scale Tracks
 Section Crew Bunks
 Section Foreman’s House
 Signal Maintainers House
 Telegraph Office
 Yard Office
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