ISSUE 134 - Mar/Apr 2006 The Train Sheet A FRIEND IN NEED••. Locomotive Association in an impressive display of - Eugene John Vicknair cooperation. Now, every minute of time packing journals, repairing brakes and welding step wells San Francisco, CA - Sunday, February 26 - 1:30 PM comes down to this early morning move. Days of shuttling cars over rickety industrial trackage There is a small crowd gathered near the "Coke strewn with debris and encroached by wayward Spur" in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood. trucks has eventually brought over 30 passenger Radio chatter can be heard from several handheld and freight cars out of Hunter's Point. FRRS units. Many of those milling around are noticeably President Rod McClure sits in the cab ofWP GP7 tired and there is a nervous energy in the air. 707, waiting for word from his crew that all is Nearby, sitting on the former Southern Pacific ready. Yardmaster Steve Habeck clears the train for double track mainline, is the beginnings of a train movement and McClure replies and reaches for the the likes of which has never been seen in The City. throttle. On the ground, the small crowd calls out And idling at the headend is a set of familiar as the 707 blasts her horn. orange and silver locomotives, running on decidedly unfamiliar rails. 'They're moving!" Their purpose is to muscle the bulk of the Golden The massive effort to relocate the majority of Gate Railroad Museum's collection to a new GGRM's equipment began several months location. Most of the train's crew has been away earlier. In August, 2005, the US Navy served from home for nearly a month, working feverishly notice that all tenants of the Hunter's Point alongside members of GGRM and the Pacific Shipyard, GGRM's home for many years, would WP 707 keeps company with UP 5061 in Stockton. page 6 ISSUE 134 - Mar/Apr 2006 The Train Sheet Once again in WP Stockton Yard, 2001 sits near a WP trailer. -photo by Eugene John Vicknair have their leases canceled and be required to part of the core collection. Two items were vacate the premises by mid-February, 2006. offered to us in thanks for our aid: Southern Soon after the announcement, discussions Pacific SD9 4450, which would be held as began within the FRRS toward offering our trading stock, and Western Pacific Pullman expertise in over-the-road equipment moves to Sleeper "Clover Plot", which would join our core GGRM. The scope of the task was daunting. collection. Some 30 cars, mostly passenger cars and many on plain bearing trucks, would need to be By October, 2005, a plan was taking shape that prepped for mainline movement. Most of these would see GGRM, PLA and FRRS volunteers cars had not been outside of Hunter's Point in working side by side. PLA had offered storage over 15 years. Every single one would need to space at their facility in Niles Canyon and would be inspected, repaire;d and certified for service. aid in car prep, GGRM crews would handle much And less than 6 months was available to make it of the prep and repair of the cars, and FRRS happen. crews would be responsible for final inspection, additional repairs and the entire movement of With approval of the FRRS Board, President the hospital train. Permission was granted by McClure extend our offer of assistance to GGRM. the Union Pacific and CalTrain, owners of the Golden Gate had already announced several former SP line between San Jose and San measures to thin out their collection, including Francisco, to allow this unusual movement of canceling leases on privately owned equipment antiques and artifacts. FRRS members made and selling or donating items not deemed to be many trips down to San Francisco and Niles pagel ISSUE 734 - Mar/Apr 2006 The Train Sheet Canyon, working out details and inspecting the After stretching their legs, the engines would train's route. Special thanks to Rod McClure, Gail soon come the slowest part of the trek. The McClure, Steve Habeck, Hal"!k Stiles, Doug industrial trackage that connects Hunter's Point Morgan and Eugene Vicknair for their legwork to the mainline is restricted, curvy and crossed during all this preparation time. by many gates. The crew had no desire to navigate this line in darkness, but the move into On February 1,2006, the first phase of the The City had to be made at night to stay clear of hospital move began, as WP GP7 707, GP20 2001 the commute train fleet. The train and chase and F7B 92S-C rolled out of Portola with our crew finally arrived at the "Coke Spur" near the support train trailed by caboose 484. The train end of Carroll Avenue around 2 AM and were laid over in Stockton on Friday and Saturday, greeted by several caffeine fueled railfans eager waiting for clearance to enter CalTrain trackage to catch this once in a lifetime event. As the Saturday night and run to San Francisco. With photographers scrambled for good positions, Gail McClure and Eugene Vicknair providing the train backed down onto the lead to Carroll ground support, our volunteer crew of Rod Street and stopped short of the trigger for the McClure, Steve Habeck, Cliff Cox and Ed Dickens, Third Street crossing. Locking down the train, joined by pilot Don Chekerian, rolled south out everyone settled in to wait for daylight and the of the ex-WP Stockton Yard and made a final move. Some attempted to sleep sitting up nighttime run over Altamont Pass, bringing WP in the 484's bay windows or a locomotive cab, power to those home rails for the first time in while others just gave up on sleep at all. At over 20 years. daybreak, there was a quick McBreakfast before the engines were reawakened and our GGRM After entering the former SP at Niles Jct., the guides arrived. With the caboose whistle train ran down the Mulford Line through Alviso blasting, the 484 banged across the new and in to Santa Clara Yard. While the power was diamonds for the Muni light rail line and led the switched to the opposite end, CalTrain's way backwards down Carroll Street, shocking a dispatching center issued orders and gave the few drivers who didn't seem to realize that trains crew clearance to San Francisco. It was after ran on train tracks. After a bit of street running, midnight as the train continued on, getting a the train reached the first of many gates across fast run on one of the oldest rail corridors in the the tracks. Dave Roth and?? of GGRM had the west. The 707 and 2001 relished the chance to task of unlocking each one, while FRRS open up at speed, making a time most museum volunteers locked them back after everything pieces would certainly envy. passed. Torn up mattresses, broken lumber and WP 2001 eases past a poorly parked truck. WP 707 pulling cars down Carroll Ave. -photo by Eugene John Vicknair page 8 -photo by Frank Caron ISSUE 134 - Mar/Apr 2006 The Train Sheet wrecked cars lined the right of way and Thanks to every FRRS member who worked on sometimes crossed it. Various chunks of debris making this happen. If we have forgotten you, were butted aside by volunteers. The final please let us know! challenge was reached just outside the Hunter's Point gate, where a semi-truck had parked Rod McClure Gail McClure perilously close to the tracks. As the crew Cliff Cox swarmed around the truck, gauging the Ed Dickens distances, Dave Roth called SFPD and joked that Steve Habeck he kept them on speeddial for just such Doug Morgan occasions. Officers arrived and ticketed the Hank Stiles offending truck, but beyond that could only Eugene Vicknair offer the suggestion to wait for a tow rig. PaullYarddogh" Lanyi Andrew McCarron Finally, the crew decided to chance it, after Larry Brown folding the passenger side mirror of the rig tight Eric Stephens against the cabwall. McClure notched out the throttle and the 2001 slowly rolled the train And thank you to the members of GGRM and back with most of the crew on the ground and PLA who helped with the coordination and made us feel welcome. watching closely. At one point clearance was probably less than an inch, but everything made GGRM it through. With a final set of gates cleared, the Dave Roth FRRS San Francisco Special rolled into GGRM's Jim Bunger main yard and came to a stop. Don Chakerian Now came the hard part... PLA Dexter Day to be continued in part 2 page 9 ISSUE 135 - May/Jun/Jul 2006 The Train Sheet A FRIEND IN NEED... part, the new owners took responsibility for - Eugene John Vicknair these items, either trucking them out or getting them prepped for separate rail movement. In During February, 2006, a team from the FRRS spent the weeks prior to the big move, cars trickled nearly a month in San Francisco, working side by out of Hunter's Point in ones and twos, bound side with volunteers from the Golden Gate for new homes. One of the biggest lots, Railroad Railroad Museum and Pacific Locomotive however, was the responsibility of the FRRS Association on an unprecedented task: move the team. The Virginia and Truckee Restoration GGRM's collection of vintage locomotives and group had purchased 5 ex-Southern Pacific passenger cars to Niles Canyon and PLA. Many of "Harriman" subs, former commuter cars that these railcars had not seen a mainline in decades.