It was the 1980s that saw the beginning of an incredible decline in Bay Area car loadings and in the affairs of the Southern Pacific Railroad itself. In the 1920s and 30s the peak fruit packing season (in October) could see as many as 60,000 cars roll through San Jose's yards; and 7,000 passenger cars could easily be switched in the coach yard. But the once lucrative cannery traffic generated by such South Bay giants as Del Monte and Hunts eventually gave way to a semi-conductor industry that would never know the inside of a boxcar. Those canneries that stuck it out quickly switched to trucks.
Another factor adding to the decline of area traffic was the consolidation of divisions and crew bases. Inter-division freight pools allowed crews to run-through between Oakland and Watsonville and finally San Luis Obispo. Few trains were being re-classified at San Jose, and most were by-passing the yard completely. Traffic generated on the Peninsula and in the South Bay was being forwarded to the Warm Springs yard in Fremont, then to Oakland for re-classification. Finally, the disastrous merger attempt with Santa Fe in the mid 1980s eroded the confidence of those shippers that were left.
By the time College Park and Santa Clara towers closed in 1993, freight
traffic had declined to the point where most was in the hands of local
jobs. Trains that did pass through town seldom paused, instead using the
Warm Springs yard in Fremont. This resulted in the closure of College Park
Yard and the downgrading of San Jose Yard to an unmanned facility. The
yard offices at Newhall Street and Brokaw Road were closed, then razed;
even the huge yard tower, a constant landmark for motorists on nearby Highway
17, was pulled down. Twenty-four hour switching activity was cut back to
a single trick, and during the long night hours operators working the midnight
shift found a railroad so quiet that they could literally catch up on their
reading.
My
Hometown Railroad. In 1971, the author's brother had a friend at school
whose father was a San Jose yardmaster. At my urging, Kirk put in a request
for a "tour" of SP's San Jose facility. Before long he received word that
our request had been granted, including a rare invitation to climb the
steep stairs of San Jose's Newhall Street yard tower.
In 1971 Newhall Street Tower really stood out from the surrounding neighborhood, towering over hte nearby Highway 17 freeway: It was one tall structure! In fact, it was the tallest structure outside the downtown district, and the view from its huge picture windows was impressive indeed. In those days Newhall Street Yard still had enough work to keep three shifts of switchers busy and there was a constant level of train activity from Sunnyvale to the north to Curtner Ave and Lick to the south.
We began our day at the Cahill Street passenger depot where I got my first glimpse of San Jose Telegraph. Being a good host, our guide arranged for a company vehicle to transport us while on SP property. However, imagine our surprised when we were asked to climb aboard the cab of H24-66 Train Master No. 3072 for a short jaunt to the roundhouse. From there we took a more traditional "carryall," but that mile or so in the Train Master will remain one of my strongest "hometown railroad" memories.
- Ken Rattenne