UP 686 Switches South Oakland Indsutries 11/30/07

On Friday, I was heading through Jack London Square on may way to the office when I happened upon a UP switch engine heading south along the secondary track on the west side of I-880. The old SP yard lies on the east side of I-880. The unit was assigned to switch the industires located south of Oakland. I have occasionally explored the tracks on this side of the freeway, but this is the first time I have seen the UP working them. The office could wait! At least for twenty minutes or so.

Here’s a map of the location. You can see the track I am interested in below the freeway.

I-880 is carries a lot of traffic and is slated to be widened in the not too distant future. When that happens, this secondary track will be torn up and rail-served industries south of Oakland will be accessed from the lead which branches from the UP main at Fruitvale Avenue further south. This will liven some street trackage, assuming this branch stays viable.

I followed the unit as it ambled along beside East Embarcadero at a leisurely 10mph. Along the way I captured this pacing shot of the unit.

Here’s Al Bayer’s shots of the unit at the same location crossing the freeway entrance.

And one of the unit crossing the exit off I-880.

Most local drivers would be very surprised to see the exit blocked at this infrequently used crossing.

Industry tracks

At 16th street, the East Embarcadero diverges away from the secondary track which briefly follows the freeway before also diverging south, returning to  the Embarcadero near Livingston Street.

The UP appears to be planning on some maintenance along this line since there are a couple of panel track segments near the right of way. Note the minimal delineation between the right of way and the adjacent non-railroad properties. Here a gravel driveway crosses this seldom used line.

Notice also the absence of elevation of the track over grade. Ballast is at the same level as the surrounding ground.

Here’s the 686 crossing Livingston Street.

The view south shows a switch to one of the remaining rail-served industries.

Almost out of time, I moved to the grade crossing at Embarcadero and East 7th Street near a mill complex. Here’s the view north toward the nondescript industrial buildings near Livingston Street that receives tank cars via this line. There was a tank car on the spur but the unit didn’t move it on this part of the assignment.

Shortly after I got there, the 686 showed up and eased through the gate into the mill complex to the string of waiting covered hopper cars.

I was surprised to find another photographer at this location. This is where I met Al Bayer who was also shooting the UP686 going about it’s business. Al caught this shot as the unit eased onto the Embarcadero grade crossing.

Here’s my clip as well of the same move.

Switching hopper cars

The UP686 nudged the cars into a contiguous string and the hoses were connected by the crew.

Note the road crossing the middle of the switch and the concrete block wall separating the track from the parking lot.

Instead of pulling the cars, the 686 pulled forward over the switch without the cars and backed further down the line along the track curving to the right.

The gates came down but the unit barely stepped onto the road.

Pausing only long enough for the switch to be thrown, the UP686 was soon heading further south for more work.

Note the very simple switch stand to the right of the switch. The water is about one hundred yards beyond the locomotive.

Around the corner, a couple of spurs serve the other side of the Con Agra complex. BNSF covered hoppers are usually found there. You can see a string of four hoppers to the right of the building.

 The crew may have done some switching on the back side of the plant out of sight from the roadway as the view from Google maps shows, there are more tracks on the back side of the plant.

I was out of time at this point and had to continue on to the office. Fortunatlely, Al was able to stay on and follow the unit back toward Oakland. His comments follow.

Once UP686 made it back on the west side of the plant, the crew spent about 15 minutes hooking up the air hoses and inspecting the cars. The conductor walked to the front of the cars (where we were standing at Embarcadero) and put a red flag in the knuckle of the end car.

Then he and the other crew member protected the crossing while the engineer shoved the cars out of the facility.

The conductor rode on the front car grab iron to protect the shove (I couldn’t really get a good shot of this because he was in the shadows the whole time - Al.) Once clear of the grade crossing the facility gate was locked and after the third crew member got on board they shoved the cars all the way up to the siding track right near the I-880 freeway with the conductor ridding the grab iron all the way and watching the car traffic.

An update to this post can be found here.

Al’s has more railroad shots from the Bay area and California at his Webshots site.

And you can also reach Al by email.