posted
Does anyone know where I can get a map or other documentation showing precise mileposts on tracks? Specifically, I am looking for milepost info on the Monterey branch line from Castroville to Monterey, CA. The tracks have been out of service for 30 years, so milepost markers are mostly gone.
The reason I ask is I recently acquired a copy of an agreement between the cities of Seaside, Monterey and Caltrans which requires those cities to retain a 40 foot wide railroad right of way for public transit purposes. This dates back to a 1982 acquisition of the right of way by those two cities from milepost 123.3 in Seaside to milepost 125.81 in Monterey. The map accompanying the document is not very clear, but it appears milepost 125.81 is at the original train station in Monterey.
Monterey currently has plans to develop the station property for recreational use and a parking lot, which would be in violation of this agreement as I understand it. I want to confirm the location of milepost 125.81 to see if it is inside out outside the area of proposed development.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
posted
Your post implies the land is Rail Banked at this time.
Your biggest problem is that this land belonged to the Southern Pacific Railroad. It appears the property was placed into rail bank status 20 years ago. You are going to have a bit of a challenge. I will not lay favorable odds on the Union Pacific Division Superintendents office even maintaining detailed map coverage anymore.
One option is to get a hold of an Espee employee timetable from before the stoppage of service on the line. With luck, it will have *some* terrain feature you can work from. Then, it's a matter of 1/100 mi=52.8 feet, 1/10 mi=528 feet.
Your next option is to go to the Planning and Zoning offices for Monterey County, and ask for the plat map supporting your document.
Following that, you may try, if California ever got to a state level "Freedom of Information Act", to go to CalTrans in Sacto and see what they have.
Your resource of last resort will be the Library of the University of California at Berzerkely. Espee may well have donated a major chunk of their corporate records to Cal when they went out of business as a result of the SP-UP merger.
Before going any further in cartographic research, you may want to get the full agreement: Intergovernmental agreements at the state/local level quite often have a 7-10 year shelf life.
I would not hold my breath on any of this. All it will take to nullify this agreement is two County Boards of Supervisors (maybe only one) and Caltrans saying the recreational use is in "the greater public good."
John who remembers his administrative law from his MPA degree program...
------------------ The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations
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Best source for very detailed property maps of California railroads I've found are those filed by the companies over the years with the state Board of Equalization(SBE). Very often copies were supplied to Tax Assessors offices in the counties through which the rail lines ran, and sometimes even city clerks offices. These drawings are on a large scale and show every culvert, switchstand, milepost, whistlepost and most other detail one could imagine. Some were passed over to CSRM when S.P. closed up, but check with appropriate county tax offices first(I suggest). In some cases, SBE field offices in the jurisdictions covered by them hold the originals rather than the Sacto offices, I have found, so one can check there, too.
[This message has been edited by SteveD (edited 07-19-2002).]
Posts: 216 | From: San Carlos, CA, USA | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
I HIGHLY recommend purchasing an Altamont Press "Railfan Timetable" for whatever region of the western USA you are interested in. These timetables list the milepost numbers for the various towns and yards along a given subdivision or railroad line. Here is the Altamont Press website for further information: http://altamontpress.com/ and http://altamontpress.com/catalog/timetables.html
Do you know if older versions of the Altamont Press timetables are available? Since the Monterey line is out of service it might not be listed.
Mr. Toy, Another idea is to look for an old employee timetable for sale from collectors or on ebay. Might cost a bit but it would have a treasure trove of info.
MP
Posts: 874 | From: South Bay (LA County), Calif, USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Thanks for all of these suggestions. Now I just have to find time to follow up on all of them! From what I have been able to gather from the agreement itself, the tracks in front of the original Fisherman's Wharf passenger depot is almost certainly included in the agreement. However, the depot itself is not included because SP still owned it at the time the agreement was written. Monterey just bought it a year or two ago.
Pullman you commented:
quote:I would not hold my breath on any of this. All it will take to nullify this agreement is two County Boards of Supervisors (maybe only one) and Caltrans saying the recreational use is in "the greater public good."
Neither the county or Caltrans is the problem. It is the city of Monterey that wants to develop this land for recreation. Monterey County and Caltrans are pushing ahead to get rail service reinstated, and the eventually expect to get it to Monterey, so neither of them are likely to back out of it. It is Monterey itself that is trying to get out of the deal, even though it was given a 50 year renewal in January 2000.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
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Re A.P. TTs, While they are very helpful for general railfanning purposes, they won't provide real estate detail you're looking for. Current issue #13 carries former Monterey Branch only as Seaside Industrial Lead, ending three miles beyond Seaside with no notations re status of service nor absence of connection at Castroville. If you need earlier editions of either A.P. TT or S.P. showing the line contact me off line and I'll look through my collection.
Posts: 216 | From: San Carlos, CA, USA | Registered: Jul 2000
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