I got a new digital camera last week and I went to Salinas yesterday to use the camera's movie clip feature to shoot the Starlight as it came into the station. It came out nicely and I will post that on my website as soon as I have time.

Upon arriving at the station I found this freight train stopped on the second track over.

The Starlight soon came into the station with a private railcar at the rear. That is not too unusual, but this time, the train left the station without it!

The railroad name on the side was "North Pacific Coast." The car was "Tamalpias."

Two men accompanied this car and I asked them about it. They said it was built in 1928 (If I remember correctly). They said they had several old passenger cars at San Lorenzo Lumber that they were fixng up. They invited me to stop by someday for a look.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned freight train pulled forward onto the main track, then backed up and took this private railcar away. I got a little video clip of that, too.

After some hunting I finally found the other passenger cars the men told me about. I was able to see them from the back of a nearby parking lot.

This Santa Fe dome was named "Plaza Santa Fe."

After that I found the Rio Grande locomotive heading onto the Spreckles spur, so I followed it. When it stopped I got some more shots of the Tamalpias railcar.

Meanwhile, the Rio Grande locomotive disappeared! I found it on another little veggie cannery spur and managed to get this shot as I jumped out of the car.

This brief railfanning experience passed, and I soon composed myself and returned to normal.

I hope all the pics show up. I haven't posted any for awhile and I might not have gotten it quite right.

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The Del Monte Club Car

I've seen the Plaza Santa Fe before. It was used as part of the excursion consist for the 3751 excursion to Williams, AZ back in August of 2002. In fact, all three of those cars were part of the consist (not the blue business car, though).

quote:

---

Originally posted by SteveD:
The sugar silos are no longer active are they? I'm even surprised they're still standing and visible from Hwy 101(at least last time I passed that way).

---

The Spreckles sugar plant was abandoned long ago, and the main building which dated from the 19th century was torn down several years ago. But the rest of the facility remains. I think it is active for something agricultural, but I'm not sure what.

Glad you guys liked the photos.

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy