Of Interlockings And Other Machines ...: July 2024

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, August 1993

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

I do not remember what I told that signalman sitting there in his tower. But whatever it was, he let me in and take a few photos of his workplace!

Magnolia St. Tower was at the east end of Oakland Yard. About a year later, this tower was one of the last to be decommissioned in California. First I just wandered around the outside:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

There was a staircase at the back ...

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

... so I tried my luck. Here's Mr. Signalman—unfortunately half of the picture is black, for whatever reason (old analog photograph):

Signalman, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

And here are some details of the interlocking frame, built by Union Signal and Switch Company (as well as the rest of him):

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Unfortunately, I do not at all know anything about the types of US&S interlocking frames, and I did not find any information about the models in general or the specific one at Magnolia Street. Maybe someone stumbling over my posting could leave a comment which one can be seen here:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Stellwerk, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

The track plan is oriented to the south: To the right is the Southern Pacific's Oakland Pier (long since renamed), to the left is the line to Elmhurst, and running diagonally is the Union Pacific track (formerly Western Pacific):

Track diagram, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

For the junction at Elmhurst, there was a small and fairly new-looking control panel on the far right between various radio equipment. There is only one toggle for switch no. 1; the other switches have a $ sign instead of a number—unfortunately, I do not know what that means. It could mean something like a trailable switch, which would make sense for all movements on that track plan:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Unfortunately, I don't know what this is:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

There were various timer relays on the back of the frame:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Outside, I took two pictures of a switch machine, also built by US&S:

Switch machine, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Switch machine and points, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

At the other end of the Southern Pacific's Oakland Yard, there was another tower, but I only photographed it from the outside:

Oakland Yardmaster Tower, Oakland, 1993

The digital library of Cornell University has a picture from 1960 and another one where one can recognize that tower—but that seems to be it, I could not find any more information about it in the internet.

Edit July 30th, 2024: I asked at the Portola Western Pacific Railroad Museum about the state of Magnolia Tower. Kerry Cochran replied to me that "Yes, Magnolia Street Tower was moved to our museum in Portola. However we have not been able to find a place to rebuild it and get the funding to do so." and "We had hoped to restore it, but the shape it is in may need to be replaced completely". There's still hope, I'd say!

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Jack London Square Street Running, 1993

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

On the other side of the Bay, there is probably the most famous street running mile in the United States (or even the whole world): Mile-long freight trains rumble across Jack London Square in Oakland, as do Amtrak trains and light engines. Here is a small collection from back then:

Signal bridge, Jack London Square, Oakland, August 1993

An Amtrak train: The EMD F40 with the number 248 only has to pull a few cars; unfortunately I didn't note any train numbers or timetables:

Amtrak 248, Jack London Square, Oakland, August 1993

A freight train: Southern Pacific, whose EMD SD40T-2 with the number 8233 is in the consist here in the fourth position, was still a separate company in 1993, but three years later, financially bled dry, it was taken over by Union Pacific.

Freight train, Jack London Square, Oakland, August 1993

At the end of the train is a Union Pacific car which still bears the initials of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which had been taken over 10 years earlier:

Freight train, Jack London Square, Oakland, August 1993

And finally, a Southern Pacific EMD-SW1500 switcher rattled past, which I took from the Barnes&Noble one can see in the first few photos above:

SP 2631, Jack London Square, Oakland, August 1993

Translated partially with DeepL.com (free version)

Monday, July 22, 2024

Golden Gate Park Carousel and its Gebrüder-Bruder model 107 band organ, 1993

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

There are also carousels on the West Coast (actually rather a lot of them). Here is the one in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco:

Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

And this is the carousel organ (or fairground organ) that brought me to Waldkirch in Breisgau, just next to Freiburg, six years later to arrange barrel organs - a model 107 by the Bruder brothers from Waldkirch, which still played carton notes at the time. You can read a few details about its not entirely pleasant history in a posting in the Mechanical Music Digest:

Gebr.Bruder organ at the Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

More carousel pictures:

Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

Then a whole wedding party showed up:

Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

Gebr.Bruder organ at the Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

The organ, one last time:

Golden Gate Park Carousel, San Francisco, August 1993

Back then there was also a carousel museum in San Francisco - today, 31 years later, I can't find any mention of it. Here are three pictures from there: