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Friends,
Here is the final map of Yuba City. It has some problems due to gaps in my sources, so don't take it as gospel. It is only an approximation, and there is a mish-mash of eras regarding some of the track south of Bridge Street.
My original sources were the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps provided by George. These were mixed with data from the 1957?WP Circular 167-E, and the 1970s WP TIP book (schematic track plans). There were several holes in my data, and I chose to follow the TIP book in the area off Plumas where the Mayflower warehouse was instead of the Rosenberg Brothers packing house. If I ever do a revision, I will put this back the way it was in 1957. I was unable to match all of the cold storage/packing houses in the yard to the Circular's listings, so they are left blank for now. There are some other?industries on the Circular I couldn't find, including a Texaxo bulk plant. The spur into the Diamond Match lumber yard is conjecture. DM had two locations on either side of Bridge Street, the southern one served by the SP, so this is logical.
All these picky changes proved too hard to edit, so I overlaid the information onto a blank redevelopment map I found on the Yuba City government's web site. Unfortunately, some of the streets were realigned thanks to new development south of Bridge Street. GRRR!?
So make of it what you will. It is not perfect, but at least helpful to understand the Yuba City industries, particularly south of the yard.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
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Hi Garth,
Many thanks for putting this excellent and highly informative map together. Now, if only we had a similar map for SN trackage and industries in Sacramento, and area I've always found confusing! Thanks again.
Regards,
James
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Yes, most handy map and list. I'd? love to see one for NE, etcetera from Chico then down south. One of the ways researchers used to discover location in street car pictures was to use business guides. Perhaps a look through a Yuba City business listing book might add to our knowledge base. From memory,? I'm thinking Thomas might be a place to start. Many local historical society organizations have these, and could lead to more information.?
~Bill Shippen?
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Bill,
I'm not familiar with Thomas guides, though I know their modern map books well. I was given a Thomas fold-out map of Sacramento updated in 1926. It shows all the streetcar routes. The railroads are shown in fair detail (though the tracks are tiny). R Street comes off pretty well with some spurs shown, though?there were a lot more industries there, perhaps added later. Track along Front Street seems a bit sparse. Only occasional industries are identified. There is nothing but a line representing SF-S tracks in West Sacramento.
For me, the problem is that I'm on the WRONG coast, and can't access the important archives and libraries that would have more SN information.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
Yes, most handy map and list. I'd? love to see one for NE, etcetera from Chico then down south. One of the ways researchers used to discover location in street car pictures was to use business guides. Perhaps a look through a Yuba City business listing book might add to our knowledge base. From memory,? I'm thinking Thomas might be a place to start. Many local historical society organizations have these, and could lead to more information.?
~Bill Shippen?
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Hi
I may be way off saying "Thomas " as I'm going by memory. Some big well to do outfit published business directories that folks use to look up locations going by what is seen in the pictures. Say some street car is trundling down the street and in the background there's a business named "Bill's Fertilizer Shop." LOL So, said research person has no clue about where said picture was made; one can use this data to determine location and sometimes a general date. Perhaps this could be useful in determining the exact name and location of said interest. There has to be a list somewhere, either property tax listing, or general business advertising that would list what you're?looking for. Let me do some?research and get back to you.? Bill Shippen
Bill,
I'm not familiar with Thomas guides, though I know their modern map books well. I was given a Thomas fold-out map of Sacramento updated in 1926. It shows all the streetcar routes. The railroads are shown in fair detail (though the tracks are tiny). R Street comes off pretty well with some spurs shown, though?there were a lot more industries there, perhaps added later. Track along Front Street seems a bit sparse. Only occasional industries are identified. There is nothing but a line representing SF-S tracks in West Sacramento.
For me, the problem is that I'm on the WRONG coast, and can't access the important archives and libraries that would have more SN information.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
Yes, most handy map and list. I'd? love to see one for NE, etcetera from Chico then down south. One of the ways researchers used to discover location in street car pictures was to use business guides. Perhaps a look through a Yuba City business listing book might add to our knowledge base. From memory,? I'm thinking Thomas might be a place to start. Many local historical society organizations have these, and could lead to more information.?
~Bill Shippen?
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Garth,
My name is Scott Wiesemann and I'm a graduate of CSU Chico class of 1978 and a retired AT&SF-BNSF Locomotive Engineer.? My first encounter with the SN was in the fall of 1975.? It was evening and I was in Helen's Donut Nook which is on the corner of 8th and main street in Chico.? while inside I heard what sounded like a bell ringing.? I turned around and there was SN 711 with a cut of cars and a caboose heading west down the middle of Main Street.? In the fall of 1977 I took a semester off in order to chase a girl that was student teaching in Marysville.? We shacked up in a bungalow a few blocks from the Yuba City Yard.? I got a job working for Merry Modular Homes that was located along the south side of the yard.? Maybe the building behind Sutter Orchard Supply.? I went back to school in the spring of 1978 and rented a converted garage behind a house that was converted into a copy center. That Garage was next store to Northern Star Mills on the Esplanade with the SN mainline crossing my driveway.
I'm in the early planning stages of a mid sixties era HO layout around the Yuba City Yard, Del Monte Plant #14, WP Interchange at Marysville (hidden staging), industries at Paloro,and Colusa Jct.? The first of many questions: on your 1957 map you show item #15 as "ice machine track" could you explain what you mean by ice machine?
Thanks,
Scott
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Scott and friends,
Originally there was a small PFE ice dock near the later fuel track. It served just six cars, and was stocked by the National?Ice Company in Marysville. The structure was wood, and had a small?storage shed attached. The ice dock can be seen in the article "An Island of Electricity" by Donald Sims in the March 1961 MODEL TRAINS magazine. A brief description is found on page 310 of PACIFIC FRUIT EXPRESS by Anthony W. Thompson (and associates).
Sometime in the early 1960s this was replaced by a mechanical ice loader fed directly from an ice company truck. The?machine moved along the track in question, which was unconnected to the "live" yard tracks. I vaguely remember seeing this machine when I was a teenager, but didn't understand its significance, and certainly didn't take a photo. The machine was removed, and probably scrapped, sometime around 1970?when ice reefer service ended (by then WP/SN had switched from PFE to Fruit Growers Express). The ice track was not removed, and was eventually hidden under a hedge in what was probably a weak attempt at civic?beautification. AFAIK, the rails were still there when the UP finally pulled up all the yard?track. Photos of the machine are very rare, though I'm sure somebody has some.
Anyone on this board have a photo to share?
On the subject of SN icing. This was also done ad-hoc at Woodland. I was there in the late 1960s and saw cars filled with honeydew melons being iced in the small yard west of the tomato plant. Chunk ice was being fed by a conveyor from a Union Ice Company truck parked alongside.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
Garth,
My name is Scott Wiesemann and I'm a graduate of CSU Chico class of 1978 and a retired AT&SF-BNSF Locomotive Engineer.? My first encounter with the SN was in the fall of 1975.? It was evening and I was in Helen's Donut Nook which is on the corner of 8th and main street in Chico.? while inside I heard what sounded like a bell ringing.? I turned around and there was SN 711 with a cut of cars and a caboose heading west down the middle of Main Street.? In the fall of 1977 I took a semester off in order to chase a girl that was student teaching in Marysville.? We shacked up in a bungalow a few blocks from the Yuba City Yard.? I got a job working for Merry Modular Homes that was located along the south side of the yard.? Maybe the building behind Sutter Orchard Supply.? I went back to school in the spring of 1978 and rented a converted garage behind a house that was converted into a copy center. That Garage was next store to Northern Star Mills on the Esplanade with the SN mainline crossing my driveway.
I'm in the early planning stages of a mid sixties era HO layout around the Yuba City Yard, Del Monte Plant #14, WP Interchange at Marysville (hidden staging), industries at Paloro,and Colusa Jct.? The first of many questions: on your 1957 map you show item #15 as "ice machine track" could you explain what you mean by ice machine?
Thanks,
Scott
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Scott and Friends,
I just dug out this view of the Yuba City yard in 2002 just after operations ended. You can see the ice machine track on the far right, partly covered by the hedge and with some power poles actually inserted between the ties.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ?? On Thu, Feb 22, 2024 at 5:43?AM Garth Groff and Sally Sanford via <mallardlodge1000= [email protected]> wrote:
Scott and friends,
Originally there was a small PFE ice dock near the later fuel track. It served just six cars, and was stocked by the National?Ice Company in Marysville. The structure was wood, and had a small?storage shed attached. The ice dock can be seen in the article "An Island of Electricity" by Donald Sims in the March 1961 MODEL TRAINS magazine. A brief description is found on page 310 of PACIFIC FRUIT EXPRESS by Anthony W. Thompson (and associates).
Sometime in the early 1960s this was replaced by a mechanical ice loader fed directly from an ice company truck. The?machine moved along the track in question, which was unconnected to the "live" yard tracks. I vaguely remember seeing this machine when I was a teenager, but didn't understand its significance, and certainly didn't take a photo. The machine was removed, and probably scrapped, sometime around 1970?when ice reefer service ended (by then WP/SN had switched from PFE to Fruit Growers Express). The ice track was not removed, and was eventually hidden under a hedge in what was probably a weak attempt at civic?beautification. AFAIK, the rails were still there when the UP finally pulled up all the yard?track. Photos of the machine are very rare, though I'm sure somebody has some.
Anyone on this board have a photo to share?
On the subject of SN icing. This was also done ad-hoc at Woodland. I was there in the late 1960s and saw cars filled with honeydew melons being iced in the small yard west of the tomato plant. Chunk ice was being fed by a conveyor from a Union Ice Company truck parked alongside.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
Garth,
My name is Scott Wiesemann and I'm a graduate of CSU Chico class of 1978 and a retired AT&SF-BNSF Locomotive Engineer.? My first encounter with the SN was in the fall of 1975.? It was evening and I was in Helen's Donut Nook which is on the corner of 8th and main street in Chico.? while inside I heard what sounded like a bell ringing.? I turned around and there was SN 711 with a cut of cars and a caboose heading west down the middle of Main Street.? In the fall of 1977 I took a semester off in order to chase a girl that was student teaching in Marysville.? We shacked up in a bungalow a few blocks from the Yuba City Yard.? I got a job working for Merry Modular Homes that was located along the south side of the yard.? Maybe the building behind Sutter Orchard Supply.? I went back to school in the spring of 1978 and rented a converted garage behind a house that was converted into a copy center. That Garage was next store to Northern Star Mills on the Esplanade with the SN mainline crossing my driveway.
I'm in the early planning stages of a mid sixties era HO layout around the Yuba City Yard, Del Monte Plant #14, WP Interchange at Marysville (hidden staging), industries at Paloro,and Colusa Jct.? The first of many questions: on your 1957 map you show item #15 as "ice machine track" could you explain what you mean by ice machine?
Thanks,
Scott
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Hey all, ?Here is a picture of a picture of 711 on Main Street in Chico around 1976. ?Unfortunately all my SN Pictures are in print form. Scott 
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THat's OK as you still have the photo, and maybe if you know someone who has a new? AI photoshop program, you could probably bring that photo back to PERFECT !
My Brother Attended Chico State College in 1968 to 1971 .? We'd come up and visit and it was sure fun seeing the Mice in downtown Chico.
Hey all,
?Here is a picture of a picture of 711 on Main Street in Chico around 1976.? Unfortunately all my SN Pictures are in print form.
Scott
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That¡¯s an awesome photo, and brings back some memories?
On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 3:34 PM, Philip Schmierer < dunsmuirpap_at_gmail.com_floraloasis@...> wrote: THat's OK as you still have the photo, and maybe if you know someone who has a new AI photoshop program, you could probably bring that photo back to PERFECT ! My Brother Attended Chico State College i
THat's OK as you still have the photo, and maybe if you know someone who has a new? AI photoshop program, you could probably bring that photo back to PERFECT !
My Brother Attended Chico State College in 1968 to 1971 .? We'd come up and visit and it was sure fun seeing the Mice in downtown Chico.
Hey all,
?Here is a picture of a picture of 711 on Main Street in Chico around 1976.? Unfortunately all my SN Pictures are in print form.
Scott
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Scott and friends,
Here is the shot of 711, with some corrections through Lemke Software's Graphic Converter. It is a tough photo to work on, being on the shadow side, but I did manage to bring up some of the detail and correct for fading. Working from the negative would be easier.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
Hey all,
?Here is a picture of a picture of 711 on Main Street in Chico around 1976.? Unfortunately all my SN Pictures are in print form.
Scott
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toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Scott and friends,
Here is the shot of 711, with some corrections through Lemke Software's Graphic Converter. It is a tough photo to work on, being on the shadow side, but I did manage to bring up some of the detail and correct for fading. Working from the negative would be easier.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
Hey all,
?Here is a picture of a picture of 711 on Main Street in Chico around 1976.? Unfortunately all my SN Pictures are in print form.
Scott
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The same view, fall of 1977 
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Scott and friends,
Interesting photo. I tinkered with it a bit to restore the colors, but couldn't tone the redder left section to the rest of the picture. My software can change lightness or darkness by sections, but not color balance.?
Now you can see that the scale house was painted with that pukey hospital green paint the WP favored in their last years. I always hated that color. The mechanical reefer now appears to be a late UP/SP PFE car. There is a bay-window caboose on the far right track, possibly a WP steel car.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
The same view, fall of 1977
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Garth ,
a photo taken around 1958 was just sold on ebay.? It shows SN 653 & WP 376, RDC, coming off of the Feather River Bridge into Yuba City.? They are? passing by the Diamond Match Companies retail lumber yard location shown on your map.? What is more surprising to me is the two main tracks that lead up to the eastbound block signal protecting the bridge.? Single track begins just east of the signal.? ?
?
Scott
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Scott,
I wish I had seen that photo, (Sigh!) but I rarely look at eBay these days. The Diamond Match spur in Yuba City remains a mystery to me.
Did anybody on this board snag a copy of this photo that they could share here?
Attached is a photo from my collection taken by Will Whittaker of that excursion. He dated the photo as 26 March 1960. It is the only photo of this excursion among the negatives I bought from Will, but I am sure there were others. A view of the trip at the Yuba City depot by Stan Snook is on page 84 of Jim Harrison's SACRAMENTO NORTHERN GALLERY, and there is a similar unattributed shot on page 362 of ?John Ryczkowski's?WESTERN PACIFIC PICTORIAL, but both are beyond the Diamond Match spur. ?
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
On Mon, Jul 1, 2024 at 12:19?PM Scott Wiesemann via <swiesemann52= [email protected]> wrote: Garth ,
a photo taken around 1958 was just sold on ebay.? It shows SN 653 & WP 376, RDC, coming off of the Feather River Bridge into Yuba City.? They are? passing by the Diamond Match Companies retail lumber yard location shown on your map.? What is more surprising to me is the two main tracks that lead up to the eastbound block signal protecting the bridge.? Single track begins just east of the signal.? ?
?
Scott
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I bought the slide. When I get it I'll post it along with my others of this excursion.?
Bill Shippen?
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Bill,
Thanks much. It may solve a mystery or two, but probably will provoke more.
Yours Aye,
Garth Groff ??
On Tue, Jul 2, 2024 at 12:16?PM Bill Shippen via <pitstopharold= [email protected]> wrote: I bought the slide. When I get it I'll post it along with my others of this excursion.?
Bill Shippen?
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I hope it does stir the pot. I have a ton of fantastic pictures and documents that I want to share with everyone in hopes they start digging up and sharing with everyone. One I just found is the tower at the SP crossing at Live Oak. Awesome!
~Bil
PS: I have a bunch of the RDC trips and some of the RDC fan trips on TS... Stay Tuned!
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Scott Wiesemann
Philip Schmierer
George And Lisa Brown
