An air force base railroad
By 1984, high mounted brake wheels and roofwalks were no longer allowed in inter- change service, but out-dated equipment like these boxcars (above and right) were still in use on the base. Flat cars, like USAF 35774 (top right), were also used at the base.
dark air force blue with white letter- ing, yellow safety strips, handrails and a large USAF Transportation Opera- tions Division emblem on the cab, the
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY; RIO LINDA, CA1967 MAP: 1:24,000
little engines inched their way along on spur tracks and sidings between row after row after long row of single-story unpainted concrete and steel govern-
ment warehouses that to this day con- tinue to dominate the landscape at the McClellan Industrial Park. In the post Vietnam 1980’s, the base railroad had six civilian railroaders oper- ating the line. In 1983, the railroad made nearly 2,500 car movements, and expect- ed to be even busier in 1984. In compari- son, in 2013, approximately 7,020 car- loads of lumber, petroleum, aggregate and manufactured products were shipped to or from the McClellan facility via the SAV, according to Patriot Rail. Back in the 1980’s, most of the railcar movements on the railroad involved the base’s re-warehousing program. As a warehouse building was modified or remodeled, the entire contents of a building was loaded into faded blue 40- foot steel USAFX boxcars or onto flat- cars. The loads were either stored in the cars, or moved and off-loaded at an- other location on base until the build- ing remodeling was complete. The locomotives and the self-powered rail crane were kept in tip-top condi- tion, as was the locomotive shop. The floor in the two-stall enginehouse was kept clean and shiny. An inspection pit ran the length under one track, protect- ed by roll away steel grates. The locomo- tive servicing area was tidy yet spartan, with a service station-type fuel pump on the enginehouse lead to dispense diesel fuel into the locos and rail crane and a wooden rack for drums of lube oil. This would make for a really neat layout scene for those who model shortlines. In the late 1980’s, the attitude to-
50 MARCH 2014
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