The Los Angeles Public Library has in its online collection 791 photographs of the late LA photographer William Reagh, who took some forty thousand photos of the city from the Thirties until 1991. There are quite a few of railroad subjects. A link to the full online collection is here on the libraries website. A very good web feature on KCET's website is here.
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| Southern Pacific "Bullring" or River Station Yard, Los Angeles, California 1957 |
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| Same yard after conversion to intermodal, 1987 |
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| 1938, The Santa Fe at the N. end of 1st. Street Yard |
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| Same area, 1986 - view looks north. |
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| Angels' Flight from Clay Street, no date. |
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| Santa Fe Second District bridge over the LA River, 1988 |
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| 1983 view looking south on the Santa Fe Second District LA River Bridge and the SP in the foreground. |
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| Spring Street, 1983 |
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| Banning Street 1980 |
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| Banning Street 1980 |
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| A nice little standing wave in the LA River. 1978 |
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| 1967 view of Santa Fe LA Coach Yard. |
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| 1966 San Pedro This scene would make quite the girder rail modeling project. |
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| 1950 view of the iconic 6th St. Bridge |
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| Gasometer, 1944 |
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| Santa Fe westbound passenger train crosses the LA River, 1939 |
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| Mr. Reagh must have had enough interest in trains to have made at least one trip to Cajon. |
Comment from DCA on Altamont Press:
ReplyDeleteVery interesting photos. I especially enjoyed those showing the Second District bridge over the LA River. They also show SP's yard that was just north of the bridge. When I worked out of First Street as a switchman in the 60's we often took transfers to the SP, leaving our main just prior to the grade up to the bridge. I don't recall what that SP yard was called. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate hearing back. Just curious.
The Sixth Street bridge also brings back memories, as when I first went on the extra board I was often assigned to the switchtender job, with the shack virtually under the west side of the bridge. The job had a lot of responsibility, as you had to be cognizant of the many passenger trains on both mains while letting freights in and out of First Street yard. All the crossovers were of course manual switches. Throwing the first one on the yard lead turned the eastbound signals red, then you waited five minutes before lining the main. Many road freights terminated at First Street after dropping part of their trains at Hobart. They had to be crossed over the EB main from the WB main to enter the yard.
The bridge had an ungated concrete ramp going down into the concrete river bed and I sometimes took my motorcycle down to the mostly dry river (summer time) with no problem. The ramp was used by the LAFD on occasion to access the riverbed to practice hose operations.
One photo shows a standing wave during winter rain flow. If the rains got heavy, the bridge supports in mid-river would cause a large "roostertail" to form on the upstream side of the support. Pretty impressive.