Mission Tower memories, I

Enjoying my new slide scanner has led me to revisit some older slides that I haven't looked at mostly because they were over exposed or poorly composed. The slide scanner (along with Photoshop) has allowed me to revive some nice older photos.  This collection is from a day in summer 1979, spent at Mission Tower in Los Angeles, where the tracks to/from LAUPT cross the ATSF, SP and UP, as well as the Los Angeles River. An interesting place to shoot with many vantage points and tracks coming in from all directions of the compass. Not many rail fans ventured to this spot in East LA because of the crime and also the preponderance of "junk" power on transfer jobs.

We started directly at the Tower and caught some morning passenger traffic, such as this San Diegan backing out the north west leg of the wye, before lining up for the mainline and heading south to San Diego on the Santa Fe; the track crossing in the foreground is the SP Sunset route

 

Shortly after that, the station switcher, an ex Frisco GP-7 appeared hauling the consist of the Southwest Chief out of LAUPT down the south west leg of the wye, headed for the coach yards at Redondo Jct. (view looking S).

this was followed by the power from the SWC, which ran light down to Redondo Jct (view looking N). SDP40F's stilled ruled.

 

 

next an ATSF switcher in the form of a CF-7 rolled by and briefly paused at the tower to chat with the operator

 

Across the river, an SP transfer job went RR-west (compass North) with transfer from the UP yard to Taylor yard located about 1 mile north.  An interesting mix (even back then) of non turbo EMD SD7's, GP-9 and an SW1500

 

 

 

Final passenger move of the morning was the departure of the Coast Starlight from LAUPT

 

Next we moved across the river to a vantage point atop a huge dirt pile, two stories high. Perfect for railfanning.  Looking west across the river, the first train is another transfer heading north from the ATSF Hobart Yard toward Taylor Yard.  More SD-7's and GP-9's woohoo!!  The tower is partially in the view behind the truss bridge.  The gray girder bridge is the UP line into LAUPT which crosses the ATSF at grade right under the lead SD-7.  The track across the river on the truss bridge is the SP Sunset Route to Colton, and beyond. The track crossing it in the lower left is the SP between the UP yard and Taylor, and the curving track is the connector that allows traffic from LAUPT to access the SP going north.  Another leg connects the SP off to the left (SE quadrant) with the Sunset route for eastbound moves.

 

 

in fact here comes a UP to Colton transfer on that SE quadrant connection

 

moments later across the river a short ATSF local freight enroute back to Hobart Yard eases to a stop. Dodger stadium and Chinatown are on that wooded ridge inn the background.

 

 

while directly in front of us a freight from Taylor swings onto the NE quadrant of the connection to go east from Taylor toward Colton.

 

 

Another train, this time a road job headed for Portland Oregon was on the heels of the Colton job but heads due north with two U-33-c's.