And to Think That I Saw it in Mulberry Yard

SN 127 and trailer recap the previous update in this ca. 1940 northwest view at Park Ave. and 16th St., with CS and W Petroleum Co. at no. 1545 Park Ave., and Chico Equipment Co. at no. 1510, the latter the place to go for Allis-Chalmers Tractors and Machinery. The enlargement on the right shows three overhead X’s, two for the W. 16th St. spur to Northern Star Mills and Diamond Match, and the one in the distance to Union Ice. Co.

L263-05-G. Graham Collection, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 108884sn, (Image 1 of 41)

Leave it to Chico native Don MacInnes to document this SN work crew repairing the rail-asphalt interface in this southeast view at Park Ave. and 17th St. on Feb. 10, 1951. Hoyt’s Donuts and those trees with the base of their trunks painted white on the east side of the road will help position the next image.

L263-10-Don MacInnes Collection, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 169074sn, (Image 2 of 41)

If you recall the features of the last image, Birney 62 could be no place except Park Ave. and 18th St. The year is 1947 in this northwest view with accompanying enlargement.

L263-15- Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 55534sn, (Image 3 of 41)

Park Ave. had large trees along both flanks in the electric era, but this southeast view of SN 143 pushing SN 1005 northbound at Park Ave. and 17th St. during a BAERA-sponsored excursion documents the trees along the west side of the road were history by Apr. 14, 1962.

L263-20-Railroad Negative Exchange, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 178782sn, (Image 4 of 41)

Tom Messer’s image of Western Pacific, WP, 2009 and freight between 16th and 17th Sts. shows, however, that smaller street trees were planted on the west side of Park Ave. by 1983.

L263-25-Tom Messer Photo, Courtesy Tom Messer, (Image 5 of 41)

Many of the trees on the east side of Park Ave. continued to flourish, as shown in this southeast view of SN 711 and freight passing the Chico Motel, no. 1717 Park Ave., taken by Ken Meeker circa 1980.

L263-30-Kenneth J. Meeker Photo, Courtesy Feather River Rail Society, (Image 6 of 41)

Arthur Lloyd’s east view of Birney 62 turns back the clock to Dec. 2, 1945 to Park Ave. and 18th St., while also providing a peak up E. 18th St.

L263-35-Arthur Lloyd Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 114646sn, (Image 7 of 41)

Back to that lush lineup of trees, here further south at 19th St., as Birney 66 passes Butte Pump and Motor Works in this northwest view ca. 1940.

L263-40-Attributed to Tom Gray, Moreau Coll., Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives, 110725sn, (Image 8 of 41)

SN 1041 and three trailers heading to Sacramento veer to the east, meaning that 20th St. and the Mulberry stop are near in this northwest view taken on June 2, 1940.

L263-45-Ted Wurm Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 98611sn, (Image 9 of 41)

Didn’t want to forget the electric-era freights, here two southeast views at 20th St. from 1947, with SN 442 heading toward Mulberry, left, and away from Mulberry, right. The two images show the Mulberry stop, and document that the track left the streets here, not to reappear on asphalt again until Live Oak to the south in Sutter County. Ref: Walt Vielbaum Photo, left; Arthur Lloyd Photo, right

L263-50-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 132954sn, l, 114641sn, r, (Image 10 of 41)

This “speaks-for-itself” northwest view of Birney 62 is from Nov. 8, 1947. If only the Mulberry sign had writing on the back, there would be no uncovered mysteries here.

L263-55-Bill Eames Photo MacInnes Coll., Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives, 169075sn Detail, (Image 11 of 41)

A similar panoramic view of a three-car train with SN 1019 on the rear heading north for downtown circa 1940 provides a close view of the track arrangement that fed the yard and parallel mainline to the south.

L263-60-Moreau Collection, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 163438sn, (Image 12 of 41)

Another northwest view at 20th St. of the Mulberry approach, the presence of Western Pacific RDC-1 Budd car on excursion in Chico means the date is Jan. 29, 1950.

L263-65-Illman Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 89828sn, (Image 13 of 41)

Ahead to two east-southeast views of by the Mulberry entrance during the BAERA-sponsored excursion of Apr. 14, 1962. SN 1005 was positioned to this spot by 44-tonner SN 143 to pose for the railfans

L263-70-Richard Kampa Photos, Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives, 163695sn, l, 163967sn, r, (Image 14 of 41)

Same place, Tom Messer’s image of SN 712, southeast view, circa 1980, catches the setting sun as the Chico Local speeds north toward the airport.

L263-75-Tom Messer Photo, Courtesy Tom Messer, (Image 15 of 41)

One more southeast view, this time from Wayne Monger, of WP 707 circa 1980. A review of the history of Mulberry shops and yard follows.

L263-80-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 16 of 41)

This diagram from Aug. 1909 shows the basic outline of Mulberry, with its car barn, car shops, storage tracks, along with the location of the Pacific Gas and Electric’s facility. The enlargement of the key to the numbering in the diagram provided on the right reveals the diversity of functions carried out in the yard.

L263-85-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 37066, (Image 17 of 41)

Ahead to Dec. 31, 1928 and the birth of the merged Sacramento Northern Railway, the diagram now shows industrial-agricultural customers being served at the periphery of the yard.

L263-90-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 97642sn, (Image 18 of 41)

The sweeping southeast view on the left from 1912 features the Northern Electric, NE, Engineering Office, as well as the car barn and water tower. Chico railfan Allen Wood was told that the building was a hotel or boarding house prior to the NE. He has been investigating whether the building was moved after the original SN structures were removed, but nothing definitive has been found.

L263-95-Northern Electric Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 26493ne, (Image 19 of 41)

The car barn was a popular stop for photos by railfans. This circa 1947 view was selected because it had many examples of motorized SN rolling stock from the post-interurban passenger era of the 1940s; SN 441, MW 302, SN 142, and Birneys 60 and 66.

L263-100-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 179088sn, (Image 20 of 41)

This northeast view from 1918 or later shows, among other buildings, the car shops located in the left upper quadrant. Ref: NE Photo, Sappers Collection, left

L263-105-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 26497ne, l, 37066, r, (Image 21 of 41)

The Mulberry shops were located east of the car barn, an inside look from 1909 of the carpentry crew erecting one of the NE’s 125-130 series passenger cars is seen on the left. Garth Groff learned through a chance meeting with a Chico-raised railfan that the man seated in the center with the prominent mustache was H. J. Pingree, his exact position for the NE unknown. The image on the right is the earliest dated documentation of a SN freight motor with stripes, taken on Feb. 8, 1947 during a photo trip to Chico by E. K. Muller and his dad.

L263-110-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 179642sn, l 116461sn, r, (Image 22 of 41)

Two east views from the water tower showing the yard at Mulberry taken 1918 or later, left, and in Oct. 1948 by Tom Buckingham, right, are provided above. The yard housed an ever changing array of electric-era rolling stock that provided an incomparable source of information to railway historians. The end of electric rail service in 1948, and the impending closing of SN shop operations here, would seed development of the open area to the east of the yard seen in these images.

L263-115-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 179062sn, l, 54454sn, r, (Image 23 of 41)

SN historian Garth Groff provided the text for this image. “General Electric built two 70-ton demonstrators. The first was GE 7001, built in May 1946, which barnstormed the country to drum up sales. The second was GE 1, built in July 1950. This unit was sold to the SP as their 5114 in January 1951. We can conclude that GE 1 visited the SN sometime between July 1950 and January 1951.” Garth also noted the rare view of the ice deck, seen better in the enlargement, as well as Napa Valley car 53. For the deck, Pacific Freight Express, PFE, contracted with Union Ice Co. BAERA purchased Napa Valley 53 in 1945, but it would burn in the 1950s, and all that remains at Rio Vista Jct. are its trucks and underframe.

L263-120-Don MacInnes Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum, 169042ge, (Image 24 of 41)

According to Kent Stephens’ historical account in “Chico’s Street Car Line: A Half Century of Service” in the Butte County Historical Society “Diggin’s”, Spring Addition, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1971, Mulberry’s operation was consolidated with the Western Pacific’s South Sacramento shops effective Apr. 2nd, 1951. The left image shows the car barn at the time of abandonment. The image of the facility being dismantled on the right is from Aug. 1952. Ref: Sappers Coll., left, R. L. Stein photo, right.

L263-125-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 107334sn, l, 47413sn, r, (Image 25 of 41)

By 1957, most of the site had been cleared. The wye structure of track remained, the north arm marked by yellow, the south arm by green, joining to head southeast, here seen occupied by rolling stock. The structure used by the California Prune and Apricot Growers Assoc., blue arrow, remained, and a new structure to the west of that building is under construction, white arrow, and will be seen in the following aerials. Ref: AAX-6K-32 06-30-1952, Map Collection, U. C., Davis; cas-chico_1-11. 08-21-1957, U.C. Santa Barbara Library, Special Research Collections

L263-130-Multple Attributions, (Image 26 of 41)

The aerial from 1962 shows the state of the Mulberry site before the move from the old depot and yard in 1963. The aerial from 1970 shows a siding to the structures mentioned in the last image, black arrow, a new depot, turquoise arrow, and a spur track running past the depot and crossing Fair St., red arrow, marked by a warning of the crossing on the street, maroon arrow, following 21st and heading to a new industrial development, orange arrow. The pink arrow suggests a siding down Elm St., pink arrow, but read on … Ref: cas-but_3-62 06-28-1962, left; aax-1970_3ll-102. 07-06-1970, right

L263-135-Multple Attributions, (Image 27 of 41)

Flipping this official map updated through 1972 one-hundred and eighty degrees, the depiction of Mulberry accounts for all the trackage mentioned so far, and doesn’t include track down Elm St. Except for a single 1974 image Dick Dorn published on page 148 in “72-82: Western Pacific's Final Decade” of a freight on 21st after exchanging a single boxcar with a beverage distributer, no images of a freight on this spur were found.

L263-140-Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 28 of 41)

Next, a few images from the intervening years of 1962-1973 reflecting on the aerials just presented. From the last passenger excursion trip to Chico on Apr. 14, 1962, this northwest view shows excursion leader SN 143 alongside SN 1005 and passenger cars on the mainline tracks at mile 183 from San Francisco.

L263-145-Dick Brown Photo, Vielbaum Coll., Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives, 133789sn, (Image 29 of 41)

Also, from the last passenger excursion trip to Chico on Apr. 14, 1962, a northwest view showing signs of new construction within the transitioning Mulberry yard.

L263-150-Addison Laflin Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 172978sn, (Image 30 of 41)

This north view of the fully transitioned Mulberry area from Feb. 11, 1973 shows the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. substation alongside the wye. The building is still in use by the Company in 2022.

L263-155-Jack Shekell Photo Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 132194sn, (Image 31 of 41)

Sometime in the 1980s, the grade crossing for the 21st spur was covered by asphalt, left. An east view from 2017 is on the right. Jeff Asay, in his book “The Iron Feather,” notes on page 492 that the 21st St. spur did not show any signs of active traffic when he was photographing the line in Aug. 1981. He notes that the property supplied by the spur, although a failure from the WP’s perspective, would eventually be sold by the Union Pacific to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in 1987, the latter the fourth largest employer in Chico in 2022.

L263-160-Tom Messer Photo, Courtesy Tom Messer, l, Stuart Swiedler Photo, r, (Image 32 of 41)

A southeast view shows the new depot building, left, beside the track leading to the 21st St. spur circa 1985. Approximately five years earlier, Tom Messer photographed SN 712 passing close to the depot on the southern-most siding. Tom explains, “Stash Distributing at 2138 Fair St. received Manufacturers Railway refer cars from Anheuser Bush Brewing Co. of St. Louis, MO. Once their Fairfield Brewery was fully operational, the shipments to Stash dropped off and were eventually eliminated. Stash had a spur from Mulberry yard to its building just south of the yard.” Note the Frost Oil Co. sign across Fair St. present in the right image.

L263-165-Tom Messer Photos, Courtesy Tom Messer, (Image 33 of 41)

Deliveries to the depot area were generally light, with emphasis circa 1980 revolving around beer distribution, newsprint for the Chico-Enterprise Record, and supplying Frost Oil. This southeast view of WP 2009 and freight along the depot, however, shows Frost Oil Co. across Fair St. without any siding directly to it, the same situation as seen in the previous image. The insert map shows two additional track, red dot, not in this image, that could have been used to access Frost at an earlier time period, although the insert aerial from 1970 is equivocal on providing evidence for that. Ref: Map Courtesy Wayne Monger; Aerial aax-1970_3ll-102. 07-06-1970 Courtesy U.C. Santa Barbara Library, Special Research Collections

L263-166-Tom Messor Photo, Courtesy Tom Messor and Others, (Image 34 of 41)

Tom Messer also took this image in 1983 of WP 2009 and freight on the southern arm of the wye heading to the mainline. Deliveries to the depot area were generally light, with emphasis circa 1980 revolving around beer distribution, newsprint for the Chico-Enterprise Record, and supplying Frost Oil. The previous two images show, however, that there was no track leading to the latter in the 1980s.

L263-170-Tom Messer Photo, Courtesy Tom Messer, (Image 35 of 41)

The Union Pacific deployed Missouri Pacific, MP, diesels to the Chico Local as the latter’s operation was winding down. The MP was the third party to the merger of the UP and WP-SN in 1982. The pairing of these time-sequence images of MP 2026 provides unequivocal proof of the location of this scene circa 1985.

L263-175 -Tom Messer Photos, Courtesy Tom Messer, (Image 36 of 41)

The abandonment of the Chico trackage and Chico Local is a long saga of interplay between the SN, WP, UP, SP, the City of Chico, and potential industrial customers. A highly recommended read is Jeff Asay’s treatment of the subject in his book “The Iron Feather”. The irony in Tom Messer’s image circa. 1985 is that there would indeed be another impending yard sale. Recall from an earlier update that the last Chico Local ran on Dec. 29, 1985.

L263-180-Tom Messer Photo, Courtesy Tom Messer, (Image 37 of 41)

Part of the abandonment saga included attempts to resuscitate the line. The UP eventually ripped out the tracks within the city limits in 1988. These two southeast images from July 21, 1987, left, and June 30, 1989, right, are shown here to document that track into Mulberry remained for a bit longer.

L263-185-Jack Shekell Photos, Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives, 132192sn, l, 132191sn, r, (Image 38 of 41)

Passing by Mulberry yard on the Fair St. side still provides a glimpse of railroad past, the former third SN Chico depot, surviving several decades as part of a trucking business. West view, 2017.

L263-190-Stuart Swiedler Photo, (Image 39 of 41)

A colorful northeast view of the Mulberry car barn from the 1940s with box motor 601, Birney 61, Birney 62 and Birney 66, to acknowledge and thank Garth Groff, Tom Messer, Wayne Monger and Allen Wood for their colorful comments and insights about a very special place.

L263-195-John G. Graham Coll., Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 174867sn, (Image 40 of 41)

Time to return to the mainline, seen here in a southwest view from the water tower as part of Tom Buckingham’s series from Oct. 1948. Next time, a look at the southern most portion of the Chico trackage to the end-of-wire south of the city limits.

L263-200-Tom Buckingham Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 54452sn, (Image 41 of 41)