Alamo’s Elusive O. A. & E. Trestle

Last time on the Iron Horse Trail, the review had reached the Walnut Creek-Alamo border, seen in this northeast view from Sept. 1959 from the Southern Pacific, SP, San Ramon Branch trestle indicating that milepost 49.51 has been reached since leaving Avon. A little more on this trestle.

L269-05-Copyright California Department of Transportation, Folder 6368, (Image 1 of 22)

The last update showed how the trestle was eliminated when San Ramon Creek was culverted in the construction of Highway 680. Presented here are the documents from the Department of Public Works, Division of Highways, District IV, providing the reconfiguring of this area. Note that the trestle revision did not require a formal taking of this land, and the SP got two bucks for the slight inconvenience.

L269-10-Copyright California Department of Transportation, Folder 6368, (Image 2 of 22)

Using one of the very detailed parcel appraisal maps from the Division of Highways’ document, this update will head southeast into Alamo beginning at the border, orange arrow. From this point until the station in Danville, the Iron Horse Trail faithfully follows the path of the former rails.

L269-15-Copyright California Department of Transportation, Folder 6368, (Image 3 of 22)

This southeast aerial view from Apr. 25, 1962 shows that Highway 680 construction extended only to the Walnut Creek border, providing a pristine view of the the many curves of the active right-of-way progressing through Alamo.

L269-20-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 8837-1, (Image 4 of 22)

Even earlier in time , Feb. 13, 1958, another southeast view of the trestle and the first westward curve.

L269-25-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 5845-2 , (Image 5 of 22)

Next, a complementary northwest view of the first part of the railroad curve in question on Feb. 21, 1964, after the creek had been channelized and hidden from view under the rails with the trestle gap filled in.

L269-30-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 10463-1, (Image 6 of 22)

Dan Engstrom’s south view from the caboose of one the Ozol Local’s twice-weekly trips from Avon to San Ramon in Feb. 1978 begins the ground-level review. The transmission tower on the hill separating Alamo from Rossmoor is a good marker for this location.

L269-35-Dan Engstrom Photo, Courtesy Dan Engstrom, (Image 7 of 22)

That trip provided the next three images by the border taken by Dan on the Feb. 1978 trip, starting here as the Local begins the crossing of Danville Blvd. heading south, the initial portion of the westward curve in view in the distance.

L269-40-Dan Engstrom Photo, Courtesy Dan Engstrom, (Image 8 of 22)

Here, negotiating the curve …

L269-45-Dan Engstrom Photo, Courtesy Dan Engstrom, (Image 9 of 22)

… and almost through it in Feb. 1978, south view.

L269-50-Dan Engstrom Photo, Courtesy Dan Engstrom, (Image 10 of 22)

At the same segment, the curve was a favorite spot on the diesel era, but no images of steam locomotives were found. South view, early 1970s.

L269-55-Hugh Harvey Photo, Courtesy Ed Mackinson, (Image 11 of 22)

Over two visits, Wayne Monger put together a sequence of freights heading north for the return trip from San Ramon, beginning with this south view from Feb. 7, 1976.

L269-60-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 12 of 22)

Next, further north, this south view of SP 2596 and freight was taken near the end of service, Sept. 7, 1978.

L269-65-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 13 of 22)

One last one, also from Sept. 7, 1978, the transmission tower marking the location.

L269-70-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 14 of 22)

But the real allure of this section of the San Ramon Branch was the trestle of the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern’s Danville Branch that crossed over it from its path along Tice Valley Blvd. to Danville Blvd. The enlargement of the area, boxed in turquoise on the left, shows the position of the Castle Hill cut, turquoise arrow, that passed under Crest Ave., and then resurfaced, yellow arrow, to join a trestle over the SP, possible remains of support structures marked by the red arrow.

L269-75-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 8837-1, (Image 15 of 22)

Irma Dotson in “The Danville Branch of the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway” points out that no image of this trestle has been found. The trestle would have been in use between 1914 and 1924. This post-abandonment vertical north-oriented aerial from 1939 marks the railway crossing of Tice Valley Blvd., orange arrow, the curved route over the SP, and the connection for its continued path along Danville Blvd., yellow arrow.

L269-80-Flight c-5750, Frame 280-60, Courtesy of UC Santa Barbara Library Geospatial Collection, (Image 16 of 22)

The same view from Mar. 3, 1952 brings out the dimensions of the cut. By this time, the path of the trestle to the east of the SP and its connection with Danville Blvd. had been erased. In 2022, the curved portion to the west of the SP is still visible in aerial views, albeit lined by houses.

L269-85-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 2481-5, (Image 17 of 22)

Irma Dotson’s book has images of the cut from 1994 from the Tice Valley Blvd. side that can no longer be appreciated, but no images east of Crest Ave. Examples are shown here, twenty years after the railway’s abandonment, Mar. 1, 1944, when railfan-photographer Roy Covert took a series of images east of Crest Ave., beginning with this view shown on the left. The unattributed image on the right is the same east view in 1965.

L269-90-Roy Covert Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 128472sn, l, 112991sn, r , (Image 18 of 22)

Covert then walked east to the end of the path, turned around and took a west view, right, to show where he had walked. An enlargement of the same image is shown on the left. Note the persistence of the imprints from the railroad ties. Again, the date is Mar. 1, 1944.

L269-95-Roy Covert Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 128473sn, (Image 19 of 22)

An image standing at the end of the embankment over the SP track was not found, but this north view from Mar. 1, 1944 that Covert took speaks for itself.

L269-100-Roy Covert Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 128474sn, (Image 20 of 22)

Exploration of the site of the former trestle in 2022 revealed a house under construction along its south border, the right-of-way mostly grown over, and the slanted runway still on the north side leading up to Crest Ave. Searching around the area revealed two pieces of concrete that may be remains of the five piers shown in Dotson’s book that may have supported the trestle’s timbers.

L269-105-Stuart Swiedler Photos, (Image 21 of 22)

Relative to the previous images from Wayne Monger, now with the hood forward of the cab, SP 2596 finishes the curve and heads toward the remainder of Alamo on Sept. 7, 1978, the destination for the next update. Thanks to Dan Engstrom and Wayne Monger for providing the images used in this update.

L269-110-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 22 of 22)