Asco’s Beets and the Radum Wye

Wayne Monger stood on the south embankment of Highway 580 just west of the railroad overpass in Mar. 1981 to document the final segment of the Southern Pacific San Ramon Branch through Pleasanton toward its connection with the SP mainline at Radum. Southeast view.

L274-05-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 1 of 33)

As would be expected from the previous image, the right-of-way through this section, as confirmed in the left panel from 1939, was straight as an arrow until the formation of the wye at Radum, but the Iron Horse Trail in this section displays significant deviations, and does not continue as an uninterrupted path to the rail terminus, right panel.

L274-10-c-5750 281-3, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, l, and Google Earth, r, (Image 2 of 33)

The explanation for the trail’s profile in part reflects the initial disinterest by the city of Pleasanton to preserve it, even though the East Bay Regional Park District had jurisdiction over it. The city chose to create such developments as Hacienda Business Park. The placement chosen for Stoneridge Dr. made it impossible to retain the trestle over the Arroyo Mocho Canal, yellow arrow, as seen in this aerial view from 1993.

L274-15-Courtesy Google Earth, (Image 3 of 33)

In 2006, the city finally agreed to allow the trail to be constructed. Many physical obstacles had to be overcome, the most daunting at the section shown in the previous image where Stoneridge Dr. crosses Santa Rita Rd. The trail, blue broken line, is diverted along Santa Rita Rd., until it can rejoin the right-of-way to the southeast. Smaller variations were also necessary just east of Highway 580, at Owens Dr., at Hacienda Dr., and Tassajara Creek.

L274-20-Courtesy Google Earth, (Image 4 of 33)

The portion of trail along Stanley Blvd. on the north side of Shadow Cliffs Lake was completed in 2013, leaving a 0.6 mile gap to the end of the trail along the branch line. Views from Busch Rd., upper images, show the northern end of the gap, while the bottom images show how the path to the south on the sidewalk abruptly ends short of where the current Union Pacific overpass crosses Valley Ave.

L274-25-Stuart Swiedler Photos, (Image 5 of 33)

Dudley Westler took this southeast view of the Highway 50 grade crossing on the left from the rear car during the Mar. 30, 1952 California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society excursion. In the distance, to the left or east of the track, a relatively tall white building is seen, corresponding to the structure present at Asco, red arrow, in the right panel, a north-oriented aerial from Aug. 13, 1958. Ref: left, 119462sp; right, but-1958_5v-90

L274-30-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, l, and UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, , (Image 6 of 33)

Moments before snapping the previous image, Dudley Westler took this southeast view closer to Asco from the rear car during the Mar. 30, 1952 California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society excursion. This image is the closest that could be found to that building.

L274-35-Dudley Westler Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 119451sp, (Image 7 of 33)

These two north-oriented aerials were rotated forty-four degrees to show the interval between the Highway 50 crossing, far left, and that of Tassajara Creek, far right. The turquoise arrow marks a small drainage overpass, while the yellow and red arrows mark the trestles over an undefined waterway not present on maps of the period, and Tassajara Creek, respectively. The contents within each rectangle are those crossings more highly magnified.

L274-40-c-5750 281-3, top, cas-65-130 11-207, bottom, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, (Image 8 of 33)

A similar treatment as in the last set of images, now further east, includes Asco to the far right or southeast. The trestle over Arroyo Mocho Canal is marked by the white arrow, while the other two trestles, orange and blue arrows, cross waterways not identified on maps of the period.

L274-45-c-5750 281-3, top, cas-65-130 11-207, bottom, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, (Image 9 of 33)

Next, to review oblique aerial views of the material just completed. Shown on the left is an east view from Feb. 16, 1951 with the Highway 50-railroad crossing in the foreground, and the SP right-of-way heading further south. The portion of the railroad east of Highway 50 is enlarged in the right panel showing the drainage overpass indicated in L274-40.

L274-50-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 2003-2, (Image 10 of 33)

Shown on the left is a west view from Feb. 16, 1951 with the Highway 50-Tassajara Rd. intersection in the foreground, and the SP right-of-way in the background. The portion of the railroad east of Highway 50 is enlarged in the right panel to show the drainage overpass, right or north, and the first major trestle over a canal, left or south.

L274-55-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 2004-3, (Image 11 of 33)

Shown on the left is a tangential southwest view from Feb. 16, 1951 with the Highway 50-Tassajara Rd. intersection in the foreground, and the SP right-of-way in the background. The portion of the railroad east of Highway 50 in the left upper corner is enlarged in the right panel to show the trestle over Tassajara Creek, seen along the top of the image.

L274-60-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 2004-4, (Image 12 of 33)

Ahead thirty years, shown on the left is a south view from Apr. 13, 1981 with the Highway 580-Hopyard Rd. intersection along the right edge, and the Highway 580 overpass of the railroad in the center. The right panel shows the railroad from Highway 580 all the way to Radum. The storage facilities put in place along the right-of-way at Asco, green arrow, are still in existence in 2022, and delimit the area between Santa Rita Rd. and Mohr Ave. Note the tall structure seen previously at Asco is gone.

L274-65-Herrington-Olson Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 182684sp, (Image 13 of 33)

Wayne Monger captured SP 2667 and 2666 with caboose over one of the intervening trestles between Highway 580 and Asco in June 1983, north view.

L274-70-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger , (Image 14 of 33)

A similar east view of SP 2667 and 2666 with caboose with one of the other intervening trestles between Highway 580 and Asco in the background in June 1983, north view, is shown here. A clue to the location of this image is provided next.

L274-75-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger , (Image 15 of 33)

Note the similarity of this north view from Dave Stanley taken in May 1972 of switcher SW1500 2541 returning a car from Kodak to the previous image. The mile marker of the trestle, 66.1, indicates this was placed over Arroyo Mocho Canal, the one closest from the northwest to Asco, mile marker 66.4, and that Dave entered the scene from Santa Rita Rd., behind him at this point.

L274-80-Dave Stanley Photo, Courtesy Dave Stanley, Copyright 2018, (Image 16 of 33)

After the train passed him, Dave took this southeast view as the train had passed the switch to the siding on its way to East Pleasanton in May 1972. Note the Asco sign, as well as the two crossbucks at the Mohr Ave. crossing in the distance.

L274-85-Dave Stanley Photo, Courtesy Dave Stanley, Copyright 2018, (Image 17 of 33)

Irma Dotson, in her book “San Ramon Branch Line of the Southern Pacific”, explains that Asco was an acronym for the Alameda Sugar Co., who grew sugar beets there until 1917. Aside from this third west view from Dave Stanley taken on June 2, 1972, there were no other published or unpublished images of this SP flag stop. Nothing to shed greater light on that large tower seen in the distance in Dudley Westler photos.

L274-90-Dave Stanley Photo, Courtesy Dave Stanley, Copyright 2019, (Image 18 of 33)

This next set of vertical aerials move the discussion further from that building, upper panel, left edge, to the beginning of the wye at Radum. The green arrow points to a tiny trestle that was nothing more than a very low overpass of a drainage ditch. Irma Dotson’s husband James documented its existence in a photo on page 150 of her book.

L274-95-c-5750 281-3, top, cas-65-130 12-163, bottom, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, (Image 19 of 33)

A vertical aerial view from 1965 of Radum showing the famous wye, a relection of the wye at Avon at the northern terminus. As Irma Dotson points out, the derivation of the name Radum is still a mystery, but it remains tied to the operation of the Kaiser Sand and Gravel Co. seen to the north of the wye in this image. The extension from San Ramon to Pleasanton began service on Feb. 7, 1909.

L274-100-cas-65-130 13-63, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, (Image 20 of 33)

An annotated version of the previous image is shown here. The exact details of when the Western Pacific, WP, got their mainline in place relative to the formation of the branch-line wye have not been uncovered. According to Jeff Asay in “The Iron Feather”, the WP, at best, did not start running freights until later in 1909, but they clearly had the seniority advantage here. No images from this era were found to show which tracks were set in place first.

L274-105-cas-65-130 13-63, Courtesy of UCSB Library Geospatial Collection, (Image 21 of 33)

Traffic at the wye was controlled by Radum Tower, seen on the left in a photo by John Harder in 1955. The article on the right, cited by Irma Dotson in her book, as well as some SP employee timetables, show that the SP was responsible for tower operations. This supports that the WP had their mainline approved before the SP wye was finalized by the railroad commission, but the documents have not been found.

L274-110-John Harder Photo, Courtesy John Harder, l, Courtesy Livermore Public Library, r, (Image 22 of 33)

Next an appreciation of the SP and WP mainline convergence in Pleasanton and the Radum operation. In the left panel, the plane hovered over the passage of the WP through Pleasanton, and the same for the SP on the right, both east views from June 10, 1959.

L274-115-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 6969-4, l, 6969-2, r, (Image 23 of 33)

Details of the Radum Wye and Kaiser Sand and Gravel from the right panel of the previous image, an east view from June 10, 1959.

L274-120-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 6969-2, (Image 24 of 33)

Another detail of the Radum Wye from the left panel of the previous image, an east view from June 10, 1959.

L274-125-Copyright California Department of Transportation, 6969-4, (Image 25 of 33)

Ground shots at Radum prior to the first California-Nevada Historical Society excursion with SP 1795 from May 4, 1947 could not be found. Shown here from that excursion is the train waiting to cross the WP mainline on the “D” leg to join the SP mainline toward downtown Pleasanton in a northeast view.

L274-130-Robert Stein Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 120653sp, (Image 26 of 33)

The excursion train with SP 1795 from May 4, 1947 is in the process of joining the SP mainline while the rear section is partially across the WP mainline in this east view. Note the derail in place in the WP mainline, seen near the left lower edge, to protect the crossing.

L274-135-Tom Buckingham Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 54872sp, (Image 27 of 33)

The train from the Mar. 30, 1952 California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society excursion was coming from Livermore, and Dudley Westler took this east view from the rear parlor car showing the extent of the two railroads’ East Pleasanton Radum yard that handled the influx of cars from the SP San Ramon Branch, the two main lines, and the spurs to the surrounding gravel operations.

L274-140-Dudley Westler Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 119460sp, (Image 28 of 33)

Moments later, Westler documented the WP crossing on the “Y” leg from the rear parlor car of the Mar. 30, 1952 excursion in this southeast view.

L274-145-Dudley Westler Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives,119459sp, (Image 29 of 33)

Wayne Monger was at Radum to photograph the East Pleasanton Yard Switcher from the mid-1970s, executed by SP Alco RS-32s in the 4000-series. Here, a SP 4009 leads a train leaving the Kaiser facility and crossing the east leg of the wye, northeast view, left, followed by an east view, right. Note in the latter, the switch track just beyond the signal that gave the WP access to Kaiser.

L274-150-Wayne Monger Photo, Courtesy Wayne Monger, (Image 30 of 33)

Finally to Aug. 1977, and John Signor on a SP freight faces a red signal, as a WP train on its way to San Jose passes in this southeast view. Wayne added that the WP's "San Jose Turn”, SJT, headed for the Ford plant at Milpitas, then onto the WP Williams Street yard on the outskirts of San Jose. By this time, it was rare to see any of the "Fab Four" WP F-units running into Oakland, as they were the assigned power on both Stockton-Milpitas-San Jose train pairs SJT in the afternoon-evening and Auto Parts Forwarder, APF,-San Jose Perishables, SJP, in the morning.

L274-155-John Signor Photo, Courtesy John Signor, (Image 31 of 33)

By the early 1990s, the “Y” leg of the wye was almost entirely lost to an industrial operation, and addition of Valley Ave. eliminated most of the “D” leg, except for the section that survives to the south of the sidewalk on the west side of the road, as seen here in a photo by Alex D. in 2022.

L274-160-Alex D. Photo, Courtesy Alex D., (Image 32 of 33)

The commercial storage operation along the right-of-way decided to construct a facility based on SP architecture, including the Radum Tower, left panel. They decided to add a third transcontinental railroad along the sidewalk, right panel, making this spot extra special for Bay Area rail fans. Appreciation to Wayne Monger, John Signor, Dave Stanley and Alex D. for their contributions to this final update on the SP San Ramon Branch and the Iron Horse Trail.

L274-165-Stuart Swiedler Photos, (Image 33 of 33)