National City depot question

Bob Yarger · **Posted:** Tue Apr 29, 2003 4:11 pm

In today's brief, I don't see any tracks around the National City depot. Have they been removed, or were they just not visible in the photos?

ryarger@rypn.org

Keith Albrandt · **Posted:** Tue Apr 29, 2003 7:53 pm

> In today's brief, I don't see any tracks
> around the National City depot. Have they
> been removed, or were they just not visible
> in the photos?

The tracks are still there, behind the depot in the top photo in the Brief. There's a chain link fence between the depot and tracks, making it difficult to get a photo.

The link below is an image from the National City Depot Web site taken a few years ago, before the restoration. It shows the tracks much as they appear today.

Cheers,
Keith Albrandt

National City Depot
kalbrandt@rypn.org

Ted Miles · **Posted:** Wed Apr 30, 2003 12:29 am

What got me to wondering was the rail car that got a cosmetic restoration was not mentioned.

Am sure I read about such a project here in the past. Where is the car? Inside?

ted_miles@nps.gov

Keith Albrandt · **Posted:** Wed Apr 30, 2003 1:02 am

> What got me to wondering was the rail car
> that got a cosmetic restoration was not
> mentioned.

> Am sure I read about such a project here in
> the past. Where is the car? Inside?

The former Santa Maria Valley Railroad rail car was outdoors on the National City Depot property. I didn't post a photo of it with the 'Brief', but the link below to a page from the San Diego Electric Railway Association Web site has some photos.

Cheers,
Keith Albrandt

SMVRR Rail Car
kalbrandt@rypn.org

dave · **Posted:** Sun May 04, 2003 6:36 pm

> What got me to wondering was the rail car
> that got a cosmetic restoration was not
> mentioned.

> Am sure I read about such a project here in
> the past. Where is the car? Inside?

Ted, you may be referring to the National City and Otay car #1 which was stored outside of the depot on cribbing. It was moved to Savannah and rebuilt there - since we didn't have much in the way of documentation and the majority of the original fabric of the car was gone I hesitate to say restored - and returned in finished condition to be the centerpiece in a new structure built on railroad property across from the depot.

We were able to bring the project in not only within but well under the budget provided as a small part of the cost of building the railroad park by doing the job in Georgia where costs are lower than in CA, and recycling streetcar trucks rather than replicating trucks from the ground up.

It was the first of what will hopefully become many contract jobs done in the facility in Savannah, which is now undergoing structural rehabilitation and some serious upgrading.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net