SOUTHERN PACIFIC SUGAR BEET STORY

[@cris_261]

I remember seeing SP's sugar beet trains rolling through Ontario and Pomona. Same with those PFE cars. Good times.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Agreed, it was always a treat to see the "Beets" rolling thru Southern California!

[@erinconnelly7339]

Same here,used to hang out under the Mountain Ave overpass or down by O.H. Kruse plant.

[@cris_261]

@erinconnelly7339 O.H. Kruse. Now that brought back some memories.

[@erinconnelly7339]

Would also go a little further east to the Sunkist plant and the diamond where the SP branch to the plant crossed the U.P. Main.

[@cris_261]

@erinconnelly7339 my mom and I would go looking for trains along State Street (I was a kid in the 70s) in Pomona. We didn't get over to Sunkist plant much, but I remember the smell of the burnt orange rind.

[@bradfordsmith1758]

Grew up on the SP Coast Line from the late 70's until the early 90's, and was excited to see my old "playground" @ 15:15 ! I clearly remember the Beet Trains piled high. The ROW was often littered with ones that fell off. I didn't know where they were going or what they would be made into, but now I know! Under UP ownership, this great line is now limited to Amtrak and a rare UP freight. Long live the memory of the SP.

[@TheHappa54]

I worked at LA Taylor Yard 70's and 80's. Many beet trains in the yard at that time. I miss everything that had to do with Taylor.

[@lanefrank6208]

Taylor yard was a favorite hangout for me on the very late 50s and early 60s. it was interesting to watch the hump effort and the locomotive fueling, sanding and the repair facilities there. The turntables were cool.

[@TheHappa54]

Were you on the A Yard footbridge looking down or were you able to walk through the yard? There was so much to it when I worked there. There was the rip track, hump, and cab track just below the A Yard bridge. All the way to the end of the bridge was the Los Angeles Car Heavy Maintenance Plant... dated early 1900's.

[@lanefrank6208]

@@TheHappa54: There were two footbridges there, one was short and there was a long bridge that could access the back. As I recall, the long bridge was at the hump and near the control tower. Looking south, I could see the fan of the distribution tracks where the trains were being made up. There were a couple of Geeps pushing the cars to the hump. I was standing on the long bridge and accessed the locomotive area from that bridge. I lived right near the coast line and those beet trains were my favorite; always heavy going west/north.

[@mariofilippi3539]

Great review of the sugar beet transportation industry. Amazing how they traverse from the farm to the mill via gondolas, kinda' like coal does. Thanks very much.

[@thomasdonlin5456]

I love the sound of the Nathan P3 horns!

[@riogrande5761]

I spent my teens and early twenties in Davis California between 1971 and 1984. The sugar beet trains used to travel north past Woodland CA to Spreckles Sugar past the neighborhood where I lived in north Davis (Covell Park).

[@dfirth224]

Before the 1980s SP had sugar beet loading stations along Highway 99 around Modesto. There were sugar beet plants in Tracy, Manteca, Woodland, and Salinas.

[@BoltsCardsNMore]

Wow I didn’t know that about Tracy I live there and it makes me sad the declining rail scene

[@dfirth224]

@@BoltsCardsNMore About 15 years ago I gave digital copies of photos my dad took when he worked for SP in Tracy to the Tracy Museum. I think they have been posted on the Rail Town Tracy website. You might want to see if it's still around. My dad helped raise the sides of the beet gons in 1958 when he was a carman so they could load more beets in them. Because the beet gons all had friction or plain bearings instead of roller bearings, they had to be scrapped by 1999. The sugar companies hated the replacement cars with metal sides. The cars got so hot in the hot weather that they cooked the beets. Another reason for the decline of rail sugar beet moves.

[@robertkelly8106]

Watched a lot of beet trains rolling through the Coachella Valley and passing Refugio Beach in the late 50s and 60s. Iconic SP train watching.

[@patricknoveski6409]

S.P. used to run trains heading south thru Santa Barbara. They ran by my Sign shop in summer. What a treat!

[@LouT1501]

In the scenes of the SD9s on the Modoc, SD9 4326 was purchased by Portland & Western RR and became their 1851, serving that railroad for a number of years before it was retired and scrapped. Thanks for the video.

[@pauldavis1943]

My grandfather used to work at the sugar factory in southeast Idaho in the early 70s. Some of my earliest memories.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Sugar Beet production used to be a big time business from the 1920's until around the early 1990's when land and water got too expensive!

[@dfirth224]

@@charlessmileyvideosThe main thing that killed sugar beets was liquid corn syrup. Cheaper and it can be pumped through pipes. But I don't think it's healthier.

[@Crash9908]

I worked at Burbank Airport in the 1990s and remember the sugar beet express, as we called it, rolling by on Coast Line route past on the south side of the airport.

[@joshjones3408]

Its cool how they loaded the trains....an that tractor was a good idea if thats what you got... great video....👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁😁

[@imapaine-diaz4451]

I've lived near the SP coastline most of my life first in Ventura, then in the san Fernando valley and lastly on the central coast. I remember the miles long beet trains passing constantly in harvest season all of my childhood and teen years.

[@KR4FTW3RK]

6:06 coupling like they just don't care

[@PeterClarke-p2r]

Brilliant coherent presentation !!!!!. Story told from start to end in a very clear manner.

[@chegeny]

Thanks for the interesting video. I understand the SP was once part of sugar production in Louisiana as well. I watched old video of SP and MoPac switchers hauling bagasse (used cane) to a factory named Celotex to make cheap construction board. It must've been back in the mid-1970s as they used wigwags. All that stuff must be long, long gone.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Yes it is for sure, but what great memories of two super railroads! We will have to look into those operations in the South!

[@marcusfountain1694]

I must own 30+ Deluxe innovation n scale cars of this type and never knew how they are used ,this helps a lot.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Great, glad this video helped you. They were super unique cars loved by many!

[@ATSFVentaSpurNscaler]

Wow, what history is recalled here! The color filmography makes everything look so much better.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Amazing quality really when you think this material is almost 45 years old!

[@NormanSilv]

I lived in Mecca south of Indio. During the Sugar Beet harvest long Bett car trains would pass. 3 or 4 per day heading toward Los Angeles.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

What, a magical time to be down there! They certainly ran a lot of those Sugar Beet trains in the Summer!

[@NormanSilv]

Did you know a SP Artesian Well is still running there?

[@JohnsKeith]

I lived 30 years in Indio watching the S.P. & U.P. trains rolling through the Coachella Valley along with Yuma, Niland and El Centro from 1976 to 2006.

[@ATSFVentaSpurNscaler]

Hey Charles, I grew up near the former Holly Sugar plant off Dyer Road in Santa Ana, California, which was also served by Espee sugar beet trains. Do you have access to any footage of those sugar beet trains in Orange County?

[@dvreelandjr]

Loved it!!

[@ssweeps]

So wonderful to see SP trains. They were near my house in Orange, CA. They picked up fruit from the local packing houses. A flood in 1969 wiped out the train bridge and was never replaced. When I drive by there now it is a bikepath...

[@railyardfilms6491]

I saw sugar beet trains in Roseville CA in 90s

[@charlessmileyvideos]

You are correct, they ran up from the Central Valley. Many Sugar Beets also came from Stronghold on the Modoc line and down from Oregon to Hamilton City and Woodland over the West Valley Line. Them were the days!

[@rustyscupper2936]

As a young teen in the early 1970s my family would travel from the Bay Area to Modesto to visit my dads parents. We usually made the trip in the Spring and Fall to avoid the San Joaquin valley Summer heat. We would pass the Spreckels sugar beet plant in Manteca. I still can recall the smell of processed beets as we passed. The receiving yard at the plant usually had several dozen to a hundred beet cars read to unload. The plant closed in the eighties at some time as well as the Holly sugar plant in Tracy. I guess HFCS (high fructose corn sweetener) replaced granular sugar in most products by then. Don't know if they even grow sugar beets anymore.

[@Southern_Pacific]

Great reference video Charles, I already have this in my DVD collection.. I must dig it out so I can get my sugar beet train finished.. Keep these awesome DVD's coming ..Dave

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Dig it out and have an SP movie night! So many wonderful things to remember from back in the day! SP was so interesting in many ways but the "Beets' were one of the most fascinating aspects we think!

[@jacksalvin364]

The Sugar Beet Trains were pulls by locomotives.

[@donsmith7979]

Thank you, love all your videos I own .

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Thanks Don, we appreciate your support of our DVDs and our KZbin Channel!

[@minimouche9143]

Thank you ! beautiful video. What is the music, please ?

[@charlessmileyvideos]

It is all licensed production music that is not available to the public. Sorry.

[@kirknitz3794]

I seem to recall sugar beet trains going through Saugus.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Sugar Beet trains did go thru Saugus every season on there way up the SP Coastline!

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Saugus was and still is a cool railroad location the tunnel near there is almost a mile long, which many people don't really know about!!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

In UK, long coal trains of 'unfitted' waggons (no continuous brake) had 'three-link' couplings, akin to hefty chain, over fifty years ago. Against regulations, loco drivers would ease their trains back to take tension off those primitive links. Restart would be slow, so as not to jerk the brake van (caboose) as it eventually began to move. Effectively, each waggon (4-wheel car) began rolling one at a time, taking up coupling slack, instead of the loco having to strain to move the hundreds of tons of the complete consist ab initio.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Yes, the "Beet" trains were similiar in many ways. Heaviest trains on the SP Coastline at the time. Weighing in at around 10,000 tons!

[@Ottos_ScLm_Race_videos_2009_on]

My favorite engines SD-9's Funny the lead one had Eugene on it.

[@LouT1501]

The SD9s in the video were all Oregon Division SD9s.

[@ftra1987]

"I remember when the sugar beet train used to pass through Chatsworth on the coastline."

[@RailPreserver2K]

Do they still haul sugar beets by rail ?

[@martinsuter3531]

( For those of us here old enough to remember and with sincere apologies both to Plymouth and Sonny and Cher for this terrible pun!🤣🤣🤣) The beet does not go on! 😢😢😢

[@lanimulrepus]

So, where do the sugar beets go nowadays?

[@robertpurdy701]

Why does the short line #10 sound like it might have a steam whistle?

[@ryechaz]

It's a Hancock Air chime, SMV 70 tonners were equipped with them.

[@jackcurran1122]

I know Colorado produced sugar beets also but where does sugar beet production stand today 2024

[@Repairman87]

There is a large sugar beet plant in Scottsbluff Nebraska still going strong. Think there is one in Torrington Wyoming as well.

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Colorado produced beets near Greeley, Colorado! Today there is little to no production of the sugar beets. Cheaper sources of imported sugar are abound making it to expensive today and they require a ton of water and open land!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

My favourite pickled vegetable. Is none available in U.S. shops today? They are in UK. @@charlessmileyvideos

[@chaos0852]

I believe Michigan still produces sugar beets in the thumb area of southern Michigan. I still buy pickled beets in a local mercantile

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Thank you - all is well again ! @@chaos0852

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Destination "Betteravia" ? Named after 'bettrave', the French word for beetroot? PS Oops - I should have waited to ask, or just not asked . . .

[@charlessmileyvideos]

Yes, Betteravia was a fascinating place back in the day located near Santa Maria on SPs Coastline. French word for "Sugar Beets"!

[@BrooksMoses]

I'm glad you asked, because the video didn't say what the French word was or how it was spelled!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

Why replace cars if they were functioning well enough?

[@Musicman45612]

because they were hitting their 50 year replacement period. if what I read is correct they were getting extremely worn out.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

I took on board the 50-y-r-p but, if they were still capable of work, replace couplings, wheel-bearings and good to roll again. Why accept an arbitrary life period? @@Musicman45612

[@charlessmileyvideos]

True, when they hit the 50 year mark that is the end of service for railcars in the US. Unless they remain in work train or captive service!

[@Greatdome99]

FRA requires cars over 50 to be rebuilt and retested. All interchange cars with friction bearings (like these sugar beet gons) had to be retrofitted with roller bearings by 1994. As most sugar beet production left California due to increased water demand by urban areas, these old gons got scrapped just in time.

[@BrooksMoses]

And worth noting is that the interchange with the Santa Maria Valley Railroad meant that these cars were in interchange service, rather than captive service as they would have been had the processing plant been directly on the S.P.