One day in 1959, I was driving by Santa Fe’s main line tracks in Buena Park, California, and noticed a small wooden station there. I drove by there a couple of months later, and the station was gone. This started me thinking; “Hmm, these things seem to be vanishing just like steam locomotives did.”
This led to my photographing stations when I encountered them, but in time my focus narrowed to Santa Fe’s stations, due to their wide variety of sizes and architectural styles. I eventually found a few other railfans, (especially Joe McMillan), with the same interest.
I’d planned to select station photos from all over the Santa Fe system, but I found there was remarkable variety just in the 129.5 miles of main line between San Diego and Los Angeles. Here are a few.
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Gordon Glattenberg – Photographs and text Copyright 2018
Good philosophy, there are no assurances for how long many items will be available to us.
I grew up in this territory and time frame, watching the Pacific Electric diesel-led trains on the Watts – Santa Ana branch, and hearing the steam whistles of Knotts Berry Farm wafting in on favorable Santa Ana breezes. Thank you for creating these images of places I missed.
A nice collection of images that will serve future generations well. The images of Hobart appealed – it’s my home town, but Hobart, Australia. Unlike the Californian Hobart, my city has the distinction of being the only capital in Australia to get rid of suburban trains, then passenger trains altogether, then the station (part of it has been re-used) and more recently freight trains as well – banished to the outer northern boundary. Long may the Californian Hobart reverberate with the sounds of the railway!