It’s rumored that the Seal Beach operation may be shutting down.
Does anyone on the list know a Navy officer? (I used to but lost touch with him.)
The reason I ask, is because it seems to me that the Navy would probably enjoy having a railfan outing if this whole thing is shutting down. The problem is if you ask the wrong person they’ll just shut you down. We would have to get to someone substantial who sees the public relations benefit in a goodbye to Seal Beach operation.
I just don’t have the right contacts any more (but I am a professional writer, so if someone does and wants me to write up the query, I’d be happy to do that).
I’ll be going that way in a couple of weeks will stop by and see what I can find out. Have spent several days there loading munitions onboard ship before WestPac cruises many years ago. But still don’t forget the work involved in loading ship. Remember the Navy battleship grey switchers with the silver painted boxcars bringing the munitions to the ship.
I can’t offer much help on this–the last indirect contact I had there (a civilian) moved to a new job out at Norco–but would sure get in line to buy a ticket. For five years in the 1970s, my home was just east of Bolsa Chica Rd., and I used to look for switching activity while commuting through there on the way to Long Beach.
If this rail operation closes, it will probably eliminate all the trackage back to UP’s north-south Huntington Beach branch. Arnie’s Trains of Westminster would no longer be properly located next to a 1:1 scale line.