California has had a long and illustrious railroad history and over the decades numerous railroads have operated throughout the state. Most of those lines have vanished off the face of the planet via mergers and bad fiscal planning yet many examples of their existence still litter the landscape of the golden state. Most of these locomotives and pieces of rolling stock have either been abandoned, stranded, lost, forgotten, or put on display in out of the way places where many railfans would never know to look for them.
Over the next few months I hope to shed some light on many of these "lost" trains throughout California.
One example of railroad rolling stock that is indeed "abandoned", "lost", "stranded" , and undoubtedly "forgotten" are what I have named "The Forgotten Pullmans of Orange". These two Pullman baggage cars that were converted into Santa Fe (ATSF) maintenance of way cars are hidden in plain site just off Glassell street in Orange, Ca nestled between Voit Technical Services and an industrial business complex.
The two rail cars in question are numbered "ATSF 194444" and "ATSF 198735" sit about fifty yards off the roadway on a set of tracks that are all but invisible to anyone driving down Glassell. The Voit complex has high hedges that run parallel to the tracks that literally hide the cars on one side though they can be viewed through a chain-link-fence at the industrial business center on the other.
Undoubtedly the Santa Fe, and the BNSF for that matter have forgotten these two items due to the mere fact that they have sat in this very location for at least two decades (I first discovered them in 1993). It would appear that these cars are indeed stranded forever due to the fact that the tracks that cross Glassell have been paved over and just beyond that a full-size tree has grown up between the rails across the street. Yet through some investigating I discovered that on the opposite end of the trackage is the Metrolink/BNSF main line. I don't know if the tracks are still connected, that would have required tresspassing to find out for certain, but I would assume that they are.
I would also assume that these two Pullmans will remain there for years to come. If they haven't been moved in twenty years then they probably won't be moved for twenty more right?
The "Forgotten Pullmans of Orange" can be found in Orange, Ca near the corner of Glassell (Kraemer Blvd) and Bristol on the south side of the street.
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