Located in Martinez, CA on the UP's Martinez Subdivision (aka "Cal-P"), Ozol is a former Southern Pacific rail yard used mainly for local industries around the Bay Area. There are several different locals, switch jobs, and two heavier mainline freights that work the yard each day. The yard itself is only a mile or two long and a couple of tracks wide.
The reason I decided to make this post is because Ozol is one of those places on the railroad that still seems somewhat untouched by the yellow borg and was once one of my favorite spots to take night shots at. The atmosphere was very chill. I never felt uncomfortable taking photos there at all and I'd be able to do my photography without being hassled by the "raildick" or any UP employee.
Daily, UP ran an Oakland to Roseville manifest (MOARV, they also ran an MRVOA) that worked Ozol yard each night. The train would usually be brought out to 34th st in Oakland by a robot, power would be added later into the day, and the train would usually depart anywhere from 7pm to 10pm. It was always nice because there would usually be some foamer out and about that would call and inform one of us of any special power in the consist for that day. If there was we were guaranteed shots if we drove the 20 miles to Martinez where the train worked at Ozol yard.
One really neat thing about Ozol is that it had the neatest yard office that immediately screamed SP the second you saw it. I heard that the yard office itself used to be at Port Costa when the ferry operations were still alive but after that died down, the building was taken apart and put into a gondola and rebuilt where it stood at Ozol yard. Although the building was of SP heritage and looked very cool, it was also very old. The building had to have been at least 60 or 70 years old when UP decided that it was time for something new. Ive heard several stories about the place. Whenever a heavy train would pass through, the entire building would shake vigorously. During heavy rain seasons sometimes the building would flood and mice would climb onto whatever solid object they could find floating on the floor to stay alive. It was in bad shape. In 2007 UP brought in a portable building that makes ones eyes sore compared to the SP office that was eventually torn down on March 26th, 2008. Several of us knew that the building wouldn't last very much longer through inside sources so a couple of us went there 3 or 4 nights in a row, including the last night it stood.
I haven't been back to Ozol since March 26th, 2008 but I think its safe to say that the place isn't the same with that office gone.
3 comments:
Great Job Alex. I'll look for some software which might make it easier to maintain the site. Hope all is well with the B/W film in the lab. Take Care
Brad "RedZone" Paulus
That was a great building. SomethingI used to always enjoy was that when you looked at it from high up on a switch engine, you could see the all the dead batteries glvoes and glasses that switchmen had launched up on the roof. You can see them in your photo, too. The new building looks like an oversized external hard drive or an air conditioner. It's hideous. Ah well, rest in peace Ozol.
I use to visit this yard all the time living in Martinez. It was the early 90s with my dad and they had an old Jeep there as a switcher. Even as a kid I really liked the old high nose engines. But they let my dad and I go inside, let me look around and even sit in the drivers seat. I'll never forget that moment and I don't think anything like that will happen today. Thank you so much for sharing.
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