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Bay Area Wigwags |
Pittsburg |
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As of December, 2004, there are no active wigwags in the immediate San
Francisco Bay Area.
With the deactivation of the two Point Richmond wigwags on December 13th, 2004, the closest wigwags to the Bay Area are in Santa Cruz (not counting museums such as the Niles Canyon Railway). |
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Note:
As of 12/13/04, these wigwags are now on display only. BNSF deactivated them after installing new crossing gates. For more info, check out this page that has the complete history of the battle between the City of Richmond and BNSF. Follow the 2018 restoration of the Point Richmond wigwags at this page |
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1983 Point Richmond wigwags as they appeared in 1983. Notice the broken up planter box held together with cable. |
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1999
South wigwag as it appeared on 4/5/99. Note north wigwag in background. |
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2000
Alan Reed sends in this update. Note how the planter boxes have been repainted and striped. I hear BNSF is still trying to replace these with crossing gates and cantilevers. The City of Richmond is fighting this as they do not want these wigwags to be removed. (8/12/00) |
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View a TV news report on these wigwags from 2003.
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Detail photos of Pt. Richmond wigwags from 1999
Photo by David Epling (4/00)
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David
Epling captured this image on 4/9/00. It protected an entrance to the US
Steel/Posco plant at the end of Columbia St. and the BNSF main. This is
a private crossing, as the public portion ends about 100 feet before the
crossing. There is a chain link gate about where David was standing to take
this picture.
As far as I can tell, this was one of the very last "model 10" (ATSF style lower quadrant, with "L-bar" cantilever instead of flat iron ) wigwags in service at the time. This type was the most common style used by Santa Fe in California. There are a few other former Santa Fe wigwags still around, like the 3 in Lindsay . |
Photo by Dan Furtado (4/00)
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(4/9/99) 11/24/99
