ATSF LA "the patch" my version

[porthos]

I was working in the area of the "patch" by 1976. I wasn't into trains at that time, but my memory seems to be that most of the industries in the area were gone by that time and in fact more of the warehouses in that area were vacant or abandoned than were active. Most freight that moved in and out of that area in the 1970's was moved by truck. When Reinhard was visiting here a couple of months ago he, Andy Jackson, and I drove around that area. So much of the track is covered or removed that it is difficult to even figure out where the rails once went, and I can't remember it being a lot different when I was working there in the 1970's. I think the area may have started into decline in the late 1950's with the advent of the interstate highway system when the trucking industry took away so much of the railroad business. At about that same time, the companies that were still in business started moving out to Ontario, Fontana, and Riverside and San Bernardino Counties where there was a lot of vacant land available to build bigger warehouses.

I'm not really concerned with the level of actual activity in the are during the time period I picked. Its more a time that allows me to use equipment that I like in the modern area as opposed to my turn of the century steam railroad. My roster of freight cars is really what will determine the level of activity in the area. What I really want to do is get in there and model a very gritty urban scene something completely different from my mountainous Colorado based railroad.