LA

Based on the research done by a friend modeling the ATSF Surf Line (LA-San Diego).  SB was primarily the general freight yard and LA was primarily the perishable and hot shot yard.

If its a general freight car it goes to SB, if its a auto parts car or a reefer it goes to LA.

LA was also the interchange with the SP.  A car going to WA might be routed via the SP, so it would go to LA.  A car going to TX might be routed via the SP, in which case it would go to LA.  If its a plain old boxcar going to Beaumont, TX via the ATSF, it will go to SB.

As far as the 2nd or 3rd district.  Don't know that. But the railroad will try to minimize handling the cars.  What would the railroad do with a car going to SB that originated at the location where the local terminates?  I assume that the local terminates at 1st St Yard.  What does 1st St Yard do with a SB car that comes of a source other than the local?  Does the yard put all of its SB cars on the local and let it haul them back or does it run a transfer to SB or does it run a transfer to some other yard?  The local doesn't "own" the SB cars it brings into its terminating yard, they can fold into whatever plan that yard has for those cars.

" Does the yard put all of

  Some photos of the locals in action might help. If there was enough traffic for a transfer run then the locals might be shorter? A long local might indicate transfer traffic tacked on the rear? Seems like that would have been a pretty busy area in the loose car railroading era so maybe numerous extras not timetabled? ....DaveB 

Thank you both!As far as i

Thank you both!

As far as i know from my research in LA Division ops (post 1950), SB must have handled all/most perishables for the 2nd district since all loads of perishables were destined for SB, with either in-season turns out of SB or special fruit-pickup trains from LA to SB (or the EB locals).

The said questions in my opening post are based on the fact that in the current layout, i got a brewery and a fruit packing house* that are served by the WB local due to the orientation of their spurs/turnouts. I am wondering if it made sense for the loaded cars that are picked up by the said WB local to go to LA and then return to SB the next day, or if it made more sense IF the WB had not yet met with the EB, to leave them off-spot so that the EB can bring them to SB on the same day without delays.

Dave (Husman) many thanks for the pointers on the yards for the back-hauls as well as the interchanges. If a car is going via the SP/UP somewhere, it will be via LA. I understand that the choice of 2nd or 3rd district for the back-haul can also depend on the length of the resulting local (sidings on the 2nd district were rather short). Would back-hauls  have lower priority than other cars?

DaveB, i saw reefers on both the WB and the EB locals. On the WB one, i saw a reefer with open hatches and a few with closed ones. I don't think locals would be longer than 20-30 cars based on the siding length at Pasadena.

 "If a car is going via the

Keep in mind  that Santa Fe would want to maximize it's haul mileage so east bound freight would probably stay on the home rails and north bound likely would go via Stockton then to the WP for points north via the inside gateway? Some research might be needed to find out how much the SP and ATSF interchanged at that LA location......DaveB

Thanks DaveB, point taken!

I got a great book on the LA division but i don't think i have seen such info on the amount interchanged.

I know that the 1st street yard slowly declined in ops (not used after 1971/2). Hobart was used instead.

True that there was a scheduled ATSF freight with WP up to the Pacific North-West, as you mentioned!

There was also a scheduled daily ATSF freight between LA and SB via the 3rd district, so maybe some of the cars i mentioned in my example, were hauled on this in order to go E/N/SE via the ATSF.