On HALF MOON BAY TRESTLE….?

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John Vonderlin to Angelo Misthos

Hi Angelo,

June thinks the attached photo is of the Pilarcitos OSR trestle. Any thoughts? Is that a double-tracked trestle? I seem to remember they had that and electrification as part of their plan. I researched Mr. McFarland and was amazed by his obsessive love of trains. A lot of it is covered in an Archived description of his collection when it was sold a few years ago. Fascinating stuff. I’ve attached a ScreenShot of the website. Enjoy.

Email John: [email protected]

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Angelo Misthos to John Vonderlin

Hello, John.  Re June’s  Pilarcitos trestle  photo attachment and your question whether it was double-tracked.  I’m relying mainly on Jack Wagner’s  THE LAST WHISTLE.  Pg. 35 shows a double-tracked OS overpass crossing  the SP line in San Francisco, though rails were  installed only on one side.  I know of no other place where the OS had built any double track trestle except possibly the southern division  where the OS had built trestles for two tracks and the S.P.’s Coastline Railway one, and those were later filled in to afford three track fills.  But of course  the money squeeze caused by the 1906 earthquake put the kibosh on the OS’s plans for double-tracking.  Per Wagner’s list of trestles in the appendix the one at McNee was the next one north, shown on Pg. 120.   I remember that trestle just as depicted, immediately south of the Montara station and west of the then highway.  Note the similarity of the heavy multiple  horizontal timbers to that of the one on the Pilarcitos trestle.  I have no doubt that the Pilarcitos trestle was also single-tracked.  The McNee trestle was removed when the highway was widened.  Hope this helps.  Angelo

His 57th: Say Happy Birthday to Michael Wong!

MW

[Image above: Michael Wong with the Beatles at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art MOMA.)

Deb Wong explains:

Thinking about how much fun we had on our day off Monday at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, with friends. I am a 5th generation native San Franciscan, but behave like a hick-from-the-sticks tourist whenever I visit my birth city. Shows we saw were Ansel Adams (Michael’s inspiration to become a photographer), Georgia O’Keefe and Richard Avedon–for starters. it was great to see my artist heroes’ works (Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollack, Marcel DuChamp, Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Diego Rivera and many others (!)–in addition to the multitude of famous faces in portraits that Avedon so meticulously shot. I read the bios of these artists, so told Michael about some of them, as we went through the collections. Michael didn’t know what the photo of the scarred Andy Warhol’s body was, and I told him the story about the shooting, and how Avedon convinced Andy to pose for him. In the above photo, Michael is posing with the Beatles.

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On Deb Wong’s work to be exhibited at the “25th Avenue Gallery” in San Mateo.

O.k., to cheer you up – I probably mentioned the art show I will be in next year at the 25th Avenue Gallery in San Mateo. It will be the first time that my stuff will be featured in a show (along with one other artist, Kendra Davis).  We are calling it “Characters and Caricatures”, and it will all be fun, upbeat, and whimsical – nothing too deep here. We want to put smiles on viewer’s faces.  Kendra’s photos mostly feature animals, and a lot of mine do, too.  Hers are photographs, mine are my digital creations. Kendra has a great sense of humor, I love her photos.  We have framed all of the ones that will be in the show.   I have attached a couple samples of mine to this mail. One is called: “Playing the Garden”, the other is “The Day the Cow Jumped Over the Moon, and Hit a Snag.”  Just for fun.  I have 15 others, and am working on more. Since the show isn’t until May 2010, I have plenty of time to create more.
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