(rshsdepot) Historic rail tower imperiled (San Jose, CA)

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Historic rail tower imperiled

By Michael Cronk
San Jose Mercury News

A relic of American rail travel in the steam age soon may vanish from the
horizon in San Jose -- and the prospect saddens some rail buffs.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority plans to demolish the
historic Southern Pacific water tower at Diridon Station on Cahill Street. A
public meeting on the plan is scheduled for Tuesday.

The tower, capped with a 55,000-gallon-capacity steel tank, was built in
1935 and is a ``contributing'' structure of the old railroad depot, which is
listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The 48-foot-tall, steel-legged tower-tank, a standard design once used by
Southern Pacific throughout its rail system, stands on the future tracks of
the Vasona Light Rail Project, which is on budget and scheduled for
completion in 2006.

The tank, which is 19 1/2 feet tall and 24 feet in diameter, has been out of
service for many years. Water towers once refreshed steam locomotives, but
when diesel-power engines took over, they were no longer needed.

Earlier plans to disassemble the tower-tank and eventually rebuild it
nearby -- agreed to by VTA, the Federal Transit Administration and the
California Office of Historic Preservation -- changed after the tower and
tank were inspected. A VTA feasibility study determined that considerable
repair and strengthening would be needed on the corroding structure and
estimated the cost at between $235,000 and $250,000.

Some rail buffs are likely to call for the tower's preservation.

Clarence Caesar of the state historic preservation office said Friday that
the agency won't comment on the issue until after the public meeting is held
in San Jose.

But Kyle Williams Wyatt, curator of technology for the California State
Railroad Museum in Sacramento, said towers like the Diridon structure are a
vanishing breed.

Half a century ago, water towers dotted train tracks up and down California.

``At one time they were very common,'' he said. ``But most, over the years,
have been removed. There are a few other examples of steel-legged towers, a
handful perhaps, along the former Southern Pacific lines.

``There are two reasons things get saved,'' Williams Wyatt said. ``The most
common reason is that they're not common; they're unique, an exception. The
other reason is that they were very common at one time and no longer are.''

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

The public hearing is scheduled Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the San Jose
Fire Training Center, North-South Classroom, at 255 S. Montgomery St. For
more information, call VTA Community Outreach at (408) 321-7575 or e-mail
community.outreach_@_vta.org, or log on to www.vta.org.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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