Junction Ave School ~ late 1970s, East 1st 1970s

Junction Ave. School, Livermore, California in the late 1970s or later, looking north.. Junction Ave. angles from the left towards the bottom, crossing the railroad tracks, and ending at Old 1st Street. There are two sets of railroad tracks, with the upper (north) being the WP and the lower being the realigned SP.  1st Street can be seen in the very bottom right corner, running about where the SP tracks had originally been.  The 1st St. realignment occurred sometime after 1976.  The railroad crossing markings on Junction look freshly painted.  It is difficult to see, but it looks like Old First Street is blocked at the railroad tracks.
 

Aerial view of Livermore, looking west, about 1976. Junction Ave. School is in the center. First Street (prior to being moved) comes in from the right center going toward the upper left.  The railroad tracks dominate this picture.

It is likely that this photo was taken while the SP tracks were being realigned.  The original route of the SP tracks is on the left, coming straight across from the left to the bottom.  The WP tracks are the right most set, curving before coming across first street.  Another set of tracks can be seen along side the WP tracks at the top, but then going along side the SP tracks at the bottom, with 3 hopper cars on the tracks.  This set looks new compared to the others, and is most likely the realigned SP tracks.  There are two parallel tracks on the old SP line, one of which abruptly ends where the new track comes in, with no visible safety bumper.  Presumably the new track connects into one set of the old tracks.  This later drops down into 1 track below this picture.  The hopper cars sitting on the new track indicates that they may not have switched the main line onto the new alignment yet.  The hopper cars may be carrying ballast for the rails.

When east 1st Street was realigned, it followed the SP tracks from the left where the bridge rises, curving toward the north and crosses over the tracks in about the middle of the picture vertically, then curing back into the original 1st Street on the right.  The building on the far right on 1st St. still remains.  It has had a variety of uses including a skating rink, indoor soccer, restaurant, and it is now a sports bar.

What is 1st St. in this picture on the right side is now Gardella.  There is a gap at the tracks, and it is Old 1st St. on the left.

The current UP railroad tracks are mostly on the WP line, except in this area, where they follow the newly laid SP tracks.  They follow the SP route for about a mile before rejoining the WP alignment where the tracks used to cross each other (about a half mile west of Mines Road).

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