The Santa Fe Railroad tugboats were used by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to barge rail cars across the San Francisco Bay for much of the 20th century, as there is no direct rail link to the San Francisco peninsula. In the post World War II period, a fleet of three tugs moved the barges: the Paul P. Hastings, the Edward J. Engel, and the John R. Hayden. After cross-bay float service had ended and the tugs had been sold, the Hastings sank off Point Arena, California in 1992, in water too deep to raise. The Engel sank off Alameda, California in 2007 and was raised and scrapped in the winter of 2013-14. The Hayden remains afloat and in service in Oregon.
Background The Santa Fe Railroad tracks only went as far west as Oakland, California. (The Southern Pacific Railroad had a line on the San Francisco Peninsula from San Jose, but blocked the Santa Fe from access.) Santa Fe did have some isolated tracks in the city of San Francisco. To connect to them from Oakland, Santa Fe used a fleet of tugs and barges to move freight across the San Francisco Bay. This service began in 1900 and continued until 1984.
Various cargo was carried by the float service. The railcar barges held fourteen railcars. Some of the railcars were chlorine tankers bound for the water treatment plant. Another cargo was Kessler Whiskey for the Seagram’s facility in South San Francisco. In a famous incident a whiskey tanker was among cars that rolled off the barge in mid-bay during foul weather. Another cargo was box cars of newsprint for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Transportation patterns changed with time. Piggy-back truck service increased as direct railcar service declined. The Chronicle at the urging of the railroadPer Riff on Trainorders.COM July 2, 2005 switched to piggy-back truck delivery. As the use of the cross-bay float service declined Santa Fe reduced the tug fleet. The Engel was sold in 1969, and the Hayden was sold in 1976. The Hastings continued as the only tug until 1984. On May 4, 1984, a fire at the Richmond ferry slip killed cross-bay float service, and the Hastings was sold.
Barge routes There were many routes across the bay over the years. At the height of freight ferry operations, Santa Fe tugs and barges called at many slips around the bay. A slip at the foot of Alice St. in Oakland served isolated Santa Fe industrial trackage. Across the Oakland estuary, a slip at the foot of Sherman St. in Alameda, California, where short line Alameda Belt Line (owned half and half by Western Pacific Railroad and the Santa Fe Railroad) received cars from its parent roads. This slip was abandoned around 1970, and thereafter, Southern Pacific Railroad delivered Alameda Belt Line cars via their Fruitvale lift bridge in Oakland. Santa Fe tugs also served the State Belt Railroad's slip at Pier 43 in San Francisco, and the Northwestern Pacific Railroad's slip at Tiburon in Marin County.Routing history from Evan Werkema, an active Trainorder.COM member
The final route for the cross-bay service went from the ferry slip in Richmond, California on the east side of the bay to China Basin on the west side of the bay. China Basin is on the San Francisco Peninsula just south of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The voyage usually took about an hour and twenty minutes each way.Transit details from the caption to the March page of the 1991 McMillan Publications Santa Fe Railroad Calendar
History of the tugboat fleet
Before World War II Prior to the end of World War II there were five tugs used on San Francisco Bay at various times:List of pre-war tugs from Valley Division Vignettes, Krieger and Icanberry, 1983
Richmond, built new for the Santa Fe by Fulton Iron Works in 1899. Sold to Crowley Tugboat Company in December 1925.Santa Fe Valuation Records-Account 56, Floating Equipment, Live List, July 1, 1916 – December 31, 1927, Scholtz Collection, Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum A.H. Payson, built new for the Santa Fe in 1902 by Boole & Sons, Oakland CA. She remained in Santa Fe service its entire life, retired in 1948 and was sold for scrap in 1950. E.P. Ripley, built new for the Santa Fe in 1907 by Kruse & Banks, North Bend OR, also sold for scrap in 1950. Ripley was president of the railroad from 1896-1920. W.B. Storey, built in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1919 as Basford by Bethlehem Steel, was purchased used by the Santa Fe in August 1923.Santa Fe Valuation Records-Account 56, Floating Equipment, Live List, Jan 1, 1928 to __, Scholtz Collection, Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum It was used for 25 years, then laid up for parts, the remains sold for scrap in 1966. Storey was president of the railroad from 1920-1933. A.G. Wells, built at Superior, Wisconsin as Hukey in 1919, was purchased used by the Santa Fe in September 1925. She was commandeered by the U.S. Government in 1943 and not returned.
After World War II All three postwar tugs had steel hulls and entered service powered by a steam engine driving a single screw. In the mid-1960s the Hastings and Hayden were dieselized, but the Engel never was.
Edward J. Engel Santa Fe contracted with Consolidated Steel at Newport Beach, CA to construct a new "streamlined" tug. Launched in May 1945 Engle served till the late '60s. Edward J. Engel, the namesake of the Engle, was the president of the railroad from 1939 to 1944.
During World War II the US Army had many tugboats built. As the war concluded Santa Fe acquired two of the LT (Large Tug) vessels for use in its cross-bay float service and another was built directly for them. All were named after prominent persons in the railroad:
Paul P. Hastings, named after the VP of Traffic for the railroad at the time of his retirement in 1941. Hastings was the brother of Milo Hastings and grandson of Pardee Butler. John R. Hayden, named after the assistant to Mr. Engel.
Paul P. Hastings
The tugboat Paul P. Hastings was built in 1945 at Point Pleasant, West Virginia by the Marietta Manufacturing Co. as hull number 530 for the United States Army. The original name was LT 814 (LT the designation meaning "Large Tugboat"). She had a single screw powered by a three-cylinder Skinner Uniflow steam engine of served by twin Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers. Dimensions were long, in breadth, deep, a tonnage of , and .Original power plant description from William Lafferty, Wright State University
On February 11, 1948, she was soldOwnership and name changes from the Abstract of Title to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Co. of San Francisco and renamed A.T.&S.F. No. 8, VIN D256253, Call Sign WD9219. She was later renamed the Paul P. Hastings, in honor of Paul P. Hastings, the vice-president of traffic for the railroad, who died in 1947.
In 1964 the vessel was dieselized at the Todd Shipyard in Alameda, California with a General Motors 567C EMD F-7 engine.
The Paul P. Hastings had the longest period of service of the three post-war tugs: 36 years from 1948 until the railroad discontinued service in 1984. By the end she was the sole remnant of the tug fleet.
The Paul P. Hastings was sold and eventually became owned by Robert Whipple of American Navigation (AmNav), a company still doing business in the Bay area. The Abstract of Title shows Levin Metals Corp., a scrap dealer, as an intermediate owner starting at an unspecified date with Whipple taking title on February 26, 1991. The vessel was renamed Terminator. One sourceCaptain Myron Balchin Sr. of San Diego CA says the tug sat unused for years. In about 1991 Whipple, who had a reputationPer Lance Romance in Yahoo Tugboats Group, Dec 19, 2007 for added huge amounts of horsepower to old tugs, added two additional diesel engines. The tug was not inspected by the United States Coast Guard after the engines were added.So stated in the Marine Causality Report
The first job for the upgraded tug was to assist the Dock Express 20, a multi-purpose vessel of Dutch registry owned by Dock-Express Shipping B.V,Dock-Express is now part of Dockwise in laying a fiber cable off Point Arena, California. Point Arena is north of San Francisco about and is the closest point on the west coast of the continental United States to Japan, hence is the landing point for many trans-Pacific cables.
The Terminator became a victim of a marine casualty: she sank. Details of the sinking are found in the US Coast Guard Marine Casualty investigation MC93011836 and Marine Violation investigation MV92003258.
Late in the day of Monday, January 27, 1992, the vessels were about off the coast of California just north of Point Arena at N39°9.0', W124°10.5'. The weather was ugly: swell height was and increasing, wind speed was . Trouble started when a two-inch cable parted at the Sampson braid and the Terminator had to approach the Dock Express 20. It was now a little after 6 pm in deepening twilight (sunset was 5:31 pm).
Shortly after completing her approach to abeam of the Dock Express 20, Terminator lost the use of the center engine. The operator attempted to use the port and starboard engines in a twisting fashion to maneuver the vessel out of danger. Then the starboard engine tripped off-line leaving the Terminator with only one of three engines operating. Attempts to restart the starboard engine failed. The high seas were abeam (perpendicular) to the vessel and pushed her into the protruding sponson (a structure on the side of the ship) of the Dock Express 20, who was restricted in her ability to maneuver as a result of her cable laying operation and because of its size was much less affected by the seas. When the vessels collided the Terminator was coming down off the crest of a swell, while the Dock Express 20 was surging upwards from another wave.
The impact created a hole, estimated at in diameter, in the Terminators aft lazarette area (a storage space between decks). The incoming water flooded the shaft alley. The watertight door between the shaft alley and main engine compartment was permanently affixed open. A cutting torch was needed before the door could be secured. This process took 20 minutes and only slowed the water coming into the engine room. Pumps to de-water the vessel operated only intermittently. There was no eductor (a type of water pump). The aft peak tank and bilge were filled with concrete (presumably for stability) and this extra weight could not be shifted to another area of the vessel from where the vessel was taking on water.
With the ship starting to sink the order to abandon ship was given about an hour after the collision. After 15 minutes only the bow was visible and after another 10 minutes, the vessel was completely underwater. All crew members entered the life raft and were picked up an hour later by the Craig Foss, a nearby tug which was diverted to assist. The Terminator sank in . About of diesel fuel onboard spilled creating a light sheen in the vicinity which dissipated in a few days without cleanup. The vessel owner, Whipple, was fined $2,100 for the oil spill.
Edward J. Engel
The Engel was built in 1945 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company by Consolidated Steel Corporation as hull number 1320.
The Engel had a single screw and a steel hull of dimensions 141.5×29×12.7 ft (43.1×8.8×3.9 m). She was powered by a three-cylinder Skinner Uniflow steam engine, 25 x 20, Babcock & Wilcox water tube boiler, with a heating surface, which provided working pressure. She retained this steam power plant at the time of her sinking in 2007. Her sister tugs were built with steam and later dieselized. Her VIN number was 248085.