Remembering.... 1973 Roseville Train Blasts -
RUN!
Moving to Roseville California from the Bay area in 1972-73 school year was like stepping back a decade or two in time out to the country. We moved to PFE road next to the railroad yard into a small shack of a house with our uncle and father and went to the smallest school ever. Dry Creek school was a Kindergarten through 8th grade elementary school at that time. It was way out in the rural back roads, southwest of Roseville.
The school was so small, That the 7th and 8th grade students were all in the same classroom and the teacher, Mr. Anderson I believe was his name, was also the school Principal. We were the new kids (me and my twin brother Todd) and so it took us a few weeks or so to make friends especially when most of the other students all grew up together. We soon made friends and fit into this new lifestyle without too much trouble.
Anyone who lived in the Roseville/Antelope/Sacramento area back in the early 70’s will remember the Bombs!
Yes the big blasts that shook everything for miles away and blew up railroad cars and leveled homes and a few hundred other things. It made national headlines.
-On April 28, 1973, Antelope consisted of a post office, general store and a half-dozen homes - a place hardly worthy of notice. However, at 8:03 a.m., a rail car loaded with aircraft bombs exploded in the southern part of the Roseville switch yard destroying the general store and damaging most of the homes.-
I remember that day as if it were yesterday and waking up and thinking who in the hell is shooting a shotgun this early in the morning? And very close to our little shack of a house and scaring all the farm animals my father accumulated from Denio’s auction. I was a sound sleeper back then and almost nothing woke me up that early but after the 4th or 5th blast I remember waking up and going outside and my father was looking up into the sky. And then BOOM! Another Blast scared the crap out of me and then I saw it! The HUGE stadium size Mushroom of a Cloud in the air and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
The neighbor’s dog who always growled at us came running into our house for cover. Another blast shook the house and cracked a window. Just then a CHP officer turns into our driveway and steps halfway out of his patrol car and shouts for us to Evacuate Immediately! We had barely enough time to get our shoes on when he shouted again that we needed to leave now because their might be poisonous gases in the air. Train parts weighing as much as 95Lbs or more flew hundreds of yards in the air. Some of the trains pieces landed in yards and on houses and vehicles as far as half a mile away.
In as little as a few hours, 18 boxcars exploded in succession. There were no fatalities, but 48 people were injured and property damage totaled $24 Million.
Some of my classmates lived at ground zero and their houses were either gone, (nothing but ashes) or un inhabitable when it was all over. A few of my classmates were injured from the blast that shattered glass windows and debris at them. Most of the families who lived closest to the tracks had to find other places to live. Our school was closed for a week or two to check for gas leaks etc. Antelope was changed forever after that day. What a day that was!
Oh ya I have to tell you about the train yard 30 years or so later at that same spot of the original blasts. when they were remodeling, and digging up the old railroad tracks to reconfigure the new switching yard, they found unexploded bombs buried at that same location. They called in Bomb experts and it was decided to detonate the remaining bombs right there underground where they were at. Now check this out, they had arranged to televise this demolition of the discovered old bombs live on the local news stations at approximately 9:30pm at night one evening. I lived in Rocklin at the time which was the next town north of Roseville and about five miles away from that location. So I’m sitting in my chair watching the countdown on Live TV! 321….. and I see the Ground rise where they detonated the bombs and about 5 seconds later my house rumbled and the windows shook and I felt it while sitting in my Chair! Dude’s and Duddette’s, that was awesome!!!!
Well that’s a wrap on this blog, thanks for being here and hope you enjoyed this One Time Ago… true story
There’s more like this one coming to a blog near you, I just wished I could remember them in Chronological order?
Thank you for visiting and keep checking back for more true stories like this one!
What a small world,I used to live on Q st not to far from where you lived in good old Rio Linda. I went to drycreek elementary school on g st. off drycreek rd. who knows we might have ran into each other in crossing back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI lived off Van Maren and Antelope, went to Lichen Elementary, then to Sylvan Jr High. I remember that all too well. Our front door jammed shut my dad and I climbed on the roof and almost fell off when the next bomb blew. We had to stay at San Juan High gym till all clear. There were no homes between Lichen elementary and the tracks. every kid in town was looking for bomb pieces, that we were told not to touch. My parents still have copies of all the papers that have articles about it
ReplyDeleteI remember those bombs going off. I lived on Gilman way in North Highlands right down the track from there. What a trip!
ReplyDeleteI lived on Worthington Dr. in North Highlands, which is just a few miles down from Roseville. I remember that day quite well. I woke up late, and no one was in our house. I walked around wondering where everyone was, then I noticed the front door shaking for a couple seconds, and then again about 10 seconds later. I thought someone was trying to get in the house. I ran out through the garage and noticed everyone was out in the street looking towards Roseville. That's when I first heard the bombs going off and saw the mushroom clouds in the distance.
ReplyDeleteyep - I was in 4-H and we had our first off the leash county competition at Citrus Heights scheduled for that day. I told dad that man there are way too many sonic booms today I wonder what is going on. Remember we had Mather, McClellan and Beale so there were F-111, F-4 and the SR-71 rocking once or twice a month - man I miss a good sonic boom. it wasn't until about 10 that we in Fair Oaks found out what a was going on. And the 4-H competition was going to bring us closer to Roseville. Nice. Needless to say the animals were nervous and jerky and the judges made us compete with leashes.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think they then unloaded those bombs and then drove them to the airbases - ah simpler times.
We lived off Illinois Ave in Orangevale and it rocked our house.
ReplyDeleteI was 4 and lived less than a mile from the site. Lichen Drive and it was terrifying seeing burning medal flying through the air at that age. It cracked our walls, blew out windows and I believe it killed our parakeet. Definitely a scary time in NorCAl history. We all thought we were being attacked.
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