Skip to main content

Conejo, CA; ghost town on the rails

While looking at old maps of Fresno County I noticed several old rail siding towns along what was Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) line south of Fresno.  Most of the rail siding towns no longer exist or were just a collection of small residences, but one caught my eye with Conejo.


The rail siding Conejo is located at the junction of Conejo Avenue and Peach Avenue alongside what is now the BNSF tracks south of Fresno.  Conejo was established as a rail siding town of the ATSF when the line expanded into rural Fresno County in 1897.  Conejo was one of many rail siding towns the ATSF established south of Fresno, others would include; Oleander, Bowles, and Monmouth.  All rail ATSF rail sidings south of Fresno are shown as present on the 1911 map of Fresno County.

1911 Fresno County Map 

Rail siding towns were common along early rail lines which ran steam locomotives.  Steam locomotives required far more maintenance than modern diesel locomotives than modern diesel locomotives do.  Rail siding towns were often established as company towns with the sole purpose of serving locomotives running on a particular line.  By the 1930s diesel locomotives were becoming far more established which led to the decline to the rail siding town.  This is reflective on the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Fresno County which shows most of the ATSF much less prominently.

1935 Fresno County Highway Map

Oddly the ATSF rail siding towns in Fresno County largely still exist in some form or fashion.  Most have little to no evidence servicing steam locomotives but Conejo does.  As I approached Conejo eastbound on Conejo Avenue there was actually a train passing by.


As I was crossing the BNSF lines I was hoping the utility box displayed Conejo, CA but it only displayed Conejo Avenue.



Conejo isn't signed as a place anymore but the street grid is still present.  Topeka Avenue served as a Main Street for Conejo and runs along the tracks.


There is still a relic commercial building along Topeka Avenue which has a faded sign that reads "Gen Merchandise."  Conejo Apparently had a Post Office which was in operation until the early 1920s.


Topeka Avenue has a lot of old crates and various storage yards and is in really haggard shape.  Topeka Avenue ends at Peach Avenue.



Along Peach Avenue I spotted an old broken derelict truck and an abandoned home ready cave in.



There was even an old water tower at the junction of Conejo Avenue and Peach Avenue.  It's hard to believe that Conejo was probably once a bustling little town much like nearby Fowler and Selma.


Update 6/27/20:  I made a return to Conejo to what had become of the community since the High Speed Rail project was constructing an overpass through the former siding facility.  Suffice to say the difference seen along Topeka Avenue was quite substantial.





Comments

Dean Neighbors said…
I just found this story that you wrote in 2018. I lived in Conejo from 1949 to about 1953 (18 months old to 4 years old). Our little house was situated on 3 acres on topeka ave right on the junction of Peach Ave. There was a grocery store on the corner of Conejo and Peach owned and operated by a woman named Maggie Down. ....and there was a potato warehouse along the railroad siding. As far as I don't remember trains stopping in Conejo but they must have been stopping at the potato shed...I'll have to ask my older sister...she worked there as a teen. Loved your story, thanks. Regards, Dean Neighbors.

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Interstate 10S and the original Interstate 110 in California

Interstate 10S is a short spur of Interstate 10 along San Bernardino Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.  Interstate 10S begins at the Santa Ana Freeway (US Route 101) and extends east to Interstate 5 where it merges into mainline Interstate 10.  Interstate 10S is one of the oldest freeway segments in Los Angeles having been part of US Routes 60, 70 and 99 when it was part of the corridor of the Ramona Expressway.  The current corridor of Interstate 10S was assigned as Chargeable Corridor H following the passage of the 1956 Federal Highway Aid Act.  Interstate 110 was a short-lived designation which comprised the segment San Bernardino Freeway from US Route 101 to Interstate 5 between 1964-1968.  The original Interstate 110 was dropped as a Chargeable Corridor during 1965 and consolidated as Interstate 10S during 1968.   The original Interstate 110 can be seen as the blog cover photo as it was featured on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.  Below the entire 0.65-mile length of Interstate

Vicksburg Bridge (Vicksburg, MS)

  Located a few hundred feet downriver from the Old Vicksburg Bridge, the Vicksburg Bridge, or the “New” Bridge, serves as the city’s vehicular crossing of the Mississippi River on the main highway connecting Vicksburg with northeastern Louisiana to the west and the state capital of Jackson to the east. The completion of the original Vicksburg Bridge in 1930 was seen as a huge success and the bridge proved to be a profitable entity for both road and railroad interests along the path of the Dixie Overland Highway and the subsequent US Highway 80 corridor. In the years after the creation of the National Interstate Highway System, planning commenced on a new bridge at the site that would relieve the congestion on the existing bridge while providing for a more modern crossing of the river that would be safe for all vehicles. The construction of the new bridge at Vicksburg was completed in 1973 and its design intentionally mimics that of its predecessor nearby. This was due in large part