OY Rotary Trip - 4, The first day

Hi, After picking me up at the Ontario Airport about noon friend Dave Busse and I headed east. The plan was to spend the next 2 1/2 days photographing BNSF as we worked our way across California and Arizona, and 1/2 way across New Mexico.

Our first night would be spent in Needles, CA. A few weeks before I the trip I realized friends, Jim Kleeman, Jay Kleeman and Dwayne Litzenberger would be in the same general area at this time so we arranged to meet for dinner, a nice bonus.

Our first stop was in Ludlow, CA where we chose a location just west of town. Typical of the transcon there were plenty of trains. After a couple of east bounds (above and below) and

a westbound (above and below) we continued east.

Our second and final location of the day was Essex, CA where we got our kicks on the Historic Rte 66 bridge over the tracks. The train above is westbound.

It met an eastbound west of the bridge.

The DPU provided a nice glinty shot to end the day. Thanks for looking.

San Francisco - 4

Hi, This is the final San Francisco post and will consist of a few final SP photos and then some Amtrak images. All of the images were shot in the East Bay area.

In the early Amtrak years SP provided yard switching in Oakland.  Here an Alco S-6 was assigned to this task on the day I visited.

The structure at right was all that remained of the former Sacramento Northern Oakland Station.  I think it was severely damaged in the 1989 earthquake and demolished shortly thereafter.

An SW-1500 (note the road trucks), a U-Boat and a geep were at the sanding towers.

An Amtrak E Unit, an SP F unit (probably an FP7) and a switcher were at the engine house.

An early Amtrak version of the San Francisco Zephyr headed eastbound at Port Costa along the Carquinez Straits.

A later version of the same train was westbound at Crockett.

A westbound San Joaquin skimmed along San Pablo Bay at Pinole.

An eastbound California Zephyr was at Hercules along San Pablo Bay.

As seen from the toll plaza of the I-680 bridge the eastbound California Zephyr crossed the Carquinez straits from Martinez to Benicia.

Thanks for looking.

San Francisco - 3

Hi, This blog is devoted to SP operations on the Peninsula, as it is known, south of San Francisco. I have arranged the images in somewhat of a chronological order.

First up a is an FM H-24-66 "Trainmaster" leading 3 Harriman coaches past the tower at the entrance to the now gone 3rd and Townsend terminal.  The terminal was moved to 4th and Townsend a number of years ago.  At the time these photos were taken, in the early 70s, only commuter trains used the station.

After the passengers left the train a terminal switcher pulled the coaches to the coach yard for servicing and the road engine backed out and headed for the engine servicing area.

Geeps also were used on commuter trains at this time although their power was insufficient to handle the longer trains.

Here are a couple of rush out trains further south on the peninsula and

and an off peak train.

These Alcos, an RS-32 and an S-4, were photographed at the former Bayshore Yard just south of the San Francisco city line in February 1974.

I believe the final group of photos was taken one afternoon in the late 1970s.  The Trainmasters were replaced in 1974 by 10 SDP45s originally purchased for long distance passenger service and made available when Amtrak no longer needed them, and 3 GP40P-2s purchased in 1974.  All of the photos were taken in Brisbane, CA north of the Brisbane Lagoon and then

along side it.

One of the GP40P-2s was painted for the Bicentennial.

Thanks for looking.

San Francisco - 2

Hi, Ruthe and I made our first visit to California in 1970. While there I took a few hours to go from Vallejo, where we were staying with friends, to Oakland to photograph the arrival of the California Zephyr and to Richmond to catch the departure of the San Francisco Chief (see below)
.

In 1981 I was in the Bay Area with three friends.  We had started in Portland, OR and chased the first run of ex-SP #4449 down to Sacramento for the opening of the California State Railway Museum.  While in the area we caught two trains climbing eastbound through Altamont Pass.

This is the second train.

As I said above, from Oakland Ruthe and I went to Richmond to photograph the departure of the San Francisco Chief.

On another trip to the Bay Area in the early 90s I photographed in and around Franklin Canyon.  This short intermodal train was westbound crossing what I think is called John Muir Trestle at the east end of Franklin Canyon in Martinez, CA.

Here, and eastbound manifest freight crossed the same trestle.

These light engines were westbound at the eastern end of the Canyon.

Finally, a westbound was photographed at Glen Fraser, just east of Tunnel 3.

Thanks for looking.

San Francisco - 1

Hi, Next I'll turn my attention to the San Francisco Bay area. The PCC cars, the Boeing Vertol car, and the other modern car shown below were taken in March of 2000 when I accompanied my wife to a meeting she attended. There's a switch. The two other cars were taken a year or two later. By the way, the open car came from Great Britain and I think is part of a museum collection.

During our March 2000 trip I put aside a morning, bought a ticket for $2.00 which allowed me to ride the Muni for 2 hours and took the F Castro line, which uses the PCCs and the former Milan cars. With this ticket I could get off and on anywhere I wished during those 2 hours. It was a great way to railfan.

This next group of photos, of the California Northern, was taken in the mid 1990s, again all in one day.  A friend and I started at Napa Junction and chased the train out to Petaluma, CA and back.  I put these in station order beginning in Petaluma with outbound being from Napa Junction to Petaluma.  Here the outbound train has just arrived at Petaluma.

The train is making its second crossing of the Petaluma River as it arrives in Petaluma on the south side of town.

There were some open shots south of Petaluma of the train inbound.

Here the outbound is making its first crossing of the Petaluma River at Blackpoint.

Viewed from the other side of the bridge and the other side of the river here are two more views of the railroads crossing of the Petaluma River, this time with the inbound train.

Finally, the inbound train crossed the Napa River about three miles west of Napa Junction.

Thanks for looking.