RAILFANNING ON THE WEST COAST
California has become a great state for watching trains. In addition to classic locations such as Tehachapi Curve and classic stations like the Santa Fe station in San Diego, the state host a tremendous variety of regional railroads, commuter railroads, trolley runs and subways. Here is a selection of those California and Pacific Northwest scenes:
One
of my favorite stops is in Paso Robles, on the Southern Pacific's Coast Line.
Not only is there a nicely restored train station next to a delightful town
square, the area features some wonderful wineries and is a jumping off point
for the Hearst Castle.
Yes, I dream of seeing the Daylight pull in, but Amtrak's Coast Starlight is not a bad alternative.
The
Niles Canyon Railroad operates on a short stretch of former Southern Pacific
trackage which gave access from Oakland to the Central Valley and all its produce
traffic. It is a wonderfully scenic line and parallels the Western Pacific
line on the other side of the river.
Passenger
train travel in the Los Angeles area has gone from being starved to a delight.
In addition to three long distance Amtrak trains entering Los Angeles Union
Station, the regional Coaster service goes from Santa Barbara on the north to
San Diego on the south. Add to that Metrolink commuter trains, light rail
and a subway, it is a railfan's delight. This is Fullerton, at the historic
junction of the Santa Fe's line to San Diego and their secondary passenger route
to the east. Today, you will see Coaster's in addition to frequent Metrolink
trains. The overpass makes a fantastic train watching spot for this triple
track line also serves as the BNSF main freight route into the city and Port
of Los Angeles.
The original Santa Fe depot is in use while next door, the original Union Pacific depot is a restaurant.
On
most stops, the original stations are long gone, but Metrolink has created uniformly
clean and functional stations - and such as at Burbank, highly reminiscent of
the area's history. This is the Anaheim station which is next door to
the Anaheim stadium and is the rail gateway to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm.
Certainly the most famous train watching location in California is the Tehachapi Loop. Not only the loop itself, but a trip uphill from the town of Caliente all the way to the top at the city of Tehachapi is a lesson in the efforts the railroads had to go to in order to serve the city's, factories and farms of this country. Yes, steam is long gone from the loop, but diesel powered freights, almost all requiring helpers to the rear, still gives one goose bumps as you watch them grinding uphill, or with dynamic brakes howling, slowly easing themselves downhill.
You
almost cannot take a bad shot in the Tehachapi Mountains. The loop itself
is justifiably famous as a photo location, but scenes such as this illustrate
to me the enormity of the challenge the railroad builders had to overcome in
crossing the mountains that lay in their paths.
San
Francisco is a difficult place to see trains. Most lines terminated across
the bay in Oakland while others such as Bart run underground in the city.
So what are we left with, cable cars and trolleys! And on my latest trip
I made the wonderful discovery that the Municipal trolley system has added a
bevy of historic trolleys, from all over the country, to its fleet. Particularly
on the newly restored line along the waterfront from the Ferry Building to Fisherman's
Wharf, you can ride on almost any class or style of street car from the twentieth
century.
Bart
is still exciting to ride. No longer the state of the art line it was
when opened, it is still fast, clean and offers great views of downtown San
Francisco from the East Bay. Stations such as this at Fremont, have the
essential "big city" feel to them.
The Pacific Northwest has a railroad history all of its own and I wish I had been able to see more of railroading in Washington and Oregon. Our first experience was during a trip to the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 and I did get a quick glimpse of some of the classic trains of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern. Here are a couple of shots taken at the King Street Station.
