06-05-04 PHOTOS: San Francisco Cable Cars

Heh, I know it took two months, but I finally processed all of the pics from my trip to San Fran back in May. (2013 note, my backlog would grow to nearly 11 months by 2010).

This third and final set was taken on the morning of my departure. I got up early and rode all of the "interesting" Cable lines. I went down to Hyde Beach, took some pix of the Golden Gate Bridge, got back on it and Rode to Market, got on a Powell, rode down to Bay, then back to Mason where I transferred to a Hyde again, then back down to Beach and finally all the way back to Market.

In the photo sets I compiled two nice phototours of both the Hyde and Powell lines. so you can enjoy those. I also got pics of most of the cars out that day.

You can see the full set of pics at:

http://palter.org/~brotzman/06-05-04_SAN_FRANCISCO_CABLE_CARS/-Thumbnails.html

#28 on Mason St

#27 rounds the curve onto Powell

06-05-03 PHOTOS: San Francisco Transit

Ok, here is part two of my San Francisco Trip photos. Over the course of the conference I had some time to get around San Fran an ride the various modes of transit. I bought a weekly MUNI pass and tried to ride as many lines as possible. I managed to get out to West Portal, the Light Rail Center at Balboa Parque where the JKM lines terminate. I also encountered things like Trolley Buses, Cable Cars and scary 70's decor. I also grabbed some night shots of things like City Hall and a classic BART/MUNI sign.

I paid a second visit down to the 4th and King Caltrain terminal to grab some more shots of the A-5 Pneumatic Switches and Caltrain Locomotives Unfortunately they LOCK the doors to the platform after the train leaves so you can get out there to take pix...but you can't come back.

Also when I was down there I took some pics of the N Line terminal along with the new T light rail line. Speaking of the N Jeudah, I rode it all the way to the Ocean Beach terminal. I will say that the trip time was fucking slow. The line is in serious need of light pre-emption and stop elimination. Once at Ocean Beach I decided to throw caution to the wind and go touch the pacific ocean. Of course the ocean wasn't the only thing there to greet me. BTW, the SF beach looked like ass...and that's comming from a New Jerseyian.

Finally, I got some pictures of the famous bridges. Here's the Golden Gate and a sweet pic of the Oakland Bay Bridge..

The rest of the pics can be found at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-05-03_SAN_FRANCISCO/-Thumbnails.html

Hmmm, this trolley looks familliar...almost like something I've seen in Philly once...but nah...that's on a totally different coast!!!

Lots of action at West Portal with ah (M) train heading in bound passing through the half-grand junction.

06-05-01 PHOTOS: Caltran Caltrain I

Here is my first set of photos from my big trip to San Francisco. On my first day I went from SFO to the Caltrain station at Millbrae and from there took the Caltran Caltrain to see a friend in San Jose.

It was a fun ride, although the stops were a little close together and the line had been recently resignaled, (although at least they are using speed signaling now) Caltrain its a pretty good operation easily up to the standards set by the east coast and chicago. At the San Jose terminal I got to see trainsets from ACE, Caltrain and Amtrak all together.

On my return trip I took one of the new express "Baby Bullet" trains (although fortunately my train was not using the new shit Baby Bullet equipment) so I got a nice railfan window express run all the way back. Yes, all the gallery cab cars have a railfan window, however all the cab cars are also "bike" cars so seating is limited.

I took the express all the way back to the 4th and King terminal which is perhaps the only location on the West Coast with pneumatic switch machines.

Anyway, the whole set of photos can be found at:

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/06-05-01_CALTRAN_CALTRAIN/-Thumbnails.html

SFO station on BART with a 'C' style car that has a flat front cab.

My southbound local train to San Jose arrives at Millbrae with F40PH-2CAT #900.

MP36PH-2C with gallery car stock. Too bad we don't get to see these in NJT colours :-(