22-05-11 PHOTOS: Yosemite Searchlights

Over the last few years I have been on a bit of a National Parks kick since vacations involving cross country air travel wasn't part of my Childhood repertoire. having visited Bryce, Zion, Rocky Mountain and Great Sand Dunes in 2021, for 2022 I set up a trip to Yosemite with some West Coast friends. Despite the headline attraction, I was still able to slot in some railfan activities with a specific focus on getting photos of former Western Pacific searchlight signals near Lodi, CA and I was even able to get some BART action traveling to and front the airport in Oakland. The set of photos can be found here ( mirror ).

Starting off at Oakland I snagged this photo of an AirBART cable car on its elevated guideway. AirBART connects the Oakland Coliseum station with the Oakland Airport terminal for an additional fare. Replacing an earlier shuttle bus, the cable car system was made by ski lift manufacturer Doppelmayr.

Heading away from Oakland along the route of the BART Pittsburgh/Bay Pointe Line I encountered a mix of A type and D type stock.

Past Bay Pointe I also encountered eBART DMU #1 returning from Antioch.

Traversing the Sacramento River Delta involves a bunch of two lane roads and drawbridges. A surprising gap in California's renown system of freeways. Below are the drawbridges at Threemile Slough and the Mokelumne River.

Exiting the delta I managed to finagle a stop at the east end of the Thornton siding on the former Western Pacific Sacramento Sub. Somehow this line segment has avoided getting hit by a signal replacement program.

The searchlights are of US&S manufacture and block signals still use the split configuration for right hand placement. Hints of the WP's distinctive mint green paint can still be made out.

So yeah, I did all the Yosemite National Park activities including hiking to the top of Half Dome, but this is a rail oriented blog and you're not here for vacation slides. ;-)

For those fans of the Bell System, here is the Central Office in Wawona, CA. Connection to the PTSN is via a microwave link with a reflector visible on a distant hilltop.

The Sierra Northern Railway's Oakdale division comes fairly close to the park. Unfortunately I put all of my points into mapping out the searchlight signals and didn't notice that the journey would take us near their facility in Oakdale.

The other distraction was a chance encounter with an extremely rare Wigwag style grade crossing signal on E Street in Oakdale. Built by the Magnetic Signal Corporation of Los Angeles, these early grade crossing warning devices attempted to emulate the swinging motion of a flagman's lantern.

Although Oakdale and the Sierra Northern is only served by a connection to BNSF's Stockton Sub, the industrial track the Wig Wag sits on is owned by Union Pacific. UP trains are able to service the track segment via trackage rights.

After dropping off one of the party at Lodi, I managed to negotiate stopping at the KINGDON HOLDOUT signal on the former WP Sacramento Sub. This one featured a more obviously mint green colored searchlight mast.

And advance approach signal indication on the approach lit signals implied that something was headed in the eastbound direction and the "something" turned out to be a fairly overpowered BNSF manifest freight with BNSF C44-9W #7885, C44-10W #7481, SC70ACe #8557, ET44C4 #3976 and SD70ACe #9085 in front and BNSF ET44C4 #3782 and C44-9W #1038 on the rear.

Heading back across the Antioch Bridge.

eBART DMU #5 at Pittsburgh Center.

I'll finish up with this shot of the Amtrak Oakland maintenance facility after taking off from Oakland airport. This is the western base for Amtrak's California Zephyr as well as the Amtrak California services in the Bay and Capitol regions.

Next time I'll be headed to Brockway, Pennsylvania to ride their monorail line I've heard so much about!