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. ;-)
Third time's a charm eh? Yes, this is indeed by third trip on Amtrak's Train 6, the California Zephyr, and any of who follow my work might wonder why I might need three complete back-of-train surveys of the same route. Well first of all, on any specific trip I might miss something or I might take a soft photo. I've also upgraded my camera equipment over the years and likewise, California / Union Pacific have applied some upgrades to the California Corridor as well, so ultimately my work is never really finished ;-)
This set covers my trip from the initial terminal of Emmeryville, CA to the state capitol, Sacramento. Speeds are 30-40mph on the initial twisty section along the Bay, but once across the Suisun bridge, speeds increase to 80mph for almost the entire rest of the trip. You can compare it with my 2014 trip and my 2012 trip. You can find the full set of photos here.
Passing the Richmond BART yard, I spied a trainset ended with 'A' cars. These original 1968 vintage cars are relatively rare as only 60 were built, (30 trainsets) compared with 500+ 'B' and 'C' cars. Today the newer 'C' cars are preferred to lead trains at non-peak times as they can be coupled into longer sets more easily. Unlike the 'C' cars, the 'A' card do provide a reasonable railfan view. Just FYI, when making a BART connection with Amtrak, the Richmond Station provides a direct transfer. Emmeryville is some 2 miles from the Ashby BART station.
Since my last ride in 2014, the number of trackside tent cities have increased dramatically. This is one major downside to living in an area without bitterly cold winters.
One improvement since 2014 was the addition of a new interlocking (GIANT) that provides an interlocked connection with whatever BNSF line serves the port of Oakland.
Freight train passing on track 2 as Train 6 skirts the San Francisco bay.
Running behind the freight was southbound Amtrak Train 11, the Coast Starlight. Power was a typical P42DC+P32-8WH lashup with Amtrak #72 and #510.
Near the Carquinez Strait bridge complex we pass through an old school sugar refinery. These remain common in most port cities to this day.
In this view you can see the old and new Carquinez Bridges.
Passing what I believe was Amtrak Capitol Corridor Train #531 with Superliner cab car #8314.
Since I had such a good time riding Amtrak's California Zephyr back in 2012 I followed that up by taking my father on a cross country trip in 2014 and after that went well I decided to do the same with my mother in 2017. As we have family in the Bay Area and she has a close friend in Denver, the Zephyr actually made logistical sense to transport us between two groups of people she had not seen in a while as well as from a scenic entertainment point of view. As usual, the time zone difference combined with an early flight would mean that we would have a day to enjoy San Francisco before traveling to Emmeryville to catch the Zephyr. We flew into Oakland, so the transport modes included BART and Caltrain with a hint of MUNI on the outward leg and then just BART and Caltrain to get to Amtrak.
Getting off the plane in Oakland, instead of having to take a special premium fare bus to connect with BART and the Colosseum station, one can now take the premium fare AirBART elevated people mover.
The line uses unmanned pods to transport passengers between the two endpoints.
The line was built by ski lift manufacturer Doppelmayr, because the Bay Area just can't get enough of cable cars. The power house is located in the middle of the line and uses two tow ropes per direction. Vehicles stop at the power house and change from one rope to another.
Westbound AirBART pod on the viaduct over Hegenberger Rd.
The Oakland Colosseum where the Las Vegas Athletics baseball team currently plays.
BART C car #2545 platformed at the BART Colosseum station.
While on BART I caught a Capitol Corridor train rounding the bend between Emmeryville and downtown Oakland. Power was being furnished by P42DC #43.
Cab of a C car showing the restricted forward view for passengers. The new rolling stock should substantially improve this situation.
My BART train at the Embarcadaro Station. Sometimes its easy to forget how large the BART windows are.
MUNI LRV #1460B on an N routing at the upper level Embarcadaro station.
Here is another MUNI N-Line LRV, 1508A, approaching the Branna St Station on the Embarcadaro.
Caltrain gallery cab car #4024 lined up at King St. Station with the rest of the trainsets ready for the evening rush.
Because the Bomber sets are mostly used for peak period express trains they tend to hand out at the terminals all day. Here we see sister coffin cab cars #117 and #116 standing next to eachother.
Power for the gallery trains consisted of F40PH-2CAT #904 and #909.
My train had its route lined up through the 4th St terminal interlocking.
That day the yard power at South San Francisco were a pair of GP60's, #1092 and #1096.
Caltrain Bomber cab car #116 at San Carlos.
Soon after I continued the streak when cab car #115 appeared on a northbound train. Note the former Metrolink coaches that have been leased by Caltrain to increase the length of their "Baby Bullet" express trains.
Caltrain MP36PH-3C pushing the long express train northward out of San Carlos.
Caltrain uses an interesting system of limited express trains, each of which serves a different basket of stations. Therefore to connect with BART at Millbrae, we had to catch a train from Redwood City. While waiting for our train a number of others passed through, some stopping and some not. Trains that did not stop continued through at the line speed of 80mph.
Our northbound limited express was powered by F40PH-2CAT #919, seen here departing Millbrae.
BART tries to provide an accross-the-platform transfer for northbound riders at their Millbrae Station. We would be catching a Red line train for a one seat ride to the Ashby Station.
Roof of BART car #1593 seen here at the Ashby station. While the Emmeryville Amtrak station was theoretically within walking distance, the 1-2 mile distance would have cut the connection too close so I just called an Uber. Technically the connection point between BART and the Zephyr is the Richmond Station.
A Southbound Amtrak Capitol Corridor train is scheduled to arrive right before the Zephyr pulls in. This was being powered by a typical Amtrak California F59PHI (#2010), however behind it was brand new SC44 Charger #2104.
These units were being run in tandem in case there was any sort of failure that might delay a revenue train. You can see how short in height the new units are. I suspect that the cramped interior will lead to maintenance issues that will ultimately impact reliability.
In our last photo today we see Amtrak California cab car #8307 departing the Emmeryville Station.
Next time tune in as we take yet another Capitol Corridor trip between the Bay Area and Sacramento.
