14-06-18a PHOTOS: Donner Pass Take 2

Well it's not often one gets a second bite at the apple. Back when I originally took the California Zephyr I was not fully aware of the color balance issues that both my new Cannon IS30 and my friend's Cannon DSLR presented. Our 2011 trip was largely cloudy where the problems are not as evident and I had only purchased my new camera about 6 months before. The resulting set of photos was heavily blue shifted and worse, in a misguided effort to compensate for bright sunlight I turned down the brightness a little which made many of the shots look as if I were trying to shoot day for night. I fixed the problems as much as I could in post, but I figured I was just going to have to let it go as a learning experience.

Well thanks to my 2014 trip I got a chance to set right what once went wrong and thanks to the trick of using the "flash" white balance setting I was able to show the California landscape for the parched, brown hellhole it is. This set of photos runs from Milepost 113 on the UP Roseville Sub all the way until just before Reno. It is a testament to the clockwork nature of the dining car that I managed to get back to my post at the rear of the train just on mile before where I managed to do so in 2012. You can find the full set of the take 2 photos right here.

Between Roseville and Colfax the route operates as a split main line as the original alighment was improved upon to eliminate curves and grades, but not entirely replaced. That is why many of the initial photos will show just a single track. Here we are on track two with everything all dead and lifeless from the California drought, but adjacent to the track is a small aqueduct brining water down to a farm or residential community. Can someone say "unsustainable"?

Emerging from the short two-track tunnel at Newcastle.

One of the many times this line will cross over or under Interstate 80 just west of Auburn, CA, which has a station for a single Capitol Corridor round trip.

Crossing over to track #1 at BOWMAN means I get to take pictures on a whole new track segment thanks to the split main configuration. Here the main tracks cross over each other and I got to take a picture from an alternate point of view with some local kids to add some flavor.

While a crossover is provided for Amtrak trains eastbound on track #1 to platform on track #2 at Colfax, a Union Pacific Autorack train was in the way with ES44AC #5284 on point. 

This forced our train to platform using the grade crossing and then run against the current of traffic on the 30 mile section of single direction ABS track between Colfax and SWITCH 9. Just one of several small delays that set out train back about 45 minutes en-route to Reno.

Unfortunately UP is in the process of ripping out the aforementioned classic ABS signaling with the western end of the section having the new masts already up and cut in for ABS operation.

Crossing I80 on a different viaduct I was afforded a good view of the older Track #2 bridge.

Track #1 hits back to back tunnels as it proceeds east from I80. Track #2 was given a new daylight alignment as part of a clearance project.

Pretty S-curve as we climb higher into the Sierra Nevadas. 

View along the American River gouge. 

 Running reverse means getting to see the approach lit searchlight ABS signals all lit up. All the running on track #1 made this second trip almost like running on a different route.

the track off to the right is a baloon track to turn helpers on westbound trains running that have just helped . Helpers cut off on the fly then run around on the loop track before crossing over via the hand throw switch that is provided.

14-06-18 PHOTOS: Bay Area Capitol Corridor

Once again it is time for my annual cross country Amtrak trip. This year was a big different because instead of moving on to the final Transcon route, the Sunset Limited, I instead went back to re-ride the California Zephyr, this time with a father in tow as a combined Father's Day / Birthday present. The method of travel worked as before, flying out via Southwest, spending a day in San Francisco, staying over at my Cousin's house and then setting off the next day from Emeryville.

Despite covering the same ground as my 2012 trip I managed to fill most of the gaps in coverage my first survey of the line suffered from due to my need to eat and sleep. I also have a better handle on the tendency for Cannon cameras to have a disastrously cool automatic white balance and I was able to shoot most of this year's run with the "flash" setting that brought the warm tones back.

Anyway you can see the first set of photos right here!

We begin on San Francisco's Powell St hill where, due to the MASSIVE line of tourists waiting to board the cable car my dad and I felt we should just walk to the place I had identified for lunch. Here cable car #19 passes us on the steep upgrade, however we still would have been waiting in line.

Inbound #18 car at California Ave.

After lunch we managed to squeeze onto a cable car and continued onto the end of the Hyde Line where cars 18 and 3 were waiting their return to service.

Car #28 waiting down by the turntable. 

Alcatraz island as seen from the Municipal Pier.

East coast style sea gull.

It appears as if the Route 15 has been extended across the country somehow. Ex-SEPTA MUNI PCC #1055 in PTC colors.

PCC #1050 on the other hand is painted in the local colors of the SF Municipal Railway.

Seen here at the Embarcadaro with double ended PCC #1009.

Coming down the pike was Minneapolis-St. Paul painted PCC #1071.

Time was getting short so it was down to the Caltrain terminal where we caught a limited stops train to San Carlos. Here is a rear view from the railfan window showing the express portion of the run to San Bruno.


Gallery cab car #4006 departing San Carlos.

Cutting to the next morning here is the southbound Amtrak Train 14, the Coast Starlight, making a brief station stop at Emeryville with an odd mix of power including P40DC #809 and P32-8WH #505.

14-05-23 PHOTOS: Manassas

On the Friday before Memorial Day I cut out of work early to head down to Washington DC to take a round trip on the Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line, which follows the old Southern Railway main line from Alexandria to Manassas, VA, of civil war fame. Normally this sort of VRE railfanning trip is not possible without resorting to Amtrak because VRE operates a peak direction service into and then back out of DC. However on the Manassas Line there is an "early" afternoon departure from DC around 2pm that then service-deadheads back into the city to for another run.

Now the motivation for this trip was an NS resignaling effort on the Southern main between DC and Manassas that would remove all of the old Southern RR signaling. VRE operates with Gallery car type equipment with railfan window equipped cab cars facing in the inbound DC direction. With the reverse railfan window having been blocked off on Amtrak Trains 19/20, VRE was my only other option to get photos of these signals in the northbound direction.

Now I was well aware that certain commuter operators get off on closing cab cars to allow the crews from having to interact with paying customers and I had little information on how VRE would open up its off peak trains. On the outbound trip my worst fears were realized when the reverse cab car was left closed, despite standing room conditions on the rest of the train. I figured that if the cab car would not be opened for a full train there was little chance it would be opened for a nearly empty deadhead. Well it appeared to be opposite day because on the return trip the front car was left open so I was not only able to get still shots of all the signals, but also shoot video all the way from Alexandria through the DC "trench" and First Street Tunnel to Washington Union Station.

Because of the difficulty in riding VRE for anyone not living in the hell hole that is Northern, VA this was my first ever trip on VRE, although I have covered the lines it uses via Amtrak. You can find the full set of photos here

We start on the lower level of Washington DC's Union Station where Amtrak has been using some P32-8WH's on VA service trains. Here is #514 awaiting its next assignment.

Well here is a rare beastie. I think all the MARC GP40WH-2 units had been sent back to MPI and turned into MP32PH-Qs. Guess I was wrong as #68 was puttering light around K interlocking.

So no railfan window means no photos until Manassas. Here gallery cab car V718 departs past the station platform towards the terminal at Broad Run, one stop to the south.

Ticketing on VRE is handled by an innovative Multi-ride POP system. Multiple rides can be placed on a ticket and then at time of validation they can be used up one at a time. Prices were rather expensive however with the 30 or so mile ride to Manassas costing about $9. Compared to older commuter lines in the Northeast VRE has remarkably few stops, but the 60mph or lower line speed results in leisurely travel times. 

The Manassas, VA platform is broken up by several grade crossings.

Here is the Manassas, VA station. Six Amtrak trains stop here with the Cardinal only operating 3 days per week.

Southern RR cabin car X699 on display at Manassas.

The dump track in front of the station is occasionally used for setting out private cars. The electric switch lock uses a General Railrway Signal apparatus.

Rear of the Manassas Station. I like the red tile roof.

Signal displayed on track #1 at MANASSAS interlocking for my return train to DC.

 The train soon showed up. I was expecting the same trainset I rode out on, but instead I was greeted by cab car V715.

14-05-20 PHOTOS: VTA Express

The last time I was in San Jose back in 2008 I made ample use of the region's ample Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail system. Built at throughout the 1990's .Com boom, the VTA Light Rail has seen some of its fortunes decline as the city he was meant to serve failed to see the growth that was anticipated. Even with housing prices exploding in nearby San Francisco, the second tech boom of today has failed to make the city less of a ghost town after hours because for some reason Google workers would want to pay more and drive more to live at the opposite end of the bay.

Well this year a conference that I attended last year moved to San Jose this year to reduce costs and that meant I would have the better part of the week to get out and see what fun I could make a fairly typical and bland light rail system. spoiler alert, there wasn't much I could do, however the VTA did provide convenient connections to the San Jose Diridon Station, home of Amtrak and Caltrain, as well as the Caltrain Tamien station south of the city. The one interesting thing the VTA itself had to offer was an extress service running from the Ohlone-Chynoweth station on the Santa Teresa Line north along the CA 87 corridor to downtown. I was able to try the express run for myself by getting up sufficiently early to make it down to Ohlone-Chynoweth and then catch the express train back.

You can find the full set of photos here

I'll begin at the San Jose Diridon Station which is one of the southern termini for the Caltrain service as well as Amtrak's Capitol Corridor. Here we see Caltrain F40PH-2CAT #901 sitting next to Amtrak F59PHI #2006. Apparently the F59PHI fleet got some sort of ECO Engine rebuilding even thought they were already equipped with 12-710's.

Here is MPI built F40PH-2C #922 also laying over at Diridon. With a build date of 1998 this was probably one of the last F40's ever made.

Well this is odd. Apparently Amtrak has taken to using P32-8WHs on the Coast Starlight. #510 sits behind P42DC #206 along with Heritage baggage car #1237.

Here is a video of a little three way I caught at the end of the San Jose platform. First a departing northbound Caltrain local departs track #5 and lights up the Christmas tree signal gantry at CP-SHARK. Next to it a Caltrain deadhead powered by F40PH-2CAT #916 heads back towards the Caltrain yard north of the station on track #6 under Restricting signals. Finally the aforementioned Amtrak Train 14 arrives on track #1.


Same Train 14 departing under an Advance Approach indication at CP-JULIAN CP-SHARK.


Here we see VTA LRV #914 about to depart Ohlone-Chynoweth towards San Jose. The signals at this station were interlocked with the pedestrian crossing protection.

Here is a little video montage of operations at Ohlone-Chynoweth including the arrival and departure of Almaden shuttle trains.


LRV #938 was on Almaden Shuttle duty. The ~1 mile spur serves a major mall and residential area south of where the Blue Line curves off to continue its route down a freeway median.

Specially wrapped "Express Service" LRV #995 pulls into Ohlone-Chynoweth. Hmmm, wonder if they have had trouble with people mistaking it for a local. The service runs express all the way to the convention center.

Here's a good place to insert a montage of some videos I took downtown.


The VTA uses some of the cheapest signaling I have ever seen. There is no reverse direction signaling, there is no ATC, no ATC, no cab signaling and not even providing for reverse direction signals...even at interlockings. A fixed reflector is used instead.

I went back to Ohlone-Chynoweth later that afternoon for better lighting. Here is an inbound Blue Line train with LRV #957 entering the station.

LRV #938 again at the Almaden terminal.

14-05-10 PHOTOS: National Train Day 2014

I always try to get out and do something for national Train Day, usually because its a great way to earn bonus Amtrak Guest Rewards points. More often than not I usually find myself having to scurry through the top level displays as I wait for my non-excursion Amtrak train to take me somewhere like Pittsburgh or Georgia. Well since I had nothing else planned this year I decided to just head over to Amtrak's 30th St station and check out all the equipment on display on the lower level combined with a quick AGR trip to Downingtown via Amtrak's Keystone service. Accompanying me on this adventure was Sub Chat's very own Chuchubob.

You can find the full set of photos here

We begin with a photo tour of the Penn Coach Yards via the adjacent parking garage. Sir Not Appearing in This Equipment Display was private car Clipper Creek.

Amtrak AEM-7 #939 sits next to GP15 #575 at the Race Street Engine Terminal.

Heritage P32-8WH #512 and P42DC #33 were on hand for power change duties. 

Here is a quick video of SEPTA R5 and R7 trains departing simultaneously from the upper level of 30th St Station.



A rather dingy looking Amtrak AEM-7 #929 pushes past Chuchubob at Downingtown.

If I had had more time I would have walked down to get some better photos of DOWNS interlocking. Note the limited speed triangle on the 70L signal. DOWNS is remote controlled by a classic CTC console at THORN tower.

On the way out to Downingtown I took some video out the front of the leading Metroliner Cab Car. The first is running express between Villanova and Paoli and the second running from Paoli to Exton.






Outbound SEPTA local with Silverliner IV #289 on the rear as it passes the location of the old Downingtown MoW yard, which is now a superfund site.

AEM-7 #938 arriving with an eastbound Keystone at Downingtown.

This year for NTD Amtrak filled up tracks 1 and 2 at 30th St with all manner of "cool" equipment. First among these was Bennett Levin's PRR E8 #5809.

It sat across from Amtrak ACS-86 #606 with its horrendous LED headlights. Come on FRA, headlights shouldn't look like Restricting signals.

14-04-30 PHOTOS: Bal Collapse

Back at the end of April 4 days of rail caused a 100 year retaining wall overlooking the CSX Baltimore Terminal Sub to collapse onto the tracks. For those of you who don't watch news or otherwise live with their heads buried in the sand here is the viral video of the collapse itself.


This happened to be located not far from where I hang out and was actually one of my major train watching locations. The street had been showing subsidence problems for years with several sinkholes patched and filled by the city. Still, the problem kept getting worse and everyone in the area knew that it was just a matter of time. Anyway, of course I went and took photos of the aftermath, however I have held off on posting them because I wanted to see how things turned out to present a more complete picture of the collapse and the cleanup effort.

Also thrown into the set are some random photos taken on Balt/Wash area rail lines that didn't fit into any other set. You can see the full album of photos here

Here's how things looked a few hours after the collapse. Who's going to clean up all those cars?

Video taken the first night.


When CSX Re-signaled HUNTINGTON AVE they moved the westbound signal location from inside the tunnel mouth to a point next to the retaining wall. This is all that is left of the relay hut now.

Unlike the public sector CSX did not fuck around clearing the single track Baltimore Belt Line. Within 48 hours they had 3 excavators working non-stop to pile up the rocks and earth. This is the ONLY CSX route for freight moving from south to north with the nearest detour being through Hagarstown, MD. The Baltimore Belt Line us used by trains carrying orange juice to New York City and hauling trash away.

Video of the removal process.


Here you can see the brick paving that underlies many of Baltimore's city streets.