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| PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V (1167784) | |
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| (1167784) | |
PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 12:56:34 2012 Ah yes, it is time again for yet another trip out to the Bay Area and what is chaping up to be the most competent and railfan friendly commuter rail system in the country. Frankly its pretty bullshit that I have to travel 3000 miles just to find a descent express run with a railfan window, but what's worse is that some people actually complain about the service and want to replace it with something far less enjoyable. Anyway this being the 5th set of photos to document the Caltrain system there's not a lot of new territory to cover so this time around I'll just stick to pictures of locomotives.This set actually combines both the Caltrain portion of the trip and the San Francisco portion of the trip. However I was a bit busier on this trip than previous ones so I didn't have much opportunity to get out and ride the cable cars and F Market, but I've taken photos of those things before and they don't tend to change much. You can find the entire set of photos here. We begin once again at the Millbrae BART/Caltrain transfer station where despite my employer's contracted carrier on this route changing from United to Air Tran, my flight still arrived just in time for me to just miss a BART train which then causes me to just miss a Caltrain connection. I find it baffling when you have something with hour headways that the schedulers of the rapid transit system will allow their trains to miss said connection by 2 minutes. Anyway, the scent of diesel exhaust still in the air I went down to the Caltrain platform where I discovered that the extended portion that covers the siding track was actually open that day (more likely had forgotten to have been closed). That gave me a much better vantage point where from I could get a photo of the next scheduled northbound Caltrain, which was still scheduled to use a Baby Bullet trainset with Cab Car #119 on point.  Caltrain MP36PH-3C #926 passing under the signal gantry at CP-BART.  #926 discharging and recharging at the station.  I was also able to get a good photo of one of the BART signal units which make use of the SafeTran Unilens signal fitted with a special gooseneck extension for close clearances and other odd fitting locations.  An hour after arrived my southbound train finally showed up with F40PH #914 in the lead.  At San Carlos we passed the next northbound with F40PH #905.  We proceeded to pass another northbound with #912 at CP-MARY south of Mountain View.  The new island platform has been completed at the Santa Clara station providing direct service to both Caltrain and the ACE/Capitol Corridor trains on their respective tracks without need for crossing over.  MP36PH-3C #924 with original F40PH #900 sitting at the Caltrain traction depot.  #917 running lite towards the San Jose terminal.  Amtrak Cab Car #8311 with a Capitol Corridor train at San Jose.  The train departed toward a clear signal indication at the previously tough sounding CP-JULIAN. Amtrak F59PHI #2009 was providing power on the rear end.  My cab car for the return trip was to be #4025. In the background you can see that the two new platforms for the San Jose station have been completed on what used to be the former storage yard. These will provide 4 new tracks, bringing the total to 9 and making San Jose the third largest rail station west of the Mississippi.  For some bizarre reason the new station tracks were fitted with these stunted pedestal type signals instead of the Unilens dwarf stacks fitted to the original tracks. Furthermore a new interlocking, CP-ALAMEDA, was put into service between the old intermediate gantry at CP-JULIAN and the ends of the platform.  Before my train left an ACE trainset with Cab Car #3008 pulled in on track #1.  My entire trip northbound was captured in High Def video, but you can look for that in a followup post. At this point I am just going to finish up with a few shots of cable cars like 17 and 3 at the Beach terminal.  5 and 25 at the same.  Looking down at the grip.  And 17 again after having departed at Union Square.  Whelp, that's all for now. Stay tuned for the video segment. |
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| (1167791) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Jul 22 13:28:56 2012, in response to PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 12:56:34 2012. nice work. Having done 2 RTs Milbrae-SJ and Mil-PA, PA-22nd, some opinions to compare w/you. The Nippon Sharyo SS cars ride like S#$% compared to the Bombardier bullets in my experience. Your's?Can't wait for electrification. Waiting for SF Muni @ 22nd (bad tactic all the time saved riding a bullet lost because the buses were f'd up) The sound of the diesels both stopped and accelerating were really loud. They are going to spend a fortune if they ever really do the full four track main that will be necessary to add HSR. BTW, was POP checked on SJ trip SB only, not checked either way PA trip. |
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| (1167830) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 15:22:33 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Jul 22 13:28:56 2012. I have only ridden the bombers once and I only remember their lack of RFW.I only hope they electrify, but retain loco hauled trains for their express runs instead of blowing money on MU's. |
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| (1167836) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Jul 22 15:30:38 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 15:22:33 2012. as one who has ridden the genuine Metroliners @ 124mph, I favor MU's over locomotive hauled trains. I certainly like RFWs, heckm CTA 6000s were even better w/ the single front seat, but in this era of ever higher costs/tax scofflaws running ALL the metanational corporations, OPTO is the reality. No firemen in diesels anymore either. |
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| (1167838) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 15:37:50 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Jul 22 15:30:38 2012. MU's aren't any cheaper due to all of their moving parts and inspection requirements. Limited stop services should be loco hauled where all of the fail can be contained in one small part of the trainset. |
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| (1167845) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by WillD on Sun Jul 22 16:17:50 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Jul 22 13:28:56 2012. They are going to spend a fortune if they ever really do the full four track main that will be necessary to add HSR.Pretty sure something like 85% of the ROW is more than wide enough to accommodate 4 tracks without any taking of private property. In any event, 4 tracks are not required for anything other than Kopp/Diridon's laughable Phase 1 HSR service plan. For now the corridor will be "primarily two track", and if they opt for a Dumbarton HSR bridge/tunnel and connection to the Central Valley via Altamont rather than mixed high speed/commuter traffic along the length of the line they can achieve a very large number of trains without the need for four tracks through those areas most opposed to the project. |
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| (1167871) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by italianstallion on Sun Jul 22 17:08:37 2012, in response to PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 12:56:34 2012. "most competent and railfan friendly commuter rail system in the country. "And yet, "you have something with hour headways that the schedulers of the rapid transit system will allow their trains to miss said connection by 2 minutes." |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 17:39:40 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by italianstallion on Sun Jul 22 17:08:37 2012. That's BART's problem, not Caltrain. They also eliminated the direct SFO-Millbrae connection and of course pioneered the use of bulkhead fronts on rapid transit vehicles. |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Sun Jul 22 19:01:49 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Sun Jul 22 13:28:56 2012. Can't wait for electrificationYou're gonna have to. CA's broke. |
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| (1167957) | |
Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Mon Jul 23 00:05:56 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V, posted by Olog-hai on Sun Jul 22 19:01:49 2012. I'm so glad you know what's happening in my place of residence because obviously I can't trust any other source of information. |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Mon Jul 23 00:11:58 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Mon Jul 23 00:05:56 2012. Thought you knew ... Olog is omnipotent ... :) |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Mon Jul 23 00:13:23 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 17:39:40 2012. The entire SFO extension was a FUBAR design. The transfer station to both Caltrain AND the Airtrain circulator should have been near SSF. BART insisted on the Millbrae branmch because without the projected ridership from the huge parking structure the whole project would have failed the FTA standards. BART's wet dream has always included cannibalising Caltrain so as to replace it.As to scheduling BART behaves as if everyone else should work around them. |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Mon Jul 23 02:17:56 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V, posted by SelkirkTMO on Mon Jul 23 00:11:58 2012. glad I pitched my TV late Aug '98. |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Mon Jul 23 02:45:08 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRANS CALTRAIN V, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Mon Jul 23 02:17:56 2012. Heh. That's why I watch subchat. MUCH better shows here. :) |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by 167t on Tue Jul 24 11:28:43 2012, in response to PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 12:56:34 2012. For anyone wanting a thrill, you can listen to a Caltrain live scanner on Railroadradio.net. Click on "Western Zone Streams" then scroll down to SP/Caltrain/UP...lot's of talk during "commute" times. That's "rush hour" in West Coast-speak as is coffee shop for a diner!! Egads! |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Tue Jul 24 12:20:41 2012, in response to Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by 167t on Tue Jul 24 11:28:43 2012. Thanks for the link. BTW my favorite local eatery @ 7th & Ave A simply said Coffee Shop Home Cooking in faded lettering when I moved there in 66. A couple years later they afforded a makeover and added their name Leshko's. Long gone, they purveyed excellent pirogen and standard American breakfasts. |
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Re: PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V |
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Posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Tue Jul 24 14:37:30 2012, in response to PHOTOS: CALTRAN CALTRAIN V, posted by Jersey Mike on Sun Jul 22 12:56:34 2012. excellent photos all of them |
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