Passenger Trains > MTA Gold Line (LA) Last Spike ceremony today...

Today was the ceremony celebrating the completion of track (though not catenary) for the 11-mile LA MTA Gold Line Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Azusa. The event was held at the Dalton Avenue grade crossing in Azusa, CA. Instead of a 'last spike', an orange E-clip was to be the last track fastener added to the line. The podium and chairs were actually placed in the street between the relocated BNSF freight line (former Santa Fe LA Second District passenger main) and the doubletrack mainline for the Gold Line.

1) A radio celebrity from KNX News radio, Frank Mottek, was the Master of ceremonies.

2) Part of the Azusa High School marching band was on hand for the National Anthem.

3) Arriving by highrailer (referred to as a train by the announcer) were Azusa mayor Joe Rocha, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, and Glendora city council member Doug Tessitor. The Azusa Alameda Gold Line station platforms can be seen in the background.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/14 17:44 by PasadenaSub.

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4) The aforementioned local dignataries on the podium, with Councilman Tessitor on the right.

5-6) Off to the track (immediately north of the podium) to place the last E-clip, with a Keiwit worker doing the honors and then posing for many photographs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/14 15:03 by PasadenaSub.

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7) Local KCAL 9/CBS 2 news reporter doing a check with her videographer.

8) Posing for more photos with the 'last spike'. The BNSF freight line and former Santa Fe Azusa depot can be seen to the left.

9) Another ceremony to unveil a permanent engraving commerating the day immediately north of the Gold Line, with Foothill Gold Line CEO Habib Balian (with bowtie on far left) and others posing.

Quite a turnout, maybe 100 or more on-hand today, with the event starting at 10:20am and wrapping up around 11:45.

The line is not scheduled for full completion until September of 2015, when MTA will begin testing trains.

Rich



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/14 15:15 by PasadenaSub.

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Thanks for the coverage! I was there but you got some better camera angles.

Has any work been done to restore the ATSF station?

The MC was Frank Mottek. He is the financial guy for KNX! He has discussed the Gold Line on the Air as well as other local rail news!

1) Hi-Railer truck brings local dignitaries to the ceremony. This may have been the first "passenger train" on the Foothill Extension. It was running at restricted speed, and I observed that it was running "wrong main" (but there weren't any conflicting moves).

2) Building construction north of the Azusa Downtown station. Developers are already using "close to Gold Line" as a selling point.

3) Looking west. Overhead support structures are ready for the Mass Electric wiring crews to get the messenger and contacts wire in place.

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Great coverage of the event. I think I heard that the construction phase of this extension of the Gold Line is scheduled to be finished in September 2015 and the MTA will take over. It is estimated that the MTA will take until March 2016 to finish it's preparation and start passenger service.

Cliff

1) One question that came up among the more rail-savvy guests was: "Has anybody told BNSF about our festivities today? We're fouling the main." I commented that the "Miller Job" normally runs Monday through Friday, and that the line has been red flagged. It's been my observation that the train runs at restricted speed through Azusa, and it probably doesn't go up to normal track speed until it's east of the construction area.

2) One of the telecomm and signal equipment structures--there's one of these near every station. A far cry from the simple systems of the Pacific Electric era.

3) This historic marker was unveiled after the driving of the last track clip. The GLFE folks call it an "E-clip", because if you hold it at a certain angle it looks like the "e" in the Enterprise car rental logo. I would call it a Pandrol, but maybe that's a registered trademark and GLFE uses a "generic" version.

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So much, for the last "SPIKE"..........

Pandrol makes a lot of different types of clips.

So they are correct in calling the instrument of securement an "e-clip", if it's a particular variety of Pandrol product. Thanks for the clarification.

in your red flag picture, what's the thing in the ties at the bottom that looks like a glass of wine?? TIA dave, out.

It probably was. Maybe a local pedestrian left it there the night before.

davebb71 Wrote:
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> in your red flag picture, what's the thing in the
> ties at the bottom that looks like a glass of
> wine?? TIA dave, out.