Western Railroad Discussion > Bakersfield to Stockton Cab Ride

John Edwards (steamjocky) and conductor Curtis Hobbs pilot a westbound (northbound) between Bakersfield and Stockton in August 2004. According to Steamjocky, the squeeking is due to a tight center pin in need of lubrication. http://www.trainorders.com//avshare/thumbnails//1690-medium.jpg

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Thanks john and curtis, for the ride

That was awesome. Thank You. Dan

Nevermind that that unit rides rough as a cob; the squeak would drive me 'nannas!
...Lorenzo

Awesome! I love to view cab. Can you video recorder view cab longest? I would love to see view cab.

Injoyed the ride! Thank you for sharing.

Squeak??... What squeak?... sounds RR normal to me! Good job, Edwards & Hobbs

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

TO needs more of these, awesome!

I have to admit that none of this was my idea. On the day Curtis and I got called for the ZLCSE, he shows up with an extra bag (he already carries about 4 of them) with a video camera in it. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Curtis is now working the mountain to West Colton and LA so if you see a guy on the mountain that's rolling a train while wearing a T-shirt that is railroad related (an SP shirt or a 4449 shirt) and who never wears a jacket of any kind regardless of the temperature, has a closely trimmed beard that's white, and wears pants that look too baggy on him because they are, and maybe even a baseball cap, then that is Curtis. He's about 60 years old and acts like an old curmudgeon. But I like the guy even though all he does is bitch about the UP. So, if you see Curtis out there somewhere, thank him for shooting video.



JDE

Don't know what other adjectives to add other than I agree with all the other comments. Squeaks aside, I love the look and feel of a cab ride!

That was great! I really enjoyed the ride. Thank you for posting this.

Great ride - thanks for sharing

John....Great memories here. That BK to Lathrop was one of the best freight runs I ever worked. I too liked 'ol Hobbs. Next time you see him, tell him hello for me. Thanks for posting the videos.

V

SLOCONDR

Thanks I enjoyed that, squeaks and all. Too bad the 70 mph sections were so long in coming
and lasted so little for such a remarkably straight line. Was it my imagination or is the
line in need of some rehab work?

I'd never seen the BNSF/SP Fresno crossing before either. Looks like their line is busier
than the UP's aside from the San Joaquin.

And, where was the 25 mph or so section across a bridge/viaduct with the bad dips about midway?

Thanks again. BTW, I greatly enjoyed your recent San Fernando tunnel video, too. My wife
especially enjoyed that video, too.

BulletBob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks I enjoyed that, squeaks and all. Too bad
> the 70 mph sections were so long in coming
> and lasted so little for such a remarkably
> straight line. Was it my imagination or is the
> line in need of some rehab work?
>
> I'd never seen the BNSF/SP Fresno crossing before
> either. Looks like their line is busier
> than the UP's aside from the San Joaquin.
>
> And, where was the 25 mph or so section across a
> bridge/viaduct with the bad dips about midway?
>
> Thanks again. BTW, I greatly enjoyed your recent
> San Fernando tunnel video, too. My wife
> especially enjoyed that video, too.


Bob,

Well, at the time, the line was in better shape than it is now. Yes, we had a few slow orders (speed restriction) at the time. Now, we have a couple of 40 mph slow orders with one starting just south of the south switch at Lingard and going to just north of the north switch at Fergus. Another one we have starts about 1/2 mile south of the south switch at Arena and goes to just north of the north switch at Alcant. Both of these are about 12 miles in length and are due to tie conditions. There are stacks of ties laid out along the right-of-way between the points I just named to be installed at a later date. We do have a couple of other 40 mph restrictions but they are not nearly as long as the others.

As for the crossing of the BNSF at Fresno (Calwa interlocking) we sometimes have to wait for a BNSF or an Amtrak train to go by. There has even been more than one occasion where we pull up to the interlocking for a red signal and wait for anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes and then the signal goes green for no apparent reason. I guess we were waiting for a phantom BNSF or Amtrak train to go by that I never saw.

As we cross the Tuolumne (to-ALL-a-me) river bridge you can hear me make a remark about a dip in the track. I'm not sure what this was from but a short time later the B&B guys were out there working on the bridge pilings and a fine job they did. After they finished, the restriction was removed and the track was back to it's normal 40 mph.

As I stated earlier in another post, I don't believe I was the engineer with Curtis as we went through the San Fernando Tunnel. I say that because of the way the engineer blew the whistle/horn for the crossings and by the way he ran the train. I'm not criticizing him I'm just saying that I handle a train differently than the way he did. But I am glad you enjoyed the video.

Keep your eye out as Todd may have more cab ride videos in the future. You never know what might turn up on TO.

JDE

Great ride, THANKS, and hope we can ride again.

That's the first ride on the old SP Fresno Sub from Bakersfield to Stockton I've ever seen. Could John do the same thing again but this time the whole way from Bakersfield to Sacramento next time? Same type of cab ride. Maybe even on a UP GEVO? I love the horn they use. Again that was super!

The only ride I ever took that way was down the BNSF on the Amtrak San Joaquin.