Western Railroad Discussion > A Few More Over & Under in the SF East Bay

A little More Over and Under action in the East Bay Area ofNorthern California on the BNSF and UP. Here are a few images that I took over the last several days that fall into this category. I posted a few a couple weeks ago in the same areas. 


Photo #1 – 03/19/15 0945 hours at Bay Point, CA, the BNSF6930 East descends the embankment from where it crosses over the UP (SP) Mococo line. The headlight of the eastbound UP local is just peeking out from under the bridge. If it had been a couple minutes earlier, I may have had another chance to get a side by side photo.  Thisarea must once have been a hopping place like during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  The Sacramento Northern Line is visible atthe far left.  The green color adds a lotto this area as during the summer this looks like a barren wasteland. 


Photo #2 & #3 – 03/19/15 0949 hours and about a miledown the road, I catch up to the slow moving UP local. At this spot, you can really see the upgrade profile of the BNSF and SN tracks. Continued.....


Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/15 22:02 by SN711.

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Continued...

Photo #4 – 03/19/15 1307 hours the BNSF 4965 West QCHIOIG slowlypasses over Highway #4 and is about to grind to a halt at Collier. A crew change will take place about 15 car lengths further west. This crew brought the train to a stop with about 22 minutes to spare. The train is over 6000 feet and would not clear anywhere west of Pittsburg.They sat at Pittsburg for at least four hours waiting for a long eastbound baretable out of Oakland to clear at Pittsburg. The 9212 is not a regular visitor to the area and since a large numberof the warbonnets are also parked again, the 750 is also somewhat rare again. 


Photo #5 – 03/20/15 1336 hours, the eastbound baretable(OIGTAC?) crosses the Muir Trestle in Martinez, CA with the 9212 leading today. A SD70ACE is even more rare to be leading a train in the area (photo already posted by Barstool).  In fact Barstoolcalled me to let me know this train was coming. Afternoon light is not too kind to eastbounds east of Christie, but Idid not have time to get there ahead of the train. The weak sun made this shot more bearable.   Photo is taken from the top of the hill on theEast Bay Regional Park Trail overlooking the trestle. The trees have grown in over the years and this is about the widest shot you can get for eastbound trains on the south side. Only about the west half of the trestle is not blocked by trees.  


Photo #6 – Same location, just a little wider angle. On thebottom left you can see the former Arcata & Mad River RR caboose #10 in the valley below the trestle. 


continued one more time....


Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/15 22:06 by SN711.

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Last One:


Photo #7 - 03/20/15 1336 hours, the BNSF 9212 east reaches the end ofthe visible portion of the trestle, just about half the length of the
trestle.  Getting to this spot requires aquick climb up a very steep section of trail. The trail seen in the far background behind the locomotives is acontinuation of the trail that I am on and would provide a beautiful vantage point for a westbound in the late afternoon during the summer, but it takes a lot longer to get to that spot and is just as steep. I have not been motivated
to try that yet. I tried it once on a cloudy morning about 3 years ago.  


Thanks for looking. 


Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/15 22:05 by SN711.

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Nice Shots

Posted from iPhone

Are the SN tracks still used?

There is only a short section of the SN tracks that are still in use to serve at least one customer and that is just beyond (behind) me in the first photo. There is an interchange track between the Mococo line and the SN. 


My earlier thread shows the UP local on a different day backing through the very old interchange track:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3683405,3683412#msg-3683412


Gary

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/15 07:07 by SN711.

Great shots! Does that UP local have a regular time when it runs? Thanks.

Great photos, man!
- Eric B.

JamesSchlinger Wrote:
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> Great shots! Does that UP local have a regular
> time when it runs? Thanks.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge of the UP locals will answer up on that question.  I know that there are several UP locals that work out of Ozol Yard in Martinez, but I don't go down there hardly at all.  As for locals going out to Pittsburg, my assumption was that on one day they went out on the Mococo line and the other day they ran out over the BNSF, but a couple weeks ago when they both showed up at the same time, that blew my theory. I don't regularly go out to Bay Point as it is the wrong direction from my house, except to catch an eastbound BNSF train that either went by too early to catch on the west side of Franklin Canyon or had good enough power that required a second shot. The morning light for eastbounds up at Nichols Rd is beautiful on sunny days.  I can only really speak for Thursdays and Fridays, but the local that runs out on the BNSF to Pittsburg seems to be very common for Friday mornings.  It was once fairly common to hear the local calling the BNSF dispatcher between 0900-0930 for permission to come down to Port Chicago (letting the dispatcher know they would be coming and finding out if it there was going to be any major delays getting onto the BNSF).  Now, by 0900 they usually are already at Pittsburg on the BNSF and are calling for permission to access the mainline to head back west, usually after Amtrak 712 goes by.  Such was the case again last Friday, but I did not wait for it.

The local on the Mococo line, I have only seen three times in my trips out there. In the last two weeks, I saw it once on Friday and once on Thursday and last year I saw it once but have no recollection of which day. My guess is that Thursdays are more common as I probably have ended up out there more on Fridays.

Gary