Western Railroad Discussion > Sunday's empty autos on Cuesta Grade.

-UP 2641 and 2665 lead the repo train on the ex-SP Coastline only moments away from passing the abandoned West Portal of Tunnel 10 alignment.

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Nice Shot!

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

I agree -- that is a great photo! Gad you
were able to catch this somewhat rare fright
move n the Coast Division.

Margaret_SP_fan Wrote:
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> I agree -- that is a great photo! Gad you
> were able to catch this somewhat rare fright
> move n the Coast Division.

This rare freight movement has been running 5 days a week for 2 years now (IIRC...i know we've had autos for a while now) along with baretable a few days a month, and the Oil, u can catch freight on the grade regularly. Autos usuallu leave milpitas in the wee hours of the AM, get to SJC 8am ish..down to SLO just ahead or just behind amtk 11, and out of slo between 330 and 6pm...behind 11.

Never seen this angle before with the highway in the background! Very nice!
Unfortunately, there have been no rack trains running on the Coast five days per week. This seems to be a zero, to once, to maybe a few times per week, on an irregular schedule.

As someone who photographs freights on the coastline all the time if you are willing to drive and have access to the Yahoo headsup coast web site to tell you when trains are coming south you find that you can get lots of excellent photos of freights and the oil cans on the coast. You get the most of your photos by chasing the train for a few hundred miles. This means that photos like the one show may not be part of your chase since you need to some off roading and hiking to get photos like the one shown.

In the three plus years since I have retired I have managed to take hundreds of excellent photographs of freight trains on the coastline from Bradley to Burbank. Note north of Bradley is a little harder unless you live along the central coast. It takes time to drive from Simi Valley to San Luis Obispo and points north. But the photos you will get are worth it.

Not familiar with location....what highway is that?

This is between Santa Margarita and San Luis Obispo and the highway in the background is 101.

Regards, Jim Evans

Thanks, Jim!

On Friday I drove through SLO on Hwy 1 and saw the empties stopped just UP south/SP east of Stenner Creek. This was about 3:00 pm. Was there a reason for stopping there (there is no siding there)? Was that an anomaly or a regular occurance? Also, is there a need for the train to be broken in two for the layover in SLO? My recollection is the distance between the siding home signal just beyond the station and the signal at the end of the siding (used to be
"the yard") is about 4800'?

Bruce

Could have been holding them out so Foothill Blvd wasn't blocked until a crew was ready or they had room for it.

Looks like you took the pic from around the west end of old Tunnel 10.


Nudge

It is double tracked though the San Luis Obispo station and then there is a 6,025 foot siding which where a train normally waits before going south or north. The tracks going south once you are at the depot are only crossed at grade by one street, Orcutt Road. Tank Farm Road which is further south goes under the siding.

StStephen Wrote:
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> On Friday I drove through SLO on Hwy 1 and saw the
> empties stopped just UP south/SP east of Stenner
> Creek. This was about 3:00 pm. Was there a
> reason for stopping there (there is no siding
> there)? Was that an anomaly or a regular
> occurance? Also, is there a need for the train to
> be broken in two for the layover in SLO? My
> recollection is the distance between the siding
> home signal just beyond the station and the signal
> at the end of the siding (used to be
> "the yard") is about 4800'?
>
> Bruce
\
Amtk 11 in the station at SLO...#14 on single track south of MP251, coming north. The amtraks meet at south SLO, with #14 proceeding into the station on track 1. After 11 departs south, the empties being held at Stenner creek, are brought down track 2 to tie down at south SLO, waiting for new crew. Happens when a repo train (usually autos) is right behind 11, and 11 and 14 are meeting at SLO.

Thanks PDT, that makes sense!

Bruce