Western Railroad Discussion > Altamont pass freight?

I'm going to Altamont pass next week to try to photograph some trains and wonder if there are any freights on that line or will I have to make due with ACE in the morning and evening? Any information at all is helpful for a swedish railfan on vacation! :-)

You may be in for a long day waiting for freight action on the line. I noticed that last few days a crane working between Hearst and Sunol on a bridge over Alameda Creek during the daylight hours between Ace west/east trains. I don't know if the almost-daily Warm Springs to Roseville manifest is taking the Cal-p line through Oakland or not?

Other than that, a daily ZNPOA stack train makes an appearance, although it's timing varies. The ILTLT Lathrop to Oakland and back "shuttle" runs in the early morning hours.

You may get lucky with 4 daylight freights, you have a better possibility of getting skunked. I'd recommend joining "headsupnorcal" email group on yahoo. A number of guys live near the Oakland sub and give a "headsup" on most of the freight action in the Bay Area.


Good luck!

Posted from iPhone

Thanks! I'll give it a shot and see what happens. 4 trains are better than 0! :-) I joined the group as well so that might help.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/17 09:36 by narails.

Here is the norm for Altamont lately, based on casual observation, and besides the obvious Ace trains.

MOW - basically all day every day atcs shows them doing stuff all over the line. Bridgework west of Hearst, heat inspections, etc. Altamont sees very little freight these days anyway, and the constant daytime MOW windows don't help matters for railfans.
ILTLT - Tu, Th, Fri, Sat mornings it goes east, after a west run in the dark. Times and consists can vary.
ZNPOA - almost always at night these days, though it does fall back a bit and work west with the Ace fleet at times
MWSRV - afternoon train just ahead of the east Ace fleet. Runs daily except Sun.

Less frequent are empty dirty dirt trains, though lately they have gone Cal P, as well as a baretable move to/from Radum. The 54 local used to be a reliable Wed, Sun switch move out to Lox, just east of Livermore, but even that doesn't appear to be running as consistently as it once did.



narails Wrote:
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> I'm going to Altamont pass next week to try to
> photograph some trains and wonder if there are any
> freights on that line or will I have to make due
> with ACE in the morning and evening? Any
> information at all is helpful for a swedish
> railfan on vacation! :-)

> ILTLT - Tu, Th, Fri, Sat mornings it goes east,
> after a west run in the dark. Times and consists
> can vary.

Does it usually show up before or after the morning ACE fleet?


> MWSRV - afternoon train just ahead of the east Ace
> fleet. Runs daily except Sun.


Just ahead is that like an hour or so before the first afternoon ACE?

Thanks a bunch for helping out with this! :-)

The ILTLT tends to be in the middle of the Ace fleet and hop along from siding to siding. But sometimes it is behind the entire fleet. Hard to say there is a truly consistent pattern. As for the MWSRV, it also varies, sometimes going in to sidings to get Ace 4 around it, sometimes running plenty far ahead of it. Also tends to vary with who is the afternoon dispatcher. Some get antsy 2 hours ahead of when the Aces are even due for Altamont, others keep it moving as best they can.

Basically, if you are dead set on Altamont freight action, bring a book and prepare to be there sunrise to sunset, or else you likely won't get much freight action. Just very little freight these days.

From Altamont it's 35 miles to Newark with UP and a 10ish southbound Amtrak Coast Starlight, but not much mid-day Capitol Corridor action.  It's 45 miles to San Jose or San Mateo, where you can see lots of CalTrain action.  Go 35 miles in the other direction and you're at Stockton, a hot valley town with a lot of freight action, but many not so safe areas, especially where UP and BNSF cross.  Something to keep in mind if you lose interest in waiting for freight at Altamont.  Have fun!

mapboy

mapboy Wrote:
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> From Altamont it's 35 miles to Newark with UP and
> a 10ish southbound Amtrak Coast Starlight, but not
> much mid-day Capitol Corridor action.  It's 45
> miles to San Jose or San Mateo, where you can see
> lots of CalTrain action.  Go 35 miles in the
> other direction and you're at Stockton, a hot
> valley town with a lot of freight action, but many
> not so safe areas, especially where UP and BNSF
> cross.  Something to keep in mind if you lose
> interest in waiting for freight at Altamont.
>  Have fun!
>
> mapboy


Also, take 120 east to Escalon and the BNSF and there is plenty of action later in the week , never been disappointed there.

> Basically, if you are dead set on Altamont freight
> action, bring a book and prepare to be there
> sunrise to sunset, or else you likely won't get
> much freight action. Just very little freight
> these days.

Thanks for your help! Quality beats quantity! :-) I have already visited most other locations around the bay so I want to go to Altamont pass this time. I just read in the Yahoo group that yesterdays MWSRV used the Cal-P so not even that train seems to consistently use Altamont pass.

Tuesday's MWSRV went Cal P due to a westbound passenger special on Altamont that the-powers-that-be didn't want to delay. I believe yesterday's MWSRV also went Cal P due to a maintenance window at roughly milepost 59-60 on Altamont. The MWSRV really is an Altamont train, all else being equal, but the continued maintenance up on Altamont, as well as that crane that has been working in Niles Canyon, is unfortunately going to limit the trains you see.

narails Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I just read in the Yahoo group that
> yesterdays MWSRV used the Cal-P so not even that
> train seems to consistently use Altamont pass.

narails Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for your help! Quality beats quantity! :-)
> I have already visited most other locations around
> the bay so I want to go to Altamont pass this
> time. I just read in the Yahoo group that
> yesterdays MWSRV used the Cal-P so not even that
> train seems to consistently use Altamont pass.

The abolishing of MRVSJ/MNWRV and MMIRV/MRVMI (Roseville Turns to San Jose and Milpitas) has really changed Altamont traffic for the worse in recent years. When those jobs ran, it was easy to figure out the running patterns, even if Roseville changed things around.

ILTLT (the Lathrop-Oakland-Lathrop "Shuttle") used to run very consistently, and the eastbound run was an easy chase, since no matter which way it ran out of Oakland (Coast Sub or Niles Sub with a "spin" at Niles Jct.), the crew had to obtain and release track warrants either way, easy heads up using the scanner. Almost always ran daylight along Altamont Pass, and if it ran late, that was OK, too. Seems even ILTLT has become unreliable in recent months.

Hope the bridge work is done, and the running pattern is more consistent next time you try Altamont.