Western Railroad Discussion > A couple Northern California questions

Hi all --

My wife and I are taking our kids to San Francisco for April vacation.  This will be my first visit to the West Coast so I'm obviously looking to shoot a few trains while I'm out there.

If I make my way to Jack London Square in Oakland, it seems from photos I've seen that the Amtrak corridor trains that call there have locomotives facing south/east, and cab cars lead going back to Sacramento.  Is that accurate?  Any time of day better than others to catch a freight at Jack London Square?  Any good spots along the Bay around Pinole, or is that all private property?  I took a quick look at Google Earth but I didn't see any obvious spots (though a more in-depth look might be more fruitful).

Is there a significant amount of daylight traffic in Franklin Canyon, or is it mostly at night?  Seems like I don't see a huge number of photos from there.

If I should happen to stumble upon the Napa Wine Train, are they still using the MLW cab units?  I thought I heard they were using Geeps now?

And finally, do the San Francisco Belt Railroad (or the UP local that it connects with) operate on anything resembling a regular pattern?

Thanks!



 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/20 11:35 by pennsy3750.

All Capitol Corridor trains have cab cars
at the Sacramento end.

See the new overpass on the public trail
at Pinole?

https://goo.gl/maps/xqcViz6xCt2Jc7Kd8

Check out my report on photography at Pinole along the Bay Trail
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4812619,4812624#msg-4812624

WP17

The nice thing about the Jack London Square area (besides easy access) is that passenger trains that originate or terminate there deadhead to or from the yard a bit north of there so you get a chance to shoot them twice. The only train that normally has power on the north end is the northbound Starlight (at night), although single-level San Joaquins will have a "cabbage car" (unpowered F40PH) on the north end. Note that Zephyrs 5 & 6 do not operate to Jack London Square.

A good area to shoot Amtrak and UP along San Pablo Bay is the Pinole/Hercules border, from bike paths and streets that parallel the track. The Martinez station is a nice place to hang out, but the photo angles are somewhat limited. Franklin Canyon isn't so busy anymore (since BNSF opened their intermodal facility near Stockton), but there's still UPS, autorack, and manifest traffic. Mid-to-late afternoon seems a good bet. The best plact to shoot  is probably at Christie (Christie Road off Highway 4, just east of the golf course) for good afternoon light in both directions. For westbounds, Hercules (west end of Collier siding or behind the Home Depot) are good. BNSF uses track warrants between Richmond and Port Chicago, so a scanner will be very helpful. 

A don't think the Wine Train is using the FPA4s anymore (and maybe not the RS-11 either) but it's still very worthwhile to chase. The lunch and dinner trains normally use Geeps (chop-nosed GP9 in G&W colors, gold GP20 from the Sierra, and black high-nose GP38-2), while the small trains that make winery visits generally use one of the GE centercabs. It's best if you can go on a weekend when there's liable to be more than one train running. Check their website to see what's running on a particular day. Note that the website refers to "experiences" and that one train may offer more than one "experience." The best way to figure out how many trains are running is to check departure times from Napa; if more than one experience shows the same departure time, that's all one train. Only one train goes all the way to the end of the line at the Charles Krug Winery. The lunch/dinner trains turn at St. Helena. They dispatch with Direct Traffic Control via radio (like the SP's latter days), so a scanner is very useful. If there's enough trains running, there can be a number of meets and overtakes at various sidings. The sunlight heavily favors southbounds, so when I chase it I often don't bother shooting the northbound moves, although I like to be there for the arrival at the Charles Krug Winery. They're supposedly getting at least one new low-emission (probably Knoxville) locomotive soon, so shoot the eclectic power while you can.

Finally, if you have an interest in streetcars, spend some time in San Francisco on Market Street or along the waterfront. A whole variety of vintage cars (PCCs painted for all the cities that had them, plus cars from MIlan and other foreign cities) are in constant operation. Go to www.streetcar.org, which links to a GPS-based map that will show you which cars are currently in use and exactly where they are on the line. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/20 14:11 by wpamtk.

I would definitely take the kids to the trolley museum in SF!

The Martinez Amtrak Station and the surrounding area is also a good place to hang out, with similar traffic levels to Jack London, but wayyy safer.

If you have a rental car in SF, never ever leave the car with anything visible inside.  Smash and grabs are rampant, no matter where in the City you are.

Jack London Square is an easy walk from Lake Merritt BART, or you can take the free Broadway Shuttle down to the Square from the 12th Street station.  Taking a ferry is a civilized way to get from the SF Ferry Building to JLS.

Have a great trip!
 

Here's another thought--ride a Golden Gate ferry from the Ferry Building over to Larkspur in Marin County, then ride the SMART train to Petaluma or Santa Rosa for sight-seeing, dining, and shopping. Petaluma is particularly nice for this, and you would experience the novelty of riding a part of the old NWP that was freight-only for 60 years. You'll get a nice ferry ride across the Bay, and no car needed. If you can avoid it, don't have a car in San Francisco; between the congestion, parking woes, and break-ins it's often more trouble than it's worth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/20 23:56 by wpamtk.

You didn't ask, but here's some more advice: If you want to take the fam on a ride on the cable cars, the 1-day visitor pass is the way to go. A one-time-only ride costs $8, but for $13 you can ride all day on all cable car, street car, and bus/trolley lines. The streetcars run to and through some pretty interesting and scenic areas, and some dedicated right-of-ways. One trip I took several years ago, albeit much of it on foot, was thus: Got off the streetcar at a station in the tunnel between the Twin Peaks, climbed to the top for a fantastic view of the city, walked down through a gorgeous residential area, down to the infamous corner of Haight and Ashbury, then down the whole length of Golden Gate Park to the ocean, where a streetcar line took me back downtown. (Don't know if it's there anymore, but there was a fantastic Mexican restaurant at the West Portal station.) 

Emeryville is safer than Jack London, and has a convenient pedestrian overpass. Plus it also gets the occasional BNSF freight.

Posted from iPhone

Don’t leave valuables in the car anywhere. SF is by far the worst but Oakland, Emeryville, Pinole and Martinez aren’t too much better. Martinez is a much more calm place to watch trains (Amtrak and token UP trains), than say Emeryville. If you want street running then it’s Jack London Square.

BNSF seems to be very sporadic these days. The best bet on a weekday for Franklin Canyon is the westbound Z train that should hit between 1200-1400 hours if on time. Could be a bit later. Usually runs later on a weekend.

This is the best time of the year now for the Napa Valley, but as stated on the south bound run.

Gave a good time.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

There are two such restaurants on West Portal Ave; a Mexican and a Mexican-Peruvian within about half a block of the station. Our son took us there. It was great. Enjoy your trip.

Dave McBrayer

Another suggestion would be to take a Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento.  It is a very short walk from the station to Old Town Sacramento which includes the California State Railroad Museum, as well as restaurants and other attractions in Old Town Sac.  It is an easy trip to Sac from Jack London Sq or Emeryville, and a pleasant ride.

You could also take a Caltrain from SF to San Jose and then take the VTA light rail to various attractions around town. All these suggestions that include taking a ride could be a way to combine railfanning with family time. If anyone on your party likes antiques, downtown Martinez is rife with antique shops. One could ride out there on a Capital Corridor or San Joaquin train for a combined shopping/train-watching jaunt. Again, no car needed.

nickgeorge25 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Martinez Amtrak Station and the surrounding
> area is also a good place to hang out, with
> similar traffic levels to Jack London, but wayyy
> safer.

AlcoRSD15 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Emeryville is safer than Jack London, ....

Ok, you guys are giving good ol' Jack London Square a bad rap.  

Jack London is not unsafe..in fact, it's always busy because it's popular with tourists -- and locals!!  (There's lots of upscale lofts and apartments in the area now.)

And with its great public plazas, dozens of interesting restaurants, and beautiful water views - and trains running down the middle of the street! -  it's wayyyyy cooler than Martinez or Emeryville!

(Be sure to go by the Western Pacific's old Oakland depot right there in Jack London Square as well - it's at 3rd @ Washington..) 

(And from Jack London by car - although I much prefer going by bicycle - it's a short trek to Adeline Street, where a left turn takes you over a long overpass above the Amtrak yard and across the middle of the UP intermodal rail yard.. Adeline turns to Middle Harbor Road which parallels the very busy Oakland container port and leads to Middle Harbor Park, which affords spectacular views of SF Bay and the Bay Bridge and the mammoth cranes loading/unloading the great container ships. There are remnants here of the old Oakland Mole, the pier that was the western terminus of SP's transcontinental passenger services, as well as WP's smaller freight pier on the south side of the park. The SP mole's old interlocking tower has been preserved and supposedly there's a small museum inside, though it's never been open whenever I've been by there. For anyone who's seen and enjoyed all the stories and photos of the Oakland Mole posted on T.O. by KeyRouteKen and others, it's amazing to be there and envision where everything must have been and how busy a place it was, with trains - electric as well as steam and Diesel - arriving and departing and passengers rushing to catch their ferries to The City.. It will make you wish you had a time machine...)

Have a great trip!!!
 

wpamtk wrote:
----------------------------------------
> Finally, if you have an interest in streetcars, spend some time in San Francisco
> on Market Street or along the waterfront.

On my earlier post I wanted to emphasize that, what is so cool about San Francisco is how it is a veritable working transit museum, with a system covering much of the city with such exotic modes as cable cars, and streetcars of the type you only see in museums elsewhere. And all in daily use by the everyday citizenry for commuting, etc. just as they did when you found them in every American city. Plus, many of the iconic San Francisco attractions, like Chinatown, Lombard Street, and Fisherman's Wharf, are reachable by the street railways, all for the price of a pass.

There is some afternoon traffic on BNSF in Martinez including a UPS train westbound most weekdays around 2 or 2:30pm. A good vantage point in the Mt Wanda trail in John Muir National Historic Site whre you can get a good view of the Muir trestle before the westbound trains head into Franklin Canyon. Can anyone else help out with a more complete schedule of BNSF movements in that area? There is also an occasional eastbound auto carrier train in mid-afternoon.