Western Railroad Discussion > 30 minutes on the Franklin Canyon ridge

Monday morning Rey and I began our day of train chasing with our usual BNSF Richmond yard check.  Turned out UPS was running a bit late and an eastbound UPS train was just doubling over at North Bay.  And at the east end of the Richmond yard a RICBAR was just beginning its double over.  So we knew we would have two eastbounds allowing us to take advantage of the morning light, and that we would have time to do a bit of hiking in Franklin Canyon.  So we hiked up to one of our favorite vantage points in the Fernandez Ranch part of the John Muir Open Space District.  The spot we chose is a mile and half each way and 400 feet up, but provides a splendid morning view.  Often we have waited hours for a train and occasionally been skunked, but this morning it looked like we would be lucky.  A few minutes after we arrived we heard on our scanner the UPS train telling the following RICBAR that it was grinding up the one percent at 17 mph. Richmond must have been short of power that morning, since the UPS train usually has at least three units, and we have seen the RICBAR with as many as eight.  The next few minutes produced the attached three pix, first the UPS and two of the following RICBAR.  San Pablo Bay and Sonoma County in the background.

JBWX



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 10:45 by jbwest.

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After getting the three pix in the first post above, it was clear that there would be no more BNSF trains for awhile and it was approaching lunch time, so we decided to hike back to our cars (two cars in order to social distance) and see what was happening on the UP.  So we headed over to the Martinez Bay Front Park for our picnic lunch and to look out for the RVOA, planning to hike in to another vantage point on the Carquinez Straights trail while the RVOA made its time consuming setout at Ozol.  Then a strange thing happened.  A long westbound mixed UP freight appearred on the Benecia bridge, right on time, eazed down the grade to Ozol.......and kept on going without stopping.  Huh?  Well, no time to hike to our vantage point to we continued eating lunch.  Then suddenly another long westbound UP mixed freight appeared on the bridge and this one did pull into Ozol for a setout.  Is the RVOA being run in sections?  Both trains seem shorter than the typical RVOA beheamoths we have recently seen.  Having lost our confidence in knowing what as going on, instead of hiking we drove to Lone Tree Point for a shot of a early ATK 5 and the second freight. But all in all not a bad day of train chasing.

JBWX



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 11:32 by jbwest.

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Really like the UP shot!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Great pics of my old stomping grounds.  You're ok this time of year but pretty soon the poison oak will eat you up while hiking above Ozol and  Franklin Canyon.
I used to enjoy fishing off the rocks just west of the Ozol yard.  It depended who was on duty at the yard office, sometimes we were kicked out and other times just waved at.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 09:10 by LarryB.

Great set of photos, looks like one of the BNSF Anniversary units 2nd out on the UPS train in the first pic.

Rich

Nice series!

Oh how I miss the Bay Area! Great location!

Those first three photos are awesome, John!  You said that you hiked quite a distance to your photo locations.....my first guess was that you rented some mules to get to those great spots!

lynnpowell Wrote:
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>my first guess was that you rented
> some mules to get to those great spots!

My wife sometimes thinks I have some traits in common with a mule.  Rey and I like Franklin Canyon (and the Bay Tail along the UP) because it gives us a chance to both get some exercise as well as train pix.  We are in our "autumn" years, so keeping fit is increasingly challenging.  But use it or loose it. The four hundred foot climb to some photo spots along the ridge is Franklin Canyon is exhilerating, both because of the views and because WE CAN STILL DO IT.

JBWX

It's a gorgeous hike. Trails connect, or soon will, eastward to Martinez and westward to Briones / Hercules. 

That tract of land has had just two owners since the Spanish land grant: original Fernandez grantee family and the current Land Trust. 

Back in the old days one had almost unfettered access to trails everywhere in the Bay Area.  Today there are no trespassing signs everywhere.  Fortunately more and more land is becoming publically owned open space, and the west end of Franklin Canyon and north to the Carquinez Streaights is a great example.  I also like to chase the NWP and a lot of the mudflats along its line between Novato and Brazos are becomeing publicly owned wetlands.  But sometimes it does get a bit ridiculous.  We stopped by Lone Tree Point where there is major construction underway for that portion of the Bay Trail along the UP.  I am all in favor of the Bay Trail, but you would think they were building a friggin freeway from all the dirt that has been moved.  Somehow I think the concept of a "trail" has gotten lost as each bureaucrat as added this and added that.

JBWX  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 13:10 by jbwest.

Nice series!

Very NICE!!

Larry

Spectacular views of Franklin Canyon and San Pablo Bay! I can see Brazos Bridge I think in the first shot--maybe get an over under here one day. 

Last week it was reported on CalRailFans Facebook that the UP ran a MRVOAX which ran from Roseville to Warm Springs, not stopping in Oakland, but returning there light engines. Maybe Monday they did that again with the Warm Springs traffic going separate from the Ozol and Oakland cars. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 16:41 by phthithu.

-Those first three shots are extraordinary, when visiting friends in the Bay Area I always wanted to check out this canyon. Thanks for sharing, always great to get some exercise and beautiful photos.

Are those MRVOAX's that skip West Oakland hauling empty auto racks for Tesla loads in Milpitas? With loads direct from Warm Springs back to Roseville?

Sounds better than running on the MRVOA to the MOAOA turn thence a Milpitas local.

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> lynnpowell Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >my first guess was that you rented
> > some mules to get to those great spots!
>
> My wife sometimes thinks I have some traits in
> common with a mule.  Rey and I like Franklin
> Canyon (and the Bay Tail along the UP) because it
> gives us a chance to both get some exercise as
> well as train pix.  We are in our "autumn" years,
> so keeping fit is increasingly challenging.  But
> use it or loose it. The four hundred foot climb to
> some photo spots along the ridge is Franklin
> Canyon is exhilerating, both because of the views
> and because WE CAN STILL DO IT.
>
> JBWX

If you're ever looking for a third, I'm 65, love to hike for similar reasons, obviously love to railfan, and having only been a Bay Area resident for 4 years still don't know where I can semi-reliably catch big time freight trains like the four you caught today without driving all the way to Lathrop/Escalon, Stockton, or Sacramento/Roseville.