Western Railroad Discussion > Downtown San Jose Nighttime Locals

A buddy of mine recently moved to Japantown in San Jose, which makes catching the nightly locals through San Jose pretty convenient.  Tonight, I managed to cross paths with both the Mission Bay Local and the Salinas Hauler.

1) First up, the Mission Bay on its return trip to Warm Springs from the SF Peninsula, passing through the recently reconfigured intersection of Jackson and 7th Street.  In order for the city of San Jose to institute a nighttime quiet zone on this part of the line, the FRA required some interesting traffic control measures due to the extreme angle of the crossing, including restricting Jackson traffic to westbound only. 

2) The second clip is the Salinas Hauler on its inbound trip to Warm Springs from Watsonville Junction, crossing 5th Street.  

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

2nd clip:  sign says "No Train Horn."  But engineer blows train horn.  Not that I mind....I'd love seeing that every night.

At the point where the Warm Springs line joins the Coast line, is the wye still there, or just 1 leg of it?  For quite some time, it was just 1 leg, but if the Salinas Hauler is returning to Warm Springs, the other leg would be handy.

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 2nd clip:  sign says "No Train Horn."  But
> engineer blows train horn.  Not that I
> mind....I'd love seeing that every night.
>

The street signs may say "No Train Horn" but until it's shown in the railroad General Orders as an active No Horn Zone they still have to blow the horn.

Awesome! Great catches and video of untagged locos!

Posted from iPhone

It says no train horn 10pm to 7am.  How is part time horn blowing ok?  Can you have a no-horn crossing without the trackside mounted horns?

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It says no train horn 10pm to 7am.  How is part
> time horn blowing ok?  Can you have a no-horn
> crossing without the trackside mounted horns?
>
>  

Yes, I give you the BNSF along Esperanza Rd in Yorba Linda/Anaheim Hills as an example.

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It says no train horn 10pm to 7am.  How is part
> time horn blowing ok?  Can you have a no-horn
> crossing without the trackside mounted horns?

It's a pretty recent project actually, and the city of San Jose has a detailed page about it.

https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/transportation/transit/union-pacific-warm-springs-corridor-quiet-zone
 

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 2nd clip:  sign says "No Train Horn."  But
> engineer blows train horn.  Not that I
> mind....I'd love seeing that every night.
>
> At the point where the Warm Springs line joins the
> Coast line, is the wye still there, or just 1 leg
> of it?  For quite some time, it was just 1 leg,
> but if the Salinas Hauler is returning to Warm
> Springs, the other leg would be handy.

These were shot around 8:45pm and 9:55pm, so both were before the quiet zone hours took effect.

Both legs of the San Jose wye are active, and have been for many years now (at least since CEMOF was built 15 or so years ago).