Western Railroad Discussion > Neither a Trick nor a Treat

Tough times on Caltrain and for the Union Pacific’s LSF51.

My son had a school event today that parents could attend via separate morning and afternoon sessions. I brought a camera with me thinking that I would head over to the Port of Redwood City a few miles from his school and try to catch the UP LSF51 local working the port during the lunch break between sessions.

The LSF51 typically heads south from South San Francisco after train 118 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I first stopped by Hillsdale Station on the way to his school to catch it on the mainline heading south, but there was clearly a significant problem on Caltrain. Tuning into the Railroad Radio channel for the San Francisco Peninsula / Caltrain JPB, it sounded like PTC went down system wide. The dispatcher had their hands full getting crews permission to move without PTC and providing them instructions to try to get things reset. With delays of 15 to 20 minutes and rising, I had to bail on getting a shot of the LSF51 at Hillsdale.

Photos 1 and 2: Northbound train 119 is just over 15 minutes late making its stop at Hillsdale.

Continued…

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During the break, I headed to the Port of Redwood City to see if I still might find the LSF51. The delay to the LSF51 getting to the port via Caltrain should have worked in my favor a bit, as I’ve typically found them switching the port between ~11 am and 1 pm, give or take. I drove the length of Seaport Blvd and the Frontage Rd with no local in sight. It’s possible that they weren’t running to the port today, as they occasionally come down to switch only Redwood Junction, so I made the U turn at the Cemex facility to leave. I thought I was in luck on the drive out, as I spotted what looked like a tank car being pushed down the port lead. As I got closer, I noticed a disabled dump truck blocking the right lane. Closer still, and I realized all was not well.

Photos 3 through 5: The LSF51 managed to tag a dump truck pulling out of the Granite Rock aggregates facility. Fortunately speeds are low on this industrial track, and there weren’t signs of anyone being injured. I’d mostly be concerned for the switch crew, as usually a brakeman rides on the end car pushing into the port to flag and guide the train. I pulled into an office park and set out to grab some photos of the dump truck bumping uglies with a tank car.

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Photos 6 through 8: Some more of the tank car vs dump truck. The tank car remained on the tracks, but the right rear of the dump truck was swept off its feet.

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Photo 9: Yeah, that’ll buff out.
Photos 10 and 11: The better looking end of the LSF51. This definitely wasn’t what I expected to shoot. I ran out of time to see how things got resolved, though I’m pretty sure I heard the train coming north through Burlingame sometime after 4 pm. (It might have been an earlier than usual LRQ50 I was hearing, however, although I’m not sure if that train comes north to SSF on Fridays.)

Cheers,
Sean

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Beautiful day on the Peninsula, and really like that last one.  B

Who ever was on that shove is going to be gettting handled for failure to get off and flag that crossings. Especially with a FRA rules change in the last couple months on the subject. 

Great set of sharp photos from San Mateo and Redwood City.  In Pic #1, the NB Caltrain EMU appears to be coming around a curve into the Hillsdale stop. Having visited the new Hillsdale station several times in recent years, I can't recall anything but a tangent there, from at least as far south as around 37th Avenue.  Is the curve merely an illusion, with the tracks just separating to accomodate the platform between the two mains?

Thanks for sharing these,

Rich

I see those truckers whip around the driveway to make a right onto the frontage road without stopping all the time. I also see them pull adjacent and fowling the track to pull their tarp up. Normally the trains shoving about 5 mph.

Thanks!

Historically there was a slight curve just north of the original location of the Hillsdale Station as you approached the location where the Bay Meadows Station stop was located. When they did the grade separation, they built the new elevated line to the west of the existing ROW. This pushed the track out a little further, and it looks like they stretched the curve out using a larger radius than what was previously there. (They built the grade separation first, starting near the north end of the old Hillsdale Platform, and they added the 31st Avenue underpass after the grade separation was complete, iirc.) The curve is also being accentuated by the fact that I was shooting from a kneeling position only a couple feet above grade at 150mm on a micro 4/3 camera, which is a FF equivalent to 300mm. (That is, I telemashed the curve.)

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> Great set of sharp photos from San Mateo and
> Redwood City.  In Pic #1, the NB Caltrain EMU
> appears to be coming around a curve into the
> Hillsdale stop. Having visited the new Hillsdale
> station several times in recent years, I can't
> recall anything but a tangent there, from at least
> as far south as around 37th Avenue.  Is the curve
> merely an illusion, with the tracks just
> separating to accomodate the platform between the
> two mains?
>
> Thanks for sharing these,
>
> Rich

Yeah, they drive super aggressively given the size and weight of what they're operating. I'd question if they're being paid by the load, and thus wonder if they're inclined to move more quickly. The speed bumps on the frontage road don't seem to slow them down much.

ChrisCampi Wrote:
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> I see those truckers whip around the driveway to
> make a right onto the frontage road without
> stopping all the time. I also see them pull
> adjacent and fowling the track to pull their tarp
> up. Normally the trains shoving about 5 mph.

if they're driving like a madman, its by the load.
 same applies to container haulers at the port.