Western Railroad Discussion > Twenty Five Kilovolt Tuesday: UP Wings Edition

The return to Daylight Savings Time last week means railfans on the San Francisco 
Peninsula can once again reliably get their non-Caltrain fix in before sunset with
UP's northbound LRQ50 Mission Bay Local.  The Warm Springs-based job arrives at
about 17:00 on weekdays in the San Jose/Santa Clara area for a sprint to South
San Francisco right in the middle of the p.m. rush on the Caltrain mainline.

Yesterday's train is seen at 17:38 approaching Broadway in Burlingame.  
UP9902-9915-1516 are leading 27 cars--rather sadly that's considered 
to be a big train in these parts.

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Despite a commute train running every 15 minutes Caltrain's San Jose dispatcher
doesn't hesitate to throw the Mission Bay into the mix.  Caltrain #421 pictured
below is making track speed and is just 6 minutes ahead of the 50 job.

The Broadway station in Burlingame is served on weekends only and still has it's
classic SP center island Rule 6.30 "hold out" platform.  Makes for a lot of weekend
radio chatter.

Postscript:  The Mission Bay is not the only daylight freight on the mid-peninsula.
The South Sab Francisco-based LSF51 heads down to Redwood Jct. on M-W-F mornings
around 10:00.  In a shot from last week the 51 is seen under the 25kV wires southbound
passing the trilights at 22.2 approaching San Carlos.  Two units and a longer train
are more typical.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/26 06:59 by milepost20.

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milepost20 Wrote:
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> The return to Daylight Savings Time last week
> means railfans on the San Francisco 
> Peninsula can once again reliably get their
> non-Caltrain fix in before sunset with
> UP's northbound LRQ50 Mission Bay Local.  The
> Warm Springs-based job arrives at
> about 17:00 on weekdays in the San Jose/Santa
> Clara area for a sprint to South
> San Francisco right in the middle of the p.m. rush
> on the Caltrain mainline.
>
> Yesterday's train is seen at 17:38 approaching
> Broadway in Burlingame.  
> UP9902-9915-1516 are leading 27 cars--rather sadly
> that's considered 
> to be a big train in these parts.

Great photos. I was planning on taking a trip to the Bay Area to meet a friend and to railfan a good portion of UP/Cal Train operations along the Penninsula Corridor. 

Is the LRQ50 a weekday train? Is it an every day of the week type train or does it run specific weekdays. 

I already know about the LSF51 runs M W F and originates out of South San Francisco Yard, but are there any other locals I should know about? 

Any info would be great. 

The good old days at a holdout station

Daily dilemma: hold back at South San Fran?

The Mission Bay ran on Sunday evenings until about three years ago but is
now weekdays only.  The LSF51 runs in the morning on Tu & Th from SSF to Pier 96
in San Francisco involving running on the Caltrain main for about 5-6 miles.

The LWJ72 Salinas Local runs from Watsonville Jct. to Warm Springs and back
passing through San Jose northbound around 08:00 to 09:00 and southbound in
early afternoon.  The LWJ62 Rock Job forwards loads from the Granitrock quarry
in Logan to Redwood City and back with empties.  It is a nighttime operation
in Caltrain territory.

I don't believe any of the locals mentioned in this thread operate on weekends.
The southbound Salinas job is seen in attached photo approaching San Jose Diridon
on main one.

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Nice group and light.
GK

Neat series!

timz Wrote:
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> The good old days at a holdout station
> Daily dilemma: hold back at South San Fran?

 A look at the Caltrain weekend timetable shows north and southbound
trains meeting right at the Broadway stop at :21 and :51 past the hour.
You would almost think that Caltrain managers were determined to remind
the operating employees that the 6.30 rules and procedures are still
relevant today and not just some relic from SP's past.

And all this is happening adjacent to what the California PUC has rated
as the most dangerous grade crossing in the entire state and the one
most urgently needed for a grade separation.

Very nice..!!