Western Railroad Discussion > San Diego BNSF action

Now I am interested in knowing the basic symbols and what they are's of the BNSF frieghts in the San Diego area. I know of:

Escondido Local, which services Escondido.
M-SDGBAR and M-BARSDG, Bartsow to San Diego

Is the San Diego to Barstow train the one with the autoracks?

Also, are there any other freights I'm missing out on? Thanks.

metrolinkvalleysub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now I am interested in knowing the basic symbols
> and what they are's of the BNSF frieghts in the
> San Diego area. I know of:
>
> Escondido Local, which services Escondido.
> M-SDGBAR and M-BARSDG, Bartsow to San Diego
>
> Is the San Diego to Barstow train the one with the
> autoracks?
>
> Also, are there any other freights I'm missing out
> on? Thanks.

The autorack train is a separate train from the SDGBAR AND BARSDG. It likes to come into San Diego after the SDGBAR heads out.

I've read here from others that there are 2 late night trains also.

Today's SDGBAR had 7 locos and aprox. 20 cars.

Last Friday, there were two outbounds within 2 hours of each other.

As the last poster said, the M-BARSDG and M-SDGBAR trains are regulars on this line, both operating seven days per week.

Southbound vehicle trains are usually 100% empties from San Bernardino. I believe these trains often depart from San Bernardino mid-morning on an irregular basis, as needed in San Diego. Loaded vehicle trains depart from San Diego on an irregular basis as well, usually 2-3 times per week.

I'm not sure if the local (L-CAL0151) is really called the "Escondido Local" or not, it works evenings and has work at Miramar and other points along the mainline. With the ongoing construction on the Escondido Branch, the San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad is supposed to be handling the Escondido business. I know very little about this, maybe others have the details.

> along the mainline. With the ongoing construction
> on the Escondido Branch, the San Diego &
> Imperial Valley Railroad is supposed to be
> handling the Escondido business. I know very
> little about this, maybe others have the details.

The Escondido line is shut down during the workweek for construction. BNSF is able to run freight from Friday night to Sunday night to a staging location. SD&IV has a switcher in Escondido to switch the businesses during the week from this "staged" frieght.

Charles

MSDGBAR1- San Diego - Barstow manifest
MBARSDG1- Barstow - San Diego manifest
VSDGMCI3- San Diego - McCook IL vehicle
VSDGRIC7- San Diego - Richmond CA vehicle
VSDGBIR7- San Diego - Birmingham AL vehicle
VSDGWAT7- San Diego - Watson empties (rare)
VSBDSDG3- San Bernardino - San Diego vehicle empties
USBDSDG1- San Bernardino - San Diego soda ash
USDGSBD1- San Diego - San Bernardino unit empties

LCAL0151- The Escondido Local (S-M-W-F Escondido, T-Th-Sa Miramar)

RCAL0051- 1st La Mirada Switcher
RCAL0061- 3rd La Mirada Switcher
RCAL0071- 4th La Mirada Switcher

BNSF_9965 Wrote:
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> VSDGRIC7- San Diego - Richmond CA vehicle
Extremely rare.

> VSDGWAT7- San Diego - Watson empties (rare)
Extremely rare.

> USBDSDG1- San Bernardino - San Diego soda ash
> USDGSBD1- San Diego - San Bernardino unit empties
Both trains have not operated in a very long time.

> RCAL0051- 1st La Mirada Switcher
Works Irvine and industries on the Olive Subdivision. (early to mid-morning hours)

> RCAL0061- 3rd La Mirada Switcher
Works the Kimberly Clark & Packers Leads in Fullerton. (daytime hours)

> RCAL0071- 4th La Mirada Switcher
Works the Alcohol Spur in Anaheim and a couple of industries in Fullerton, before going to Pico Rivera. (night hours)

On consecutive days a little more than a month ago (31 March, 1 April), I observed southbound vehicle trains south of Irvine in the early afternoon. The first day, one such train showed up at San Clemente around 2, but it tied down at Oceanside. On the second day, a vehicle train showed up at Oceanside at 1 and ran all the way to San Diego, meeting the MSDGBAR down around Solana Beach somewhere. On both days, the MSDGBAR reached San Clemente right around 3 p.m., making for very nice lighting there. There was a northbound vehicle train ahead of the MSDGBAR on the 31st only.

(See Trip Report from early April for more details)

On Sunday April 24, I saw a southbound vehicle train by the Fair Grounds in Del Mar as I was whizzin north on the I-5 Superslab. It seems to me it was around 12:30 or 1:00 PM.

- Kit