Steam & Excursion > San Diego Steam Trip Equipment?

Didn't see any official information on either the NRHS or SBRHS sites, but an earlier post mentioned the train 3751 will be pulling is going to be made up of Amfleets. Could anyone confirm?

I just happen to be in town that weekend for my sister's graduation, and I'd love to ride the steam special, but if there aren't going to be any open vestibules to actually hear the sound of steam and feel the wind in my face, I feel like I'm just paying for an expensive trip to San Diego with a viewing of the engine switching down there.

How about a photo run-by or two?

Dave

I believe Santa Fe #3751 will run down to National City, to run around
the reverse loop. There is a wye at the end of Washington Street in
San Diego near Old Town.

No wonder these trips are getting fewer and farther between.

How many diesels are behind the tender??? Keystone1

sp2353 Wrote:
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> I believe Santa Fe #3751 will run down to National
> City, to run around
> the reverse loop. There is a wye at the end of
> Washington Street in
> San Diego near Old Town.


Think the Wasington St.wye has been out of service of several years? Tail track goes into the Marine Corps Recurit Depot. The Marines would have to open the gate. I can remember when the Santa Fe San Diegans use to head in going south, and a switcher would couple up and pull them to the Santa Fe Station. Think I saw a 2900 4-8-4 turning there once? Don't think they had a baloon track back then?

I repeat... how many DIESELS are behind the tender? Keystone1

Keystone1 Wrote:
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> I repeat... how many DIESELS are behind the
> tender? Keystone1

As quoted in another topic on this forum:

"10 cars max, due to platform length limits at San Diego. P-42, as helper and HEP source, hopefully on the rear."

Since a P42 looks like a box they could paint it black with washable movie paint which is floor wax and dye and it would like a tender

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Does this trip have FINAL approval from Amtrak?????????

I mean FINAL approval.

Since Amtrak doesn't own any of the tracks, the better question is what have BNSF, Metrolink & Coaster have to say about 3751 running on their RRs. It's been said that Amtrak is handling this, but have they actually been given their permission yet.

BNSFCajon Wrote:
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> Since Amtrak doesn't own any of the tracks, the
> better question is what have BNSF, Metrolink &
> Coaster have to say about 3751 running on their
> RRs. It's been said that Amtrak is handling this,
> but have they actually been given their permission
> yet.

Amtrak Special Operations has convinced us that all of the approvals are on the way. We do not start selling tickets until we are convinced that the trip will happen. If we weren't convinced, we wouldn't start selling tickets.

Scott
Publication Manager
Excursion Committee
Central Coast Railway Club

So you still don't have all the approvals yet.

What is the forecast that day? Will it be sunny? Will the tempature be the best for making steam come out of the stack? Will the fireman make smoke at my favorite location? Are they using an authentic Santa Fe whistle? Will the engine crew, including the pilot crew dress correctly for the period? What date will it run if it rains? Will BNSF insure that only Warbonnets will be on the trains we pass so it appears more authentic?

tucker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the forecast that day? Will it be sunny?
> Will the tempature be the best for making steam
> come out of the stack? Will the fireman make smoke
> at my favorite location? Are they using an
> authentic Santa Fe whistle? Will the engine crew,
> including the pilot crew dress correctly for the
> period? What date will it run if it rains? Will
> BNSF insure that only Warbonnets will be on the
> trains we pass so it appears more authentic?


LOL!!!! And here's another question - will the bathers on the beaches be wearing swimsuits appropriate for the big steam era?

Dave

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tucker Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What is the forecast that day? Will it be
> sunny?
> > Will the tempature be the best for making steam
> > come out of the stack? Will the fireman make
> smoke
> > at my favorite location? Are they using an
> > authentic Santa Fe whistle? Will the engine
> crew,
> > including the pilot crew dress correctly for
> the
> > period? What date will it run if it rains? Will
> > BNSF insure that only Warbonnets will be on the
> > trains we pass so it appears more authentic?
>
>
> LOL!!!! And here's another question - will the
> bathers on the beaches be wearing swimsuits
> appropriate for the big steam era?
>
> Dave


Let's not get carried away. There are SOME things better about the current era.

Three or four coaches at the head end like Ross Roland's "Sound and Fury" would make buying the ticket a no brainer. I always thought it was odd on those New Jersey trips to use cars that completely isolated the rider from the star attraction, while the open car "Sound and Fury" was wall to wall railfans picking cinders out of their hair...ahhh, good times eh?

tucker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the forecast that day? Will it be sunny?
> Will the tempature be the best for making steam
> come out of the stack? Will the fireman make smoke
> at my favorite location? Are they using an
> authentic Santa Fe whistle? Will the engine crew,
> including the pilot crew dress correctly for the
> period? What date will it run if it rains? Will
> BNSF insure that only Warbonnets will be on the
> trains we pass so it appears more authentic?


Will there be any chasers making donations to help keep 3751 alive?

The wye is not out of service, but requires that trains from the depot saw over to the southbound main. It can accommodate an engine and about 3 cars without opening the gate, but the Marines don't like it to be used. They get nervous with trains there. Not sure I'd trust that wye to hold a steam locomotive anymore...

PWB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sp2353 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I believe Santa Fe #3751 will run down to
> National
> > City, to run around
> > the reverse loop. There is a wye at the end of
> > Washington Street in
> > San Diego near Old Town.
>
>
> Think the Wasington St.wye has been out of service
> of several years? Tail track goes into the Marine
> Corps Recurit Depot. The Marines would have to
> open the gate. I can remember when the Santa Fe
> San Diegans use to head in going south, and a
> switcher would couple up and pull them to the
> Santa Fe Station. Think I saw a 2900 4-8-4 turning
> there once? Don't think they had a baloon track
> back then?

BNSFCajon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So you still don't have all the approvals yet.

We, Central Coast, do not start selling the tickets until we know the trip will happen. We have been in the excursion business long enough to know better.

If you want proof, look back over the last 20 years. Not one of our trips, whether it was a solo sponsored trip or a joint venture with another club, has ever been cancelled after tickets sales started. There were two cases when a trip was changed at the last minute for reason beyond our control. One was the Feather River trip as part of the joint NRHS & RL&HS convention in 1999. The day before the trip the UP had a tube failure with the 844. For safety reasons, UP substituted a diesel for the 3985 because at the time they did not understand what cause the problem with the 844 and didn’t know if the 3985 had the same problem. The second time was a Pacific Limited Group trip through the Feather River form Oroville to Portola in the mid 90’s. It was actually two trips. One round trip through the canyon on Saturday and a second round trip on Sunday. On the Saturday trip it rain over 10 inches in the canyon and at one point we were stuck in the Canyon because of a rock slide for over an hour. For safety reasons it was decided to instead of going through the canyon on the Sunday trip, that we would go the opposite direction from Oroville to Fremont.