Railroaders' Nostalgia > Reflections on a train ride

I took a train ride on the California Capitol Corridor on trains 524 & 543 yesterday between Martinez and Sacramento.
Great trip in both direction.  Perfect timing on the northbound trip, only a long delay for vessel traffic at the Benicia bridge on the return trip southbound.  ( Lunch and a visit to the Sacramento Rail Museum in between )

Saw three Capitals, a San Joaquin and #11 while waiting for my train and a friend in the morning by design and had a good chance to see how the new track layout at the station performs.  This layout follows the European design. As you might expect, I had a bit to do with the location and the track layout when the new station was built a block west of the old SP Martinez depot.  I had to be adamant that it not be moved to the North side of the track, where every trip to the station would require two trips across at least three main tracks and a switching lead.  Go figure the logic of that. A land developers pipe dream I guess.  And yes, I also got to watch an Ozol yard jab rattle by with cars for shell.  My wait/ observation time was an hour and twenty minutes.

I also saw the new Vaca Ville - Hannigan Station.  It is named for the California State Senator whose legislation let to the development of this local Northern California passenger service.   There is quite a bit about all of this in earlier mad dog chronicles.
I guess it is about time for some more of that story.

I also need to take a trip to Salt Lake City, UT.   Ride UTA and see how that new commuter service is doing.   The negotiations that granted the rights to run commuter trains to UTA was one of my last projects at the UP.  I actually stayed on as a contractor for over a year to finish the deal.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/19 05:11 by mdo.

mdo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I took a train ride on the California Capitol
> Corridor on trains 524 & 528 yesterday between
> Martinez and Sacramento.
> Great trip in both direction.  Perfect timing on
> the northbound trip, only a long delay for vessel
> traffic at the Benicia bridge on the return trip
> southbound. 

Is the Cal-P now considered north-south instead of east-west railroad? And why opposite direction both even? Does the Capitol Corridor not recognize the time-honor tradition of even in one direction and odd in the other direction? My days on the Cal-P ended in the mid-80s and I'm sure there have been many changes.

Well at least you are reading it as I typed it.  Seat box error. The westbound trains are all odd numbers of course.  I gave you the wrong number   My westbound train left Sacramento at 3:38 pm.  That would have been train # 341.  Good catch.

as to timetable direction on the Martinez sub,  this subdivision is now North/South on the UP and that was changed sometime after the UP acquired the SP some time after 1996.  The public schedule which I have in front of me now does indeed still call the directions  East and West.

Current TT directions on the UP are Martinez sub E/W, Niles and Coast N/S, Fresno sub N/S, Valley sub N/S, Oakland Sac and Canyon subs E/W.

Ok,  thank you for straightening me out.  Now maybe I will be pointed in the correct direction.

As a young resident engineer (Engineering Dept, not a locomotive engineer) for Amtrak West around 1993 or so, I rode the head end of a Capitol Corridor train from San Jose to Sacramento one morning.  Locomotive was a new Amtrak GE in the "Pepsi" scheme.  I think it was at Santa Clara or Great America (?) that you, MDO, boarded the cab and you gave me a guided tour of our route all the way to SAC.  That was a great trip, thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/19 09:17 by RRTom.