Passenger Trains > After 51 Years the San Joaquins Name is History

They said they were gonna do it and they did it.  After 51 years running as the San Joaquins
the service has now been renamed as the Gold Runner effective today 11/3.  Amtrak introduced
the trains on a combined SP-ATSF routing in March 1974.  They'll have to do a quick patch job
on the San Joaquins branding on the sides of the new Venture coaches.  Today's press release:

https://goldrunner.com/amtrak-san-joaquins-becomes-goldrunner/

In a related matter the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commision will be introducing a four phased
approach to the food service issue.  As they work their way through the various phases it will
include vending machines, pre-ordered food brought to your seat by an attendant and airline-style 
cart service.  And, yes, a pilot program of food trucks at select stops.  Looks like all meals to be
taken at your seat with no tables.  Details: 

https://goldrunner.com/cafe-car-menu/

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name change to go along with downgrade in service quality.  
Not sure i uderstand the concept of spending millions of $ to downgrade the quality of service

Dumb.  Not needed.

It will always be the San Joaquin To Me!!!!

Posted from Android

Given the multiple downgrades in service, the service shoud not even have a name, just train numbers like an old Pen Central timetable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/25 06:00 by joemvcnj.

Gold Runner = Fool's Gold



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/25 04:02 by Englewood.

People not from California don't know how to pronounce it and if you're front California you don't know how to spell it.

Gold Runner OTOH just sounds corporate. The logical name is Central Valley Service. It tells you what it is.
 

Nothing Golden about food service like that.

-John

I don't like the name Gold Runner at all. First off, the route primarily serves the San Joaquin Valley and many of those towns along the line-I don't think there is much gold history related to it. There is certainly nothing golden about not having any sort of food service on a train that takes a long journey of several hours. The snacks that are offered on the Gold Runner route aren't that healthy either. I seriously hope that the SJJPA is going to bring some sort of food service car to the Gold Runner(always known as San Joaquin) to me, even if its vending machines with healthy food items. 

Does/did the name change from "San Diegan" to "Pacific Surfliner" elicit as much complaints and criticism?

longliveSP Wrote:
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> Does/did the name change from "San Diegan" to
> "Pacific Surfliner" elicit as much complaints and criticism?

No becasue they at least refer to a place or corridor.
What does "Gold Runner" have to do with the San Joaquin or Central Valley ? The 1800's California Gold Rush ?  

No- although historic, the Pacific Surfliner name was chosen when service on that rote was expanded north to include Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo- on or near the coast. Plus, the Surfliners still feature cafe car service. The cafe car service was ended by the San Joaquin Rail Authority which seems to be run by ACE interests (corrected from BART- thanks to corrective comment made) which, of course, has no food service. It just isn't that beer, wine and liquor are no longer available on board but no hot food, lukewarm water and sodas- and not-so healthy "free" snacks.

One other issue for passengers is that, without a cafe car, there is less room to stretch out (no seating except one's own seat). At least SP automats had an attendant with tables and chairs. It is also intersting that even Chicago's Metra has a new cafe car which does feature tables and thus, extra seating. No booze sold there but still they have a better amenitity than a California-sponsored train. California's government spends mega dollars on a high speed train to nowhere but lets patrons of the Gold Runner have downgraded service worse than the final days of SP's San Joaquin Daylight.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/25 18:22 by jeffgeldner.

Can't call them the "San Jokes" any more.

Must come up with something new.

In SP days sone referred to Trains 51-52 as the Valley trains. "Valley Regional" would have worked but the JPB may have though it sounded "too AMTRAK."

The name change reflects the operation changing from Amtrak to Herzog as the operator. Amtrak owns the rights to the "San Joaquin" service, and Gold Runner was the best the politicians could muster.

And probably paid a marketing firm $$$ to come up with the idea. "Rebranding".

Victor Baird

coach Wrote:
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> Dumb.  Not needed.

coach Wrote:
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> Dumb.  Not needed.

The name change is needed because Amtrak owns the rights to the San Joaquin name and California eventually wants a new operator for the (downgraded) service.

Coach got it right.  As to Amtrak "owning" the name, that should be easy to fix.   if SJJPA atually needs a new name, Valley ______ should suffice.

BrynMawr Wrote:
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> Coach got it right.  As to Amtrak "owning" the
> name, that should be easy to fix.   if SJJPA
> atually needs a new name, Valley ______ should
> suffice.

Obviously he didn’t because it’s violating copyright.

jeffgeldner Wrote:
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> The cafe car
> service was ended by the San Joaquin Rail
> Authority which seems to be run by BART interests
> which, of course, has no food service.

No, it is run by Altamont Corridor Express, which also has no food service.  The ACE and SJJPA boards are identical.

Capitol Corridor and BART boards are identical.

 

Passfanatic Wrote:
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> I seriously hope that the
> SJJPA is going to bring some sort of food service
> car to the Gold Runner(always known as San
> Joaquin) to me, even if its vending machines with
> healthy food items.

=====================================================

So do I, and plans are in the works.  The oft-mentioned vending machines are among them, as are carts to be wheeled in the aisles.

If Herzog is to be the operator, and the SJJPA probably favors them due to their longstanding working relationship with them on the Altamont Corridor Express, they'll need to come up with a model for the food services, which are not (to my knowledge) provided on any of the services they currently operate nationwide.

A Herzog subsidiary recently took over the joint passenger maintenance facility in Oakland from Amtrak.  When they did, some San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor trains were temporarily suspended due to equipment issues, which generated some comments among railfans.  However, there was good reason, and the truth has been revealed:

“When we took over the intercity fleet, we found a large number of defects that didn’t meet our quality standards. Since then, our team has been working around the clock. For example, one F59 locomotive had been out of service for 600 days. We sourced a fully rebuilt engine, secured all needed parts, and put it back together. We’ve also tackled major wreck repairs in-house with Herzog’s expertise and outside contractors, completing three so far. Within our first week, we restored six cars to service.”