Passenger Trains > Pacific Surfliner, Fullerton-San Diego, MTS to UTC

Here are some pics from Friday, 8/5/22.
Shortly after driving to Fullerton, CA station, a P.A. announcement informed passengers that Amtrak train #564 (southbound to San Diego) would be 30 minutes late.  Later announcements extended the delay to 45 minutes, and then 55 minutes.  At least there was plenty of train watching during the wait.
1. An eastbound BNSF freight rolls by on Track1
2. Distributed power on the freight.
3. A second BNSF freight, with a BNSF leader and three NS engines, shows up a while later. No distributed power on this train.

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4. A closer look at the NS power.
5. While the second eastbound was rolling  past, a westbound came by on track 2, also with a mix of BNSF and NS power.  The westbound was a mix of containers and TOFC.
    There were also several Metrolink trains that went by during the wait.
6. The P.A. announcements were updated to mention that Amtrak passengers could ride Orange County line Metrolink trains using their Amtrak tickets.  While a few passengers boarded the Mtrolink trains, most waited for the late Amtrak train.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/22 15:22 by casco17.

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7. Another Metrolink train arrives.  Most, but not all, had the engines on the "outbound" end of teh trains.
8. Outbound Metrolink train meets LA bound Amtrak train just east of teh Fullerton station.
9.  Amtrak train 564 arrives about an hour late.  Once on board, the conductor informs us that the delay was caused by a cafe car with "mechanical issues" that had to be swapped out at Los Angeles.
The train was held at Fullerton for a "hotshot" BNSF freight, but was then authorized to continue on.  The BNSf freight was held just east of Fullerton Jct., evidently due to signal issues.  By now the Amtrak train was "out of its time slot" and would lose another 30 minutes before getting to San Diego.  Segments of this line are still single track (San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Del Mar) so some meets required waits.
 

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10. Stuart Mesa, Coaster maintenance facility
11.  Most Pacific Surfliners now have two 'Business Class' cars, with the second car a refurbished Superliner.  
12. San Diego Old Town (OLT in the Amtrak reservation system) has a great "cross-platform" transfer to the San Diego MTS light rail system.
      The MTS uses a Pronto card or on-line account.

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13. An MTS train crosses Taylor Street at the north end of the Old Town station area
14. The newest MTS extension, to UTC (University Town Center) opened last year; much of this line is on an elevated right-of-way in a hilly section of town.  This shows passengers leaving at the end of the line. The MTS cars to ride (for photography purposes) are the older red cars; the newer cars all have advertising wraps which make picture taking next-to-impossible.
15. A view out of the cab, before the operator arrived

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16. Back in downtown San Diego, here is a view of C Street, near the Court complex.  There are frequent light rail trains along this route.
17. A decent size crowd waiting for northbound Amtrak 581 at San Diego.  
18. While walking to board, this backup move was underway nearby.

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19. Maintenance equipment at the Miramar wye
20. Arrival back at Fullerton was about 10 minutes late; not bad

It was good to get out for another train adventure

Thanks for looking

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Interesting to see the California Corridor Coach - refurbed funded by the State of California. I think it was 20 or so cars that the State ended up having Beech Grove repair and put back in service. Amtrak couldn't do wreck repairs for their regular trains, but CA had the money and did. 

A very informative trip review and a great set of photos.

The back-up move pictured in Photo 18 is the two coaches and locomotive that came down on No. 770 and are being added to a LA bound train to provide extra seats during  the Del Mar horse racing season.