Passenger Trains > Caltrain's Funeral Train Highballs San Carlos

Running a tad later than estimated by the folks at Caltrain(by some 6-8 hours) todays
gallery equipment funeral train is seen behind the JPBX901-503 at 14:55 in San Carlos
running on the blocks of train #244.  I believe I counted 12 cars.

Part of a group of 34 cars stored in San Francisco that is part of the first tranche to
be moved off the property.  The following report from this past December details Caltrain's
disposal plans:

https://www.caltrain.com/media/32407/download

---

---

---

Today's train was still not the longest Caltrain has run of passenger equipment.  Back in
September 2018 a 2-unit 16-car PTC test train was shuttling around one weekend.  Seen
southbound on main one approaching San Mateo behind(again) the 901.

---

Hope  they  find  a  home  and  operation. 

Perfect car sets to use to extend CALTRAIN to Salinas--why throw them away??  

The cars are still solid and useful.  They could also be used to extend service to Redding, CA, or other regional needs.

The Salinas Caltrain runs could probably have those battery powered Stadler MUs assigned to them. As for service to Redding, I don't think those trains would use Caltrain equipment. The service to Redding would be operated by Amtrak as part of an extension of the San Joaquin service. Those Gallery Cars are strictly designed for commuter rail, not intercity operations.

41 Bombardier passenger cars and 9 diesel locomotives will
remain post-PCEP for Gilroy service and fleet resiliency.

-Caltrain

Yes in the short term, Caltrain will indeed be using their diesel hauled sets for the shuttle trains that run between San Jose Diridon and Gilroy. After all, we will still have some time to photograph them running south of San Jose Diridon. I may be in the Bay Area this Fall and would love to photograph both the electrics and remaining diesels of Caltrain.

Passfanatic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes in the short term, Caltrain will indeed be
> using their diesel hauled sets for the shuttle
> trains that run between San Jose Diridon and
> Gilroy. After all, we will still have some time to
> photograph them running south of San Jose Diridon.
> I may be in the Bay Area this Fall and would love
> to photograph both the electrics and remaining
> diesels of Caltrain.

As someone else posted, the diesel fleet will be the MP36s pulling the Bombardier cars.  F40's and gallery cars will be retired as the electric service spins up.  Ridership must be pretty low though currently for CalTrain to be ditching so many cars already before the eletrics have even turned a wheel in revenue service.

Nathan

Caltrain should be careful about where they store these cars. Vandals with spray cans are ready. More with shears to remove anything copper.

That 16 cars PTC special shot is super cool!
If I was Amtrak, I would scoop up those gallery cars and run them on the Carbondale corridor!

Ridership on Caltrain is probably not that close to 2019 levels and at this point, that really doesn't matter. The commuting habits have changed permanently. After the electric service begins, I could certainly see many people traveling on Caltrain as close to the number that was before the pandemic hit. Rush hour ridership might not be as strong as it was in 2019 or below but it probably will be passable. Not everyone using Caltrain is commuting to Downtown San Francisco. There are many people who work retail and other service jobs in those suburban communities like Millbrae and Palo Alto who will depend on the train if they live close enough to a station since it's the fastest mode of transportation. It's been a almost two decades that I rode Caltrain last but I remember tons of commercial development being within walking distance of the stations.