Passenger Trains > UP 9914 brings 31 Caltrain cars up Creston Hill today

Thanks to intel on this move, I was able to hike back in at Red Top Road in Fairfield, CA and catch this deadhead move today of (31) Caltrain cars headed for storage at Schellville.  It feels like the passenger train that NEVER ENDS when you watch this--haha-- enjoy!!

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Kind of like a practice run for retirement?  Nice catch!

TheButcherofBena Wrote:
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> Kind of like a practice run for retirement?  Nice
> catch!

Thank you, my friend, and well said!   Felt great to think that a lifetime on the rails could come full circle and see me just watching em roll by like this-- was a good day!

Here comes the Homeless Hilton.

Doors open and windows knocked out!  Lucky they didn't get torched!

These cars are a public asset, paid for by the taxpayers, and this is how a government agency lets them go??  Surely someone else needs them, or can use them.  This is really disppointing to see.  They could be used to extend CALTRAIN to Salinas, for example, rather than be vandalized.  Or another state could buy them.  

Were there no offers on these cars at all??

In reading a PTJ issue a year or two ago, METRA still had about 10 or 12 Gallery cars in service, vintage P-S C&NW and Budd CB&Q cars from the 1950's. It can't be easy keeping them in service. Wouldn't these Caltrain cars from the 1980's be an improvement ? 

That might be the most passenger cars at one time on that line!  Sad to see usable cars trashed like that, hopefully they can find a good home and serve for some time to come.

Nathan

Thanks for sharing the video! Those of us back East really enjoy seeing the action out West.

B&O Bill

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> In reading a PTJ issue a year or two ago, METRA
> still had about 10 or 12 Gallery cars in service,
> vintage P-S C&NW and Budd CB&Q cars from the
> 1950's. It can't be easy keeping them in service.
> Wouldn't these Caltrain cars from the 1980's be an
> improvement ? 

Way more than that. There are dozens of Budd CB&Q ones in service. Most BNSF trainsets have a few, SWS trainsets often have 1-2. On the UP lines, it seems like the P-S ones are getting less common or gone as coaches, but many have been made into bike cars.

So these cars are now basically scrap.
Taxpayers should be furious with Caltrain. 
Since Caltrain has no intention of safeguarding this
equipment why are they not sent to scrap immediately. 
Why should they sit around and be torched, broken, and
spray painted. An eyesore on the landscape.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/24 11:34 by CP8888.

And force Caltrain to replace and restore all these cars to their proper state when they were retired.  They know that California is a lawless bunch of idiots.  It was their job to protect this equipment from the mob.  

caltrain gallery cars to storage - Search (bing.com)

Sent to storage, 'for sale'.  Contact Caltrain if you know a buyer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/24 08:03 by rantoul.

MEKoch Wrote:
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> And force Caltrain to replace and restore all
> these cars to their proper state when they were
> retired.  They know that California is a lawless
> bunch of idiots.  It was their job to protect
> this equipment from the mob.  

"Lawless," "Mob."  Come on now, be better.

IC_2024 thank you for the video of an interesting move on a lightly covered branch and shortline. Clearly the end of an era is fast approaching with Caltrain.

So, a lot to address with some of the comments here. While I get that folks might feel impassioned about equipment and such, let's try to get some things straight.

First, from Caltrain's website, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which owns and operates Caltrain, consists of representatives from San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties. This is a county run regional transportation authority, not a state agency. The authority does receive funding from the counties, state, and in some cases federal sources, in addition to farebox revenue. As a taxpayer of San Mateo County, the State of California, and the United States, I'm not sure that I want to see my tax dollars going to maintain a fleet of nearly 40 year old cars that don't fit into the operating plan for the agency going forward. The Nippon Sharyo cars should be fully amortized and depreciated, and they've served a long and useful life. Indefinitely maintaining a fleet of cars that are no longer needed and useful to said agency, nor generating revenue, is unwise for an agency that is already struggling post-pandemic with farebox revenues and funding shortfalls. If they can sell them to another agency that needs them, great. Otherwise, they should be scrapped. Send a couple to the CSRM or GGRM, etc., if they'll have them. I just don't buy the argument that these have to be preserved or used or what not. If that is the case, why isn't there a ready fleet of 1920s era SP Pullman commuter cars waiting in the wings? It would be throwing away money, that's why. If there are buyers, let them come forth. Would a private individual want to be forced to maintain an old car that is expensive to maintain and never driven? How about a business? Why should a public transit agency be forced to do this?

One also needs to consider and understand how the current diesel powered Bombardier and Nippon Sharyo equipment would be integrated with the electrified operating plan. Frankly, it doesn't fit very well based on the schedules they'd like to run. Greater acceleration and deceleration are needed, and this is expected to be accomplished with the electric train sets. I'm not familiar with all of the literature and studies conducted on the old equipment, but having spent many hours on all of Caltrain's car types I can say that the Nippon Sharyo cars are a lively ride. If you'd like a rundown of the electrification program goals and status, etc., you can find it here: https://www.caltrain.com/media/31624/download My son will be commuting to his high school in the fall via Caltrain, and the new twice hourly local trains in each direction will provide him much more flexibility getting to and from school, and it will be a marked improvement in service for communities along the entire corridor between San Francisco and San Jose.

Regarding a service extension, one would have to ask if this equipment would be required to provide service beyond Gilroy versus using the equipment they've already earmarked to run to Gilroy. Discussions of this extension of service have been in the works for decades now, and with the electrified equipment coming on line, there will presumably be enough remaining Bombardier equipment to handle the limited frequency of trains to Gilroy and beyond, if needed. Note that Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties are not part of the JPB, so if those counties would like to protect and maintain the Nippon Sharyo cars until such time as they might be needed, let them put forth a proposal and cash. I'm not sure where some of the posters live that are up in arms about these cars going to pasture, but perhaps they could establish an endowment to preserve this equipment with their own money, set up a GoFundMe, etc.

Speaking with a conductor on Caltrain recently, it sounds like some of the electric trains might be put into service before the full cut-over. I'll miss the F40s when they're gone. The type has provided passenger locomotion since the year I was born. I'm sure I'll also be nostalgic for the Nippon Sharyo and Bombardier cars as well. Having ridden electric trains similar to Caltrain's new equipment in Europe and Asia I expect a marked improvement in service, however. It's difficult to realize how dated passenger service is in the United States until you spend some time in places that do it really well. We've a long way to go, unfortunately.

Sincerely,
One of the bunch of lawless though non-furious California taxpaying idiots

Edited (twice) to correct minor typos...add anal retentive to my adjectives above



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/24 14:40 by broken_link.

inCHI Wrote:

> Way more than that. There are dozens of Budd CB&Q
> ones in service. Most BNSF trainsets have a few,
> SWS trainsets often have 1-2. On the UP lines, it
> seems like the P-S ones are getting less common or
> gone as coaches, but many have been made into bike cars.

IIRC, the CB&Q ones are from the 1960's, except for only 5 or 6 are left from the 1950's. 

 They know that California is a lawless
> bunch of idiots.
WHAT?  
The big cities have problems, as do all big cities in the country.

Incredibly sick of the California bashing, from ppl who dont live here.
I live on the central coast (paso robles) and we dont have tagging, and  a bunch of lawless idiots here.
We also dont have Nazism, which apparently some of the country is in favor of now.   WWII apparently has largely been forgotten.

You should know better than to make a stupid atatement like that.

pdt Wrote:
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> I live on the central coast (paso robles) and we dont have tagging, and  a bunch of lawless idiots here.

What you do have are some really great wineries and a beautiful downtown with some fantastic restaurants. Plus there are the nearby wilderness areas of the Los Padres National Forest, as well as access to Lake Nacimiento and the Pacific at Morro Bay, both within an hour. Such a terrible, god forsaken place. No one should live there. You should move.

Interesting Catch and Video!  Thanks for your posting.
ALLEN 

IC_2024 Wrote:
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> It feels like the passenger train that NEVER ENDS
> when you watch this--haha-- enjoy!!

Enjoyed! I'm sure I've been in a few of those gallery cars at least once, during joyrides, SFO airport trips, visits to SF, and so forth.