Passenger Trains > Caltrain Diesels Fun (Mountain View to San Mateo)

I procrastinated until the last 2 days of Caltrain diesel service between San Francisco to San Jose, to commit myself to "ride & foam" of Caltrain. This was September 19-20, 2024, Thursday and Friday nights.

For decades, I treated Caltrain as mere utilitarian transportation, rarely dedicating a day or more strictly for railfanning. When I did a Capitol Corridor --> BART --> Muni --> Caltrain circle trip earlier in the week, I told myself what the heck, let's do preemtive nostalgia by railfanning the diesels.

After looking at the paper schedule to see which stations had the most (if not all) trains make the stops, I rode a Stadler set to Redwood City. First clip reveals my motive, to document a diesel accelerating, in this case, F40PH #915 pulling Train #314 and the Bombardier cars.

I let some Stadlers pass by until a northbound #135 with Bombardier cars showed up. I wanted to document the interior, so I hopped onboard and detrained at San Mateo, 2nd, 3rd, 4th short clips, middle, upper, and lower levels respectively.

I didn't know the train assigments, and no gallery cars showed up under my time constraints, so when Train #136 showed up with MP36 and Bombardier cars (5th clip), I hopped onboard to record "Caution. The doors are about to close," 6th clip.

The engineer definitely saw what I was doing, so while recording MP36 acceleration at Mountain View, he gave me a belated "shave and a haircut" after he did the obligatory long-long-short-long at the pedestrian crossing, last clip.

- Bombardier Cab Car, Train #310 at Mountain View.
- Video as described.

(more next)

---

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

I observed the southbounds I met while going north to Redwood City and San Mateo, so the next day, Friday, I showed up earlier to try my luck at documenting the gallery cars. Instead of buying a day pass for 2 zones, I was arrogant enough to stick to 1 zone, and made Palo Alto the northernmost stop for the day.

I hopped on Train #311 at Mountain View, and the first long clip documents the ugly cab car, people boarding/detraining, and me getting onboard and going to the upper level.

I felt like the kid with the blue shirt in this clip. But unlike him, I got pure kid joy with adult wisdom. Gotta make the most of aging! The kid called out the southbound Mission Bay ("Dad! A freight! I told you I saw it earlier!") the video of which I'll post later.

#311 departs Palo Alto in the second clip, more F40PH acceleration documented. I guess seeing El Palo Alto was not possible from the northbound platform...

I knew from Thursday that Train #312 should have F40PH and gallery cars... and fortunately, it did, led by TO-famous F40PH #908. El Palo Alto is the tallest tree near the middle of the composition, third clip.

I hopped onboard #312, which was delayed due to wheelchair boarding. In the meantime, "Baby Bullet" #711 showed up and departed, which I recorded from my upper level seat onboard #312, fourth clip.

I documented going down the narrow steps from the upper level, fifth clip, still onboard #312.

I wanted one more diesel acceleration clip, and I got it at Mountain View after I detrained, last clip.

Alstom rebuild date should be November 2001 in image #2, which was difficult to read even when I zoomed in on the original image.

(more next)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/24 17:26 by cchan006.

---

---

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

All these taken on September 20, 2024, Friday...

- Lower level, cab/bike car, looking toward the cab.
- I'll miss this view (approaching Palo Alto).
- TO photogenic F40PH CDTX #908 at Mountain View.

---

---

---

Some Palo Alto shots...

---

---

---

UP's Mission Bay job caught me at Redwood City (Thursday) and Mountain View (Friday), both southbounds returning to Warm Springs Yard. Didn't plan on this, just luck, hence the less than ideal lighting.

That's it for the report.

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

My son commutes daily between Sunnyvale and Redwood City, and uses the bike car.  He says the new trainsets are faster and "super nice".

Joe

Great coverage! Thanks for the effort.
Iwas not fond of the F40s especially since they made the horns awful several years ago.
But, I'm aready bord with the trolley trains.
Regards, Jim Evans
 

cchan006 Wrote:

> I wanted one more diesel acceleration clip, and I got it at Mountain View after I detrained, last clip.

Good job catching the reflection on the train to the right!

Great write-up. I delayed and delayed on taking a last ride on a gallery until Friday around 5pm intending to photograph trains I suddenly had strong desire to ride one instead. Like you I picked the nearest station where I'd be able to catch any train which was Millbrae. I thought parking was going to be nightmare but got street parking a few steps from the station for free. 

Forgot to tap off a couple times and blew a lot of money on these last few rides! Should've just gotten a pass. 

It was definitely worth riding the galleries a few last times. Also rode an EMU for the first time so best and only time for a comparison and the EMU was really incredibly smooth. Noisy bathroom doors. 

Great videos and photos, Charles!  You really captured the feel of boarding and riding the gallery cars.  The first time I rode Caltrain in 2005, I immediately went to the upstairs and plopped down in one of the single seats closest to the stairwell - which had been my favorite spot ever since.

Rich

Nippon Sharyo builder's plate is missing (or stolen?).
Also, didn't know they were assembled in San Francisco :)

More great coverage, and informative narrative!
GK