Western Railroad Discussion > UP Officer Special - SLO-RNO

Seems like UP has been running business trains along various sections of their territory. I had a feeling one may be creeping along the coast one of these days, and JMF1910 confirmed it! The train departed SLO this morning around 5:30am and made good time to San Jose. I caught it at CP Lick, right before the Coast Subdivision enters San Jose, CA. Our local commute traffic has been working on a bridge since the recent flooding, so the dispatch has been single tracking trains between CP Lick and San Jose Station. The special held at Lick for an on time south bound Coast Starlight and I was able to shoot the meet.

Luckily for me the dispatcher ran the special through San Jose riding Yellows. I was able to catch up with it as it went through my usual haunt at College Park. The train is off to Reno and will have great day light conditions over Donner Pass this afternoon.

1. Parallel to Monterey HWY
2. That beautiful lean - coming up to a red
3. Meeting AMTK 11

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Wow, great timing! Thanks for sharing...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Awesome work, dude! You picked a great spot to shoot with so few viable options along that stretch. Love the second shot, and perfect timing on the meet.

A big thanks goes to TO'er Walstib for his updates from the road as this special flew north this morning.

Good shots and good meeting you at College park, SCUfoamer, and also thanks jmf1910 for the heeds up. Shown here at College Park (CP Stockton)

Jim B

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Memo to business car shop - Omaha or Cheyenne: Esthetics boys! Can you pay attention to the roofline of the trains?
Ugly - plain ugly!

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

I'm absolutely amazed the dispatcher held this special for an on time #11. Back in my day, if there was a special on the Coast, the DS would have us take siding for it when it was still half the state away, and we'd sit and rot away. No amount of pleading could convince the DS to let us go at least another siding or two up the road for a better meet, for fear that the muckety-mucks on the special would get any color at all. Much better to make a train load of paying passengers late. That used to be the UP way. Have times changed, or is that dispatcher now looking for a new job?

irhoghead Wrote:
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> I'm absolutely amazed the dispatcher held this
> special for an on time #11. Back in my day, if
> there was a special on the Coast, the DS would
> have us take siding for it when it was still half
> the state away, and we'd sit and rot away. No
> amount of pleading could convince the DS to let us
> go at least another siding or two up the road for
> a better meet, for fear that the muckety-mucks on
> the special would get any color at all. Much
> better to make a train load of paying passengers
> late. That used to be the UP way. Have times
> changed, or is that dispatcher now looking for a
> new job?

I was wondering the same thing. The whole journey between Gilroy and Newark was a mystery to me. I am no railroad professional, but I would've run the special to Santa Clara, do the usual crew change there and then bomb up to Sacramento uninterrupted by AMTK 11. It would've gone by while the train was crew changing. Instead this train had to stop at CP lick for 10 minutes, Tamien for 3 minutes, and then ride yellows all of the way to Newark for a crew change. Oh well. Helped me get the shots.

The roofline reflects business reality, not aesthetics.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I doubt there were any "Muckety
Mucks" aboard. It looks like an engineering inspection special.

JBOmaha



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/17 15:40 by Copy19.

This may have been Caltrain dispatcher territory, not UP, so UP muckity mucks don't have as much juice.

Otherwise, Rule 1: "Never try to apply logic to understand railroad operations!"

Jim B

This train had an interesting meet on the coast yesterday at Capitan.

While it's not unheard of to stage meets there, Capitan has hand-throw switches, and most Amtrak meets occur at Elwood (9 miles south) or Gaviota (10 miles north.)

Surfliner 777 was running ahead of the special, and held the main at Capitan. Amtrak 11 was late and went into the siding a few minutes before the special got there. The special nipped at 777's heels all the way to San Luis Obispo.

This morning, the special rolled out of San Luis Obispo at 05:50. I had set my alarm for 5, and it's a good thing I didn't hit snooze.

The special ran lickity split up to San Jose. I jumped ahead from Gilroy to Hearst to catch it there, skirting Bay Area traffic.

Right now I'm sitting at Soda Springs waiting for it. Since I'm going all the way to Reno, I figure I might as well chase it to Salt Lake City tomorrow before heading home via Las Vegas.

But wait, 844 pulls into Ogden tomorrow. I sense another chase ahead.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/17 17:21 by walstib.

walstib Wrote:
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> This train had an interesting meet on the coast
> yesterday at Capitan.
>
> While it's not unheard of to stage meets there,
> Capitan has hand-throw switches, and most Amtrak
> meets occur at Elwood (9 miles south) or Gaviota
> (10 miles north.)
>
> Surfliner 777 was running ahead of the special,
> and held the main at Capitan. Amtrak 11 was late
> and went into the siding a few minutes before the
> special got there. The special nipped at 777's
> heels all the way to San Luis Obispo.
>
> This morning, the special rolled out of San Luis
> Obispo at 05:50. I had set my alarm for 5, and
> it's a good thing I didn't hit snooze.
>
> The special ran lickity split up to San Jose. I
> jumped ahead from Gilroy to Hearst to catch it
> there, skirting Bay Area traffic.
>
> Right now I'm sitting at Soda Springs waiting for
> it. Since I'm going all the way to Reno, I figure
> I might as well chase it to Salt Lake City
> tomorrow before heading home via Las Vegas.
>
> But wait, 844 pulls into Ogden tomorrow. I sense
> another chase ahead.
>
> Posted from iPhone

I Noticed the same looking insp. Special, video posted here, on 4/21/17, in the "Steam & Excursion" category, thread titled "2nd Passenger train on the Pocatello Sub Yesterday" looks like the same engine number.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4276501

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/17 18:19 by RailRat.

jimB Wrote:
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> Good shots and good meeting you at College park,
> SCUfoamer, and also thanks jmf1910 for the heeds
> up. Shown here at College Park (CP Stockton)
>
> Jim B

Nice additions to Andrew's collection at CP Lick, Jim.

SCUfoamer Wrote:
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> 1. Parallel to Monterey HWY
> 2. That beautiful lean - coming up to a red
> 3. Meeting AMTK 11

Love the lean, and nice catch of the meet! I know there's a hotbox detector nearby (MP 52.6).

Charles, it isn't a true railfan event without your being there!

Jim B

All great shots but something about #1 has a special appeal.

Call me ignorant if you like but what exactly is the car after the engine? It's new to me!

Power car

sparky52t Wrote:
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> Call me ignorant if you like but what exactly is
> the car after the engine? It's new to me!

That is the power car, "Orca", that supplies the electrical power to the train. It also has a bedroom for the power car operator in it. The hump was for the 48" cooling fans for the power room.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

why do they need a power car? isn't there enough juice coming off the main engine generator?