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JAMIE'S RANDOM AMERICAN RAILWAY PHOTOS.


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1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Good morning from a rather gloomy looking Charente.  The tardis is still in Roseville, CA and it's still set at 9th January 2010.  I ended up at the station at the east end of te yard and got one final look at the rotaries.

 

Then it was time to head west and the road followed the main line.  One of the depots for the Sacramento tram system is alongside it. 

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And more of them.   I think that they are all built by Siemens, whose factory is nearby.  Currently building passenger trains and locos for the Virgin Brightline in Florida, amongst other customers.

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Jamie

 

 

 

The top one of your photos shows ones for VTA in San Jose...

 

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...with Sacramento ones in the bottom photo...

 

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I think Sacramento purchased some of the original batch of cars from VTA which would explain why those paricular ones were parked there, as by 2016 VTA seemed to have a fleet consisting of just the type of car shown in my photo.

 

Just checked and they did - now #301-#320 in the Sacramento fleet. They looked like this by 2016....

 

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.

Edited by Johann Marsbar
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Thanks for the info about the light rail cars.   The Tardis is still near Sacramento and it's still 9th January 2010.  I did stop briefly in the city and one of the light rail trains came down the street.  I also saw the State capitol where the Governer was  Arnie.

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Then it was on to Walnut Creek to stay with our friends there.  Dave and Sally were good hosts.  The next morning we caught the BART into Oakland and visited a bookshop there then spent some time sitting on the street with a coffee and watching trains.  An Amtrak California service was first to arrive.

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With the distinctive California cars in tow.  Jack London Square station is just ahead.

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The road surface left a bit to be desired.

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I would have been a bit wary pedealling actoss that level crossing.  

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The outbound service seen in the previous photo then came past our bench.

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Not a bad place to sit and have a coffee.

 

Jamie

 

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Good moaning from a bright and sunny but cool Charente.  The tardis is in Oakland, CA on 190th January 2010. The Amtrak California service headed on to it's stop.

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And another Genesis came in with cars alongside.

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Meanwhile the streetlife was interesting.

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Then a different style of loco appeared, I'm not quite sure which model it is, probably an early type of F59.

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And that headed on towards the station.

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Meanwhile street furniture caught my eye. 

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More tomorrow.

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Then a different style of loco appeared, I'm not quite sure which model it is, probably an early type of F59.

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And that headed on towards the station.

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More tomorrow.

 

Jamie

 

 

That's a General Electric B32-8WH. GE's answer to GM F59

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The main two running lines along the street had certainly been relaid and the road surface improved by the last time I was there - September 2019.

The odd third track that apparently doesn't see as much use (if at all nowadays, looking closely at it) didn't seem to have changed much though.....

 

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.

Edited by Johann Marsbar
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3 hours ago, sir douglas said:

did they just add another layer of tarmac and ignore the height difference instead of taking off the top layer first

Certainly looks like it. Unless the track was gradually sinking as the ballast wasn't being tampec.

 

Jamie

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Good moaning from a rather grey and misty Charente.  The Tardis has moved to san Francisco, CA but it's still 10th January 2010. After train watching in Oakland, Sally went back home on the BART, whilst Dave and I caught another BART service under the bay to Market Street in SF, where we went up a level and got on a tram that took us through two tunnels to the West Portal of the Twin Peaks tunnel.  Here several of the MUNI lines  diverge and there are trolleybuses too.  The ovehead nearly blots out the sky.

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One brave employee stood in the road directing traffic.

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We took the  K Ingleside line to Balboa Park and where it left the  M , Ocean View Line, our driver had to get a point iron out and change the points manually.

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Dave's dad had worked for the MUNI and he knows the system well. The K line runs through the back of the tram depot at Balboa Park where we had to change.

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We are actually at a stop on the running line rather than in the depot here.

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We changed to a J, Church line tram to head back towards the city centre, Dave is checking whether this tram is for us.

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Nothing like having a native as your guide.  he was full of anecdotes about the system.

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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Good morning from where dawn is just breaking.   However  the Tardis is still in a bright and even sunny southern San Francisco and it's still 10th January 2010. From Balboa Park  the line runs down a segregated right of way.

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The Church line then meets the Market Street Line.   The modern cars continue in a subway but the street tracks remained and now host heritage cars from all sorts of places.  This one is from Milan.

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There are also many of the US Classic PCC cars, rebuilt and refurbished for this service.

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Dave and I changed onto the F line and caught the Milan car.   It was nice to see that sand was still carried for when it's foggy and the rails get slippery.

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That took us down to the Embarcadero building where the line to Fishermans Wharf starts.

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W rode that and at Fishermans Wharf one of the classic Melbourne trams was waiting.

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Jamie

 

 

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The Melbourne and Blackpool cars don't tend to get used that often as they require a 2-person crew to operate them. The 2 Melbourne and 2 Blackpool Boat cars were all out for the last Muni Heritage Festival that was held in September 2019.

The last 2 festivals were cancelled, for obvious reasons....

 

DSCF4530 DSCF4341

 

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They bring some of their own preserved stock out as well...

 

DSCF4340

 

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Good morning from what promises to be a sunny Charente.  Breakfast has been had, the hens are out and it's time to check on the tardis.   It's still in San Francisco on 10th January 2010.   Dave and I were at Fishermans Wharf where a lovely variety of restored trams were in service. Here a Melbourne car passes a trolleybus.

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I can't remember which livery this lovely PCC was in but it looked good.

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An eclectic line up of cars waiting to head back to the Embarcadero. 2 PCC's, a Melbourne and a Milan.P1115767_resize.JPG.b38a831c9719a196c25e6064f679ffa2.JPG

And of course the cable cars.   Not a bad place to watch public transport on rails.

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Dave and I then headed back to Walnut Creek after a good day out.  The next day, 11th january I set of back towards LAX.  For some obscure reason the car made a detour and called at Sunset Models HQ which is not far south of Walnut Creek.  I couldn't afford the odd GG1 they had in the warehouse but a pair of Pennsy O1a's just happenned to fall into my hands.   Strange how these things happen. Here's one of them a couple of years later.

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Then it was over towards the coastal route and down the valley.  Not many trains were seen but I did see these three locos on the opposite side of the valley at one point.

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I stopped at san Luis Obispo and this helper set was parked in the station.

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Jamie

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Good morning from a sunny Charente.  The Tardis is in San Luis Obispo on the 11th January 2010. There was still some steam era infrastructure around.

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The sunset was rather nice as well.

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Then it was time to head down to my motel in Santa Barbara.   The next morning a nice drive along the shore line , a good breakfast in a beachfront cafe then headed into LA.  Big traffic jams due to an accident.  At one point I ended up stationary with this view.  I texted my eldest son to say where I was  and he replied, " Nice to see our inheritance being wasted".

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Then out to Colton West for a last feast on UP power. 

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 The pin puller on the hump was working well.   Interesting that this job has not been able to be automated yet.

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Then onto, IIRC, Riverside bridge with a westward view to the loco servicing area.  Lots of power around and power moves.  One was at least 9 locos.

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Two SD4's were working the yard.

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Then an eastward view towards the maintenance shed.   This is where 4014 was prepared for it's return to Cheyenne.

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Jamie

 

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Good moaning from a rather windy and damp Charente.  The tardis is still in Colton West, CA and it's the 12th January 2010.   

 

This was a view looking east I'm not sure where this train was coming from.

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There were still long lines of stored locos in the yard.

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And cuts of locos moving around.

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And what I presume is some sort of shunting operation as the loco is operating long hood first.   

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All too soon it was time to head south west to LAX to catch my flight home.  Booking in was interesting.  First the security lady told me that my passport photo made me look like Bruce Reynolds. I managed to resist telling her that she needed to visit Specsavers.  Then the two Pennsy Electrics caused great commotion in the baggage screening hall on the Xray machine.  That was all settled amicably and of I went off to sit on a plane for the next 11 hours.  A bit bumpy over the eastern USA then we flew over this stately pile as we headed into a snowy Heathrow.  It was so convenient that they built it close to the airport.  However thoughts today are with a rather old and lonely occupant of the Castle.   If I may stray slightly from railways I am always grateful that my oath of office was to her and not her ministers.  

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A couple of inches of the white stuff had completely snarled up Heathrow and after waiting 3 hours to be told when I would be catching my connecting flight to Manchester, I bailed out and got the tube to Kings Cross and was home by 9pm.   A great trip and lots of great memories.

 

Fear not the Tardis still has some fuel left. A new adventure starts tomorrow.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

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Good moaning from the Charente.   The Tardis has now moved on to 2012.  For the previous 7 years I had been helping to to a former garden shed back into a working horse tram, the last one in Leeds.   We were looking for our next project and to do research into early electric trams we needed to go to the US from where the technology had been imported in the early 1890's.  4 of s decided to visit museums in the eastern USA to look at various examples from that era that are still extant.   However my friend Tony and I thought that this trip provided an opportunity for a better trip altogether so decided to make it a coast to coast road trip, looking at trains and trams along the way. The other two would join us in Chicago.   Thus in the very early hours of 11th September 2012, Tony and I were on Leeds station waiting for a train to Manchester Airport.

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A 185 then took us to Manchester.

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And an A320, I think down to Heathrow after negotiating security who were very interested in the vernier callipers that showed up in my luggage.

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I enjoyed the approach over London.

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A fairly hurried change between terminals then an AA flight to Chicago.  When we landed there as e taxied in I noticed that the flags were at half mast.  The significance of the date hadn't registered to me at all. 9/11 in our family is my daughter's birthday on November.

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As usual the first trains we saw, whilst still on the plane were the inter terminal shuttles at O'Hare.

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Then, through immigration and a flight to san Francisco.   We picked up a hire car and then managed to find our way, rather tired over to Oakland and our motel.   The next morning our first task was to go to hire car lot at Oakland airport and change the satnav, that wasn't working.   As we came away from there we saw an aviation museum and I was quite surprised to see a Sunderland.

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More tomorrow, all being well.

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning from the Charente.   The Tardis has now moved on to 2012.  For the previous 7 years I had been helping to to a former garden shed back into a working horse tram, the last one in Leeds.   We were looking for our next project and to do research into early electric trams we needed to go to the US from where the technology had been imported in the early 1890's.  4 of s decided to visit museums in the eastern USA to look at various examples from that era that are still extant.   However my friend Tony and I thought that this trip provided an opportunity for a better trip altogether so decided to make it a coast to coast road trip, looking at trains and trams along the way. The other two would join us in Chicago.   Thus in the very early hours of 11th September 2012, Tony and I were on Leeds station waiting for a train to Manchester Airport.

 

 

 

I didn't realise you were part of the Leeds horse tram restoration team.

We used some of your patterns and a lot of information when this was being restored in recent years....

 

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57 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

I didn't realise you were part of the Leeds horse tram restoration team.

We used some of your patterns and a lot of information when this was being restored in recent years....

 

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I hope to visit the Ipswich transport museum next year. Hopefully the transport and model festival will be happening again.

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2 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

I didn't realise you were part of the Leeds horse tram restoration team.

We used some of your patterns and a lot of information when this was being restored in recent years....

 

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Yes I did some consultation work for Mike Abbott that helped you get the lottery funding and did an initial survey of the tram  using our experience  gained from 107.  I then did some redesign work on our running gear components and built the truck for the Ipswich Team. They then came up to the Middleton Railway to collect it. A great team and the LTHS were very happy to help out.

 

Jamie

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Good moaning from a clear and still dry Charente, tough that may change.   The tardis is still in San Francisco and it's still 12th September 2012. After sorting the satnav we headed for the BART station and headed north and west.

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Then got off at the Embarcadero and saw some more PCC's.

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But caught an M line tram down to the Caltrain station.

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Where the immense line of F40's, with their trains wa quite a sight.

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It was interesting to see that some were double headed. 

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The line continued to the right of the previous shot.

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Whilst trams reversed in the median strip of a freeway.

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Tony was happy seeing trams and I was happy seeing trains from the same vantage point.   This view will all change soon as the line down to San Jose is being electrified. 

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As you can see it was actually sunny is SF that morning.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited by jamie92208
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I don't think any electrification hardware has actually appeared in the station area in SF as yet as the whole scheme is running very late. 

Two years ago, work was very patchy en route to San Jose and the only place that looked as though they were getting somewhere with it was just north of Millbrae...

 

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Add in 18 months worth of Covid delays and I believe completion of the whole scheme is now stated to be 2024/25.

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3 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

I don't think any electrification hardware has actually appeared in the station area in SF as yet as the whole scheme is running very late. 

Two years ago, work was very patchy en route to San Jose and the only place that looked as though they were getting somewhere with it was just north of Millbrae...

 

19-439.jpg.9bbc3e26c94141e904ad1309374af2cb.jpg

 

Add in 18 months worth of Covid delays and I believe completion of the whole scheme is now stated to be 2024/25.

There was a major article in Trains about the project a couple of months ago.  In many wzys it read like a versi9n of the Great Western Electrification  in the UK.  Probably for similar reasons, the main one bei g that this is IIRC the first major main line electrification project in the US since the extension of the Northeast Corridor to Boston.

 

Jamie

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Good morning again from a bright and sunny Charente.  The tardis is still in San Francisco on 12th September 2010.  Here is a shot of part of the line that heads south along the bay shore from town.  I think that this is some kind of lift bridge that includes overhead.P9129075_resize.JPG.46439d3da21f23100d9b4c1a536a9e96.JPG

The shore line leaves the caltrain line at right angles.

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The view looking south from where we turned around.P9129081_resize.JPG.5f268212084d7963a413fd6686cf8adf.JPG

An the view north.

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On one part of the journey the route is shared with the trolleybuses, which makes for some interesting overhead.

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On our way south Tony and I had caught a glimpse of a storage yard and so coming back got off and found this Just off the route. A big storage yard with lots of old PCC's and other things stored.  Some are wrapped in plastic to preserve them.

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There's even a cable car alongside a line of PCC's.P9129106_resize.JPG.0f8e5900b1722776b56b774a486f4241.JPGJamie

 

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