40 years of North American photography

[Chris116]

Many thanks for a very interesting thread. I look forward to seeing your photos from elsewhere around the world.

[newbryford]

JM - many thanks for the US pics.

Your most most recent SF trip reminding me that I want to go back - even though I was only there in May 2022!

Edited March 1, 2023 by newbryford
typo

[Johann Marsbar]

Rest of the World thread now started.....

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Twilight of the Caltrain F40's...........

 

 

At least I've now achieved 43 years of North American Photography!

 

This thread will burst into life again once I've gone through the 600+ photos I rook in the Bay area last week..............

[newbryford]

4 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

Twilight of the Caltrain F40's...........

 

 

At least I've now achieved 43 years of North American Photography!

 

This thread will burst into life again once I've gone through the 600+ photos I rook in the Bay area last week..............

 

I managed to see and ride them in 2022. I thought I was lucky then, but observation of the electrification progress was obviously well behind schedule then. Particularly on the northern sections.  

I can't immediately recall, but is the project about 3-4 years late? Albeit some due to covid delays.

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

5 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

I managed to see and ride them in 2022. I thought I was lucky then, but observation of the electrification progress was obviously well behind schedule then. Particularly on the northern sections.  

I can't immediately recall, but is the project about 3-4 years late? Albeit some due to covid delays.

 

 

I was last there in September 2019 and I think 2021 was the planned EMU introduction date being quoted then so I didn't expect to have another chance of riding on the diesel services again.

When looking around for a suitable destination for this trip, I didn't actually intend to go to SF again, but the flight/hotel deals were actually coming out a lot better than the other options I was looking at!

All the electrification works appear complete and they are certainly testing the new stock, though it's mainly overnight. Didn't see any moving, though a couple had their lights on at San Jose depot last Thursday. This was also in the platform at SJ Diridon that morning....

 

 

...and there seemed to be a varying number in the platforms at King/4th in SF throughout the week, so some were obviously moving about at times.

 

I  believe this September is the start date for the electric services, though unfortunately they won't be using these......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

At least with the dire weather here at the moment I've had a chance to sort through the photos now........

 

This trip actually started off as being planned as one to New Jersey covering the ground that I should have done on the March 2020 trip there that got cancelled by me at the last minute - for obvious reasons - though, as it turned out, I would just have got away with going on that one as lockdown came in on the day I was due to get back to Heathrow!

However, looking around at prices, it was apparent that a holiday could be had for a similar duration for much less money if I went to San Francisco, despite it being another 2500+ miles further away, plus the weather was likely to be better in mid-March there than it would have been in NJ. It was for most of the week, and I've spent most of the last week shivering here after temperatures in the 70's F at the start of the holiday.

 

The daily plans for the trip did change whilst I was over there, though I did cover most of what I had intended to during the week.

 

I flew out with Virgin Atlantic LHR-SFO on what actually turned out to be a B787-900 rather than the originally booked Airbus, having decided to avoid BA after my last experiences with them to SFO back in September 2019 and stayed at the same hotel that I did in Millbrae, close to the airport, which I had stayed in on my 2016 trip to the area. With the general (high) prices in the Bay area, this place had the advantage of a very substantial breakfast buffet to set you up for the day, thus avoiding the need to grab breakfast elsewhere.

 

It is located about 20-25 min walk from Millbrae Caltrain/BART station, as well as having a direct bus service (Samtrans) from the street outside into San Francisco, though that took 90 mins, even if it was only just over $2 single fare.

 

On the first morning I walked to the station and bought a $12, Zone 1/2 day ticket on Caltrain (single fare is $5.45, so worth buying), starting off with some early morning moves for photography at locations such as Belmont...

 

 

...before ending up in San Francisco for a quick walk around.  On Line F, the Kansas City liveried PCC car was out in service.....

 

 

...whilst one of the New Flyer articulated trolleybuses was seen on the very frequent Service 14........

 

 

I was actually going to spend most of that day out of SF in Marin & Sonoma Counties - to the north of the Golden Gate bridge - an area I hadn't been to previously. I travelled first to Santa Rosa via the Golden Gate Transit bus route 101, which travelled over the bridge after leaving SF.......

 

 

There are very good Public Transport services in most of the Counties in the Bay area so you can get around very easily without hiring a car. Sonoma and Marin Counties now actually have a passenger rail service again after many years (last operating in the 1950's) on the former North Western Pacific route and I returned to San Francisco via rail and ferry rather than the bus.

 

The new service started in June 2017 using Nippon Sharyo built railcars, as seen here at Santa Rosa.....

 

 

 

I believe they are the same type of units as those used on the Toronto Pearson Airport service in Canada.

 

Santa Rosa is served by a number of different bus operators and as well as the long Golden Gate Transit Interurban route that I travelled there on, there are the County bus operations....

 

 

....and City operations......

 

[Johann Marsbar]

The SMART line does cater for freight traffic and the operation has recently taken over the provision of this from a third party and appear to be actively seeking such traffic now.

As SMART is a high-platform operation, bypass loops are provided at the stations to avoid freight cars hitting the platforms....

 

 

The  former station at Santa Rosa is now the local tourist office and contains a small historical rail related display in part of it......

 

 

After a visit to a local brewpub for some sustenance (not that they actually appeared to brew their own beers....) I caught SMART south from there to the ferry terminal for San Francisco at Larkspur, the train here arriving at Santa Rosa.....

 

 

The current (and recently opened) terminus at Larkspur is a good 10-12 min walk from the ferry - via a slightly circuitous route - and the line originally used to continue onwards to Sausalito where the original ferry terminal was located.  Just south of Larkspur station is this former trestle and lift bridge which has been preserved.....

 

 

The (high-speed) ferry is quite a nice ride, giving scenic views of San Quentin State Prison.....

 

 

...and the Richmond-San Rafael bridge.........

 

 

The following day, a Saturday, I undertook what turned out to be quite an endurance test in attending the "Wings over Solano" event at Travis Air Force Base.  An early start on BART from Millbrae saw me in Oakland by 08.00 where some action was seen in Jack London Squre....

 

 

...including the southbound "Coast Starlight".....

 

 

...before I caught the 09.15 Sacramento service as far as Fairfield-Vacaville station, where the train is seen in the platform.......

 

 

The station there only opened in 2017 and, frankly, there is not exactly a lot in the immediate area, being designed as a "parkway" type operation, though apparently a lot of development is planned in the area according to some of the locals.  There was supposed to be a 15 minute frequency bus running to the airbase, and I joined a queue that got progressively longer. Word was that it had been cut to a 20 min service - though as there were no notices anywhere, that info was apparently only on the event FB page.....

Eventually, after 45 minutes in the hot sun, a bus appeared and most of the queue managed to squeeze on, so we headed off into the very heavy traffic , it taking 25 min to cover the 2 miles or so into the base, where we all got off......

 

 

We did pass one other bus working the route at the time, but by the time I left the airshow - rather earlier than I had anticipated due to the shuttle farce, that other vehicle had vanished, leaving just one bus on the route!

[melmerby]

11 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

As SMART is a high-platform operation, bypass loops are provided at the stations to avoid freight cars hitting the platforms....

Gauntletted (or Gantlet in US) tracks.

[jamie92208]

If my memory serves me well the same is done in Salt Lake City where there is freight traffic on the tramway in some places. 

 

Jamie

[Johann Marsbar]

9 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

If my memory serves me well the same is done in Salt Lake City where there is freight traffic on the tramway in some places. 

 

Jamie

 

Not been to SLC as yet, but that is one of the remaining options for this year, so I'll see if I get there or not.

 

WES in the Portland, OR, area do it as well, but the platform road is the one set back from the main track there....

 

[Johann Marsbar]

I've never had the misfortune to attend an airshow with such a shambolic entry system as the one at Travis, as after alighting from the bus, you had to join a very slow moving and long queue to pass through a security check consisting of metal detectors and a manual bag search. It didn't help that the queue, that started off about 4 persons wide, funneled down to just 2 scanners at the end.....

After about 90 minutes of roasting in the warm sunshine (whilst the show had already started....) I finally got in to the display area, the airfield security process actually taking 20 minutes longer than it did to get through the US Immigration lines at SFO on the Thursday - and that was bad enough!

It was obvious that there was no guarantee of getting my 17.30 train back to Oakland given the bus shambles to get there, so decided to just have a look round everything on static display and get away well before the headline act - The Blue Angels - performed their display.

 

A selection of some of the aircraft there.......  (I put some more in the Aircraft Photos thread on here last week)

 

 

 

 

 

The USAF Heritage flight did a display, which at least included a P51 in a "local" colour scheme to me - one of the Leiston based Mustang squadrons from WW2.......

 

 

Apart from the aircraft there were some fire service and police displays.......

 

 

The latter vehicle being one of a number of "rescue" - ie shootout/riot vehicles - that were there.

 

After 90 minutes there, I decided to go and look at the bus situation, getting on board one more or less straight away, which took me back to the station. However, I did notice that only one bus appeared to be operating, and by the time my (earlier) train left at 15.30, some 50 minutes after being dropped off, the bus hadn't reappeared!   Neither had the Blue Angels started their display - as you could see what was flying from the station platform, their C130 being the only aircraft seen displaying whilst I was there.

 

A Sacramento bound train passed whilst I was there......

 

 

...but no freights appeared, unfortunately.  A double stack intermodal had gone through heading for Oakland when I was in the bus queue when I first got there, but that was the only freight seen moving that day.

 

On the morning journey, I had noticed that MoW work was underway on BART at Richmond, so was able to get some photos of the 2 Plymouth CR-8 switchers in attendance out of the train window....

 

 

As I was back in Oakland two hours earlier than planned, I then headed off to sample the delights of Oakland United Beerworks - well worth visiting - before catching BART back to Millbrae from Lake Merritt station.....

 

 

All the original 1970's rolling stock on BART has now been withdrawn and replaced by the new stock shown above.

[Johann Marsbar]

The next day, a Sunday, was spend mainly in San Francisco.  When I looked how much of the trolleybus system I'd covered before flying out, there were still a number of major lines I hadn't travelled on so a start was made on covering those from the Sunday by purchasing one of the 7-day "Visitor Pasports" from the MUNI Kiosk at Powell St Cable Car terminus for $41.  Whilst MUNI do have a $5 day ticket which covers most of their services, it doesn't cover the Cable Cars, and with a $8 single fare on the things, it makes sense to buy the $41 ticket, even if you are only making 4 trips on them like I did throughout the week!

The cars used on the F Line, Castro-Market St-Fishermans Wharf, seemed to change on a daily basis, though none of the non-US cars were out in service as I suppose March is still a bit "off season" for tourists in SF.

That Sunday, the selection included Philadelphia.....

 

 

Cincinnatti.....

 

 

Los Angeles.....

 

 

....and a genuine SF double ended car in the 1940's colours.....

 

 

A run was taken fairly early on to Fishermans Wharf on the cable cars.....

 

 

 

...plus I took a ride on TB route 2 out to have a look at Presidio Depot.....

 

 

 

Presidio Depot is due to be rebuilt from later this year with a load of flats being built over the current open air parking area, so pictures such as the last one will no longer be able to be taken.

 

Early in the afternoon I took the ferry over to Oakland to (supposedly) have a look at the three breweries located in the Jack London Square station area, though, as Oakland United Beerworks was so good, I only got to two of them!   Buck Wild Brewing wasn't anything to get worked up about, though they did do food, which was more important and I never got to Original Pattern Brewing that day, staying in OUB for the rest of my time there.  I spent a lot of time chatting to the Server/Barmaid who was originally from Connecticut (Milford) who couldn't believe I was wearing a Shore Line Trolley Museum (East Haven) polo shirt!

 

A view of some of the vessels at the Oakland Container Terminal as we passed on the ferry.....

 

 

...and a slightly different telephoto shot of an Amtrak California service on the street running section there.....

 

[Johann Marsbar]

On the Monday morning I caught the Samtrans service 292 bus from the Hotel towards San Francisco, alighting when it passed the Route T MUNI Metro tram terminus at Sunnydale.  The Clipper Card reader wasn't working on the bus so the driver just waved me on board, and the same applied on my way back to Millbrae (on a different bus) that evening!

 

Since I was last in SF, the T has been extended, mainly underground, to a deep level terminus in Chinatown, the station building being seento the left of this photo on Stockton St.....

 

 

I believe the plan is to eventually continue the tunnels as far as Fishermans Wharf and/or the Presidio, though no construction work has been started on that as yet.

 

The first part of the morning was spent in that area, mainly photographing the cable cars, though this shot of a trolleybus on Route 1 illustrates why that mode is popular in SF.....

 

 

The California St cable car line is the least used of the 3 services and it's easier to get onboard as it is generally free of tourists. When I was there in 2016, I had a car to myself one morning for the whole return trip!

 

 

 

On the other two lines, it pays to travel early in the day, as they get fairly wedged most of the rest of the time.......

 

 

 

 

This one was coming out of the Depot for service whilst I was in the area.......

 

 

As the Sunday had been St Patricks day, they were running a "decorated" car over that weekend and I was surprised to see it still out on the Monday.....

 

 

Thankfully I missed the parade as I was at the airshow that day! 

There were enough people dressed in green on pub crawls in Oakland on the Sunday, so I dread to think what it was like on SF parade day....

[Johann Marsbar]

From the cable cars I headed off to do other things for the rest of the day.  One of the new Siemens S200 Muni Metrocars is seen at Church/Market with a New Flyer trolleybus behind....

 

 

The older Breda built cars are now slowly being replaced by the Siemens cars and they mainly seemed to be being used on the J Line at the moment, though this one is actually on the N......

 

 

One of the routes (L Line) is closed for rebuilding at the moment which is annoying as it was one I wanted to get some photos on.

A New Flyer trolleybus is seen on Route 24 on Divisadero.....

 

 

That evening, I caught the 292 bus back to the hotel from downtown SF.  The terminus has been moved to a different location since I was last there, the buses waiting in Drumm St....

 

 

Considering it was down to a 30min frequency by that time, I was surprised to see how much layover time the buses had at the terminus, with 3 buses sitting there and only the 292 running by that time of the day!

 

Caltrain had a special 3-day ticket on offer whilst I was there with 3 zones worth of travel for $39.50 instead of the usual $49.50 but their machines were only configured to start the ticket at the zone the machine was located in. MIllbrae was in Zone 2 and I wanted a 1-3 Zone ticket, so the following morning I had to get the bus again and get off in South San Francisco (a totally different town to San Francisco) which was in Zone 1 so I could buy the ticket I wanted before heading out for a couple of hours riding on Caltrain.

 

A northbound service is seen leaving Redwood City.......

 

 

Caltrain bought a pair of redundant Amtrak AEM7 electrics a few years back, supposedly to use them for testing the new overhead wires, but I'm not aware of them ever being used for such a purpose. Both of them are now parked up at 4th/King terminal station in SF so I was able to get a poor photo through the train window......

 

 

On arrival in SF, I made my way to the California St cable car and rode it out to its terminus at Van Ness......

 

 

Since my last visit in 2019, the section of Van Ness north of Market St has been converted to a Bus Rapid Transit corridor with bus lanes in the centre of the carriageways and loading platforms/shelters at each stop.  The BRT corridor is used by both MUNI and Golden Gate Transit and actually seems to have priority at most road junctions, which is somewhat lacking everywhere else in the City. Travel on Public Transit elsewhere in SF is painfully slow - particularly in the central area.

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Just down the hill from the Route 49 trolleybus terminus at Beach St and close to the waterfront you will come across this abandoned trackage and a tunnel entrance.....

 

 

When it was functioning as a port area, the Embarcadero had rail lines and sidings along its full length and this tunnel lead into Fort Mason which was a US Army port facility and is now designated as a National Park.  Most of the buildings now have other uses but some of the rail lines serving them still remain in place.......

 

 

 

 

The other end of the tunnel is seen here.....

 

 

I was originally then planning to head off via BART and a bus connection for an afternoon in Martinez train watching, but decided to head off to Oakland again instead, as all the passesnger traffic would come through there as well and there was no guarantee of any freight activity at Martinez either.

 

AC Transit in Oakland had introduced their own BRT scheme since I was last there.......

 

 

...whilst a shift to other forms of power was also evident.....

 

 

Their fleet of double-deckers seemed to avoid me, yet again, despite seeing a depot full of them from the train when I went to the airshow on the Saturday!

 

As I approached Jack London Square, I managed to miss the front end of a southbound Intermodal by a couple of minutes, though it then held me up by blocking the street for at least another 5 mins, though luckilly it had cleared by the time this appeared from the north......

 

 

There were then two more passenger trains in quick succession......

 

 

 

...before I wandered off to Oakland United Beerworks - only to find it shut!    

Plan B then came into force and I visited Original Pattern Brewing instead, before returning to JLS and spotting that the points were set for the station avoiding line and an amber signal was shown northbound.  After a few minutes, this manifest appeared running very slowly.......

 

 

Luckilly I was standing on that side of the street as otherwise I would have missed my ferry to SF as it then blocked the street for about 15 mins due to its slow speed!

 

A view from the ferry of (part of) the Port of Oakland......

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

After getting some food in SF, I then headed off to ride Caltrain during the evening peak - my zone 1-3 ticket being valid out as far as Sunnyvale - just short of the Santa Clara/San Jose conurbation.

Palo Alto station was fairly well lit for both rail and bus photography after dark.......

 

 

 

Next morning again saw some trips on Caltrain in the morning peak, this being taken at Redwood City.....

 

 

I can't say I've seen a bus anywhere before celebrating the end of Covid lockdowns either......

 

 

Back in San Francisco, the Boston liveried PCC had made an appearance.....

 

 

As it was a Wednesday, I headed off after lunch to pay a visit to Magnolia Brewing in Haight/Ashbury - the premises they are now based in being the former Drugstore Cafe - one of the prime Hippy hangouts in the area during the mid to late 1960's!    Magnolia Brewing is seen to the left of this photo.....

 

 

...and the reason for going on a Wednesday was that it was their Cask Ale day and when I was last there in 2019 they had 3 beers on handpump - which generally sold out that day as well.

However was actually turned out to be correct, as since Covid they no longer reguarly brew any cask conditioned ales, which was a shame, and I wasn't that excited about their craft offerings that I tried whilst there this time either.

 

The evening peak on Caltrain was getting near, so I headed back into SF and did some more riding, again out as far as Palo Alto.....

 

 

 

 

...and also Redwood City.....

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Whilst my 3-day ticket was valid out as far as Sunnyvale, it is possible to puchase a "zone upgrade" ticket from machines which, as long as you have a valid ticket for travel, enables you to travel beyond that zone at a rate of $2.50 per zone.  On the Thursday morning I did just that and travelled as far as Santa Clara to get some photos there.

Unfortunately the light was all wrong, so I only spent about an hour there, even if it was quite busy........

 

 

 

I'd originally intended to to get a bus into San Jose and, using the timed multi-transfer facility (2 hrs worth) on the Clipper Card (a Bay Area travel smartcard used by all operators on which you can load cash or season tickets), head back to Mountain View via the Light Rail which was in my Zone 3 ticket validity.  However,  as the Extra Zone ticket was valid for 3 hours (why that long?) and I was still heading in the same direction, I caught the next train to San Jose Diridon where there was a variety of stock parked up, including one of the new Caltran EMU's.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

SJ is a huge multi-platformed station now, with each platform seemingly long enough to take 2 complete train sets at any one time.

 

I decided to get another "Extra Zone" ticket to travel back to Mountain View on the train in the end, but did wander off Diridon to take a few bus photos and the VTA light rail while I was there.....

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Mountain View is an interchange between Caltrain....

 

 

VTA Buses.....

 

 

...and the VTA Light Rail......

 

 

I then headed to Menlo Park station for a bit more photography.....

 

 

 

 

...before heading off to Sunnyvale to visit this establishment........

 

 

Long Haul was actually the name of their Hefewiezen (5.3%) which was one of the nicest tasting Wheat Beers that I've had in years.  It was very noticeable that several of the brewpubs which used to be located along the Caltrain line have shut since Covid - paricularly one in Burlingame (Steelhead Brewing) - which I visited a number of times on the previous 2 trips to the area.

 

I then headed back into SF and took a ride on the F Line out to Castro, this shot of one of the Los Angeles liveried cars being taken on Market Street from the Illinois Terminal liveried car.....

 

 

The Chicago one was out that day as well......

 

 

.......before I finished up for a final session on Caltrain, 918 being seen at Millbrae after what I thought would be my last ride on the diesel service (but it wasn't....)

 

[Johann Marsbar]

Friday 22nd was the last full day of the trip and most of the morning was spent in SF -particularly on the Muni Metro system, though I discovered that the line I really wanted to photograph is currently shut for trackwork!

A pair of the newer Siemens cars on the M Line........

 

 

Cameron Beach depot was doing a very good impersonation of a Museum....

 

 

L-R ,  LA liveried PCC, Milan Peter Witt, Original  SF car of 1914, Red Arrow liveried SF PCC, a  Melbourne car and a SF PCC car.

 

A few different liveries were out on the F as well..............Pacific Electric......

 

 

Toronto......

 

 

and Illinois Terminal.......

 

 

I then headed off to the Salesforce Transit Centre, where this Alexander/Dennis DD was on a Westcat service......

 

 

...but I caught a Golden Gate Transit bus over the bridge to San Rafael where I wanted to visit a couple of Breweries, returning to SF from there via SMART and the Ferry.

 

San Rafael......

 

 

Larkspur - the southern end of the line......

 

 

I'd got an early evening flight back on the Saturday, so spent the morning in SF, where I discovered that the F line was shut along Market St and they were only operating from Steuart St to Fishermans Wharf, which meant using the loop at Steuart St - a "rare" bit of track, which gave some different photo opportunities......

 

St Louis livery.....

 

 

Washington DC......

 

 

Rather than put up with the bus back to the Airport, I decided to catch Caltrain to Millbrae for a "last run", and a bus from there, which at least enabled a slightly better photo to be taken of the Caltrain liveried AEM7..........

 

 

As I left, I spotted an F40 coupled to an MP15 which were making up a long train of withdrawn stock and on arrival at Millbrae the place was crawling with photographers!   

Unfortunately they had single line working in force, but I managed a shot of the tran as it followed the service I was travelling on.......

 

 

That concludes the selected images from that trip, though the thread will burst into life again later in the year, as I've got two other trips booked - one of which is somewhere I've never been before.......

[newbryford]

Nice pics of the SF trip. Bringing back lots of memories of my 4 days there two years ago.

I couldn't escape much from the rest of the group apart from a San Jose return on Caltrain and a couple of hours on the MUNI.

 

Looks like the ex-Amtrak AEM7 hasn't moved since I saw it in May 2022.

 

[Johann Marsbar]

44 minutes ago, newbryford said:

Nice pics of the SF trip. Bringing back lots of memories of my 4 days there two years ago.

I couldn't escape much from the rest of the group apart from a San Jose return on Caltrain and a couple of hours on the MUNI.

 

Looks like the ex-Amtrak AEM7 hasn't moved since I saw it in May 2022.

 

 

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to expect there this year, having not been to the place since pre-Covid (Sept 2019).   I'd seen a lot of reports online on how the general Public Transit passenger safety/security situation seems to have gone to pot, and based on the change I noticed between the 2016 and 2019 visits, I was sort of expecting the worst!

As it turned out, I felt it was better than the 2019 trip, and they certainly seem to have had a clear out of homeless & undesirables in the area of the King/4th Caltrain terminal. That was really bad in 2019 - and God help you if you needed to use the WCs there - but its completely clear now, and that was without any obvious security presence. Mission St in SF looked worth avoiding though.

Didn't have any ptoblems anywhere, though Oakland was the most "dodgy" place and I had to make some unplanned diversions to avoid some areas, particularly between the Downtown and  Jack London Square .   The free bus that used to shuttle between the two no longer runs - presumably c/o Covid - and there are several tent encampments under the Freeway there and wouldn't want to walk round there in quiet periods or after dark.......