Recent content by Blackwolf

Since both UP and BNSF are both heavily impacted by the Siskiyou, Gateway and Feather River lines suffering substantial vegetation fire damage, you can be assured by one thing. The Siskiyou line is the only one of the three major routes that is no longer on fire (the other two are physically...

Suffice to say, the only viable interstate rail line in Northern California is UP's Donner Pass route. The famed Feather River Route is now severed. As is BNSF's Gateway Subdivision. The following video is of the Gateway Subdivision route... Immediately north of the Keddie Wye. It is unknown...

The bus is still running, as I see it regularly driving through Chico twice a day.

Traveling to San Diego next week from Sacramento. Latest fares from Amtrak are $637 with at least 4 transfers each way. Alaska fares for $136 round trip in First Class, no transfers. I'm flying Alaska.

Video of the event, as well as a shot of #58 afterward. Looks like the engineer absolutely had a close call! Proof on why I've heard advice to duck under the dash before colliding and hold on dearly.

Here is a well written article, with insightful comments that add even more clarity, about the BART<->SFO project. https://www.thebaycitybeacon.com/politics/bart-to-sfo-is-everything-wrong-with-bay-area-transit-pedestrian-observations/article_f0a461a6-f40c-11e7-8c72-430b15948e9d.html

I wasn't comparing SFO, or any North American airport to ones in other continents, for good reason. When it it comes to transit, the US is complete garbage! Alas, at least SFO and OAK have physical transit connections. SJC requires a bus transfer from the closest light rail. And my closest...

Eh, I don't really know what you're referring to here. The BART station is -literally- inside Terminal G at SFO. You take a left at the security screening and walk 400 feet. It really doesn't get much closer... Anywhere. And one doesn't have to take AirTrain. It's semi-convinient, especially if...

Having grown up in the SF Bay Area, I remember with some fanfare the "Big Deal" that having BART connect directly to SFO was. It was a watershed moment, taking one of the first BART trains that ran in June of 2003, when I was able to step right from a train and into the International Terminal...

Yup, that's pretty much the definition of what NOT to see outside your window.

Got this email from RPA just now: The White House issued a veto threat against the fiscal 2020 funding bill, saying President Trump was "disappointed" at Congress for boosting investment in Amtrak instead of eliminating the National Network, as outlined in the President's budget request. The...

Totally a railfan thing, but it would appear a K5LA isn't the horn being installed? Looks like only two tones, located below the windscreen and behind plastic streamlining panels once in service.

While it may seem prudent to be concerned about a fire potentially threatening a train... ...Reality is it just isn't going to happen. And both the Camp Fire and Carr Fire of 2018 are primary examples of why. A trackside fire will not be an issue for Amtrak; unless it just started (and thus...

Since this is going to court, the withdrawn money isn't going to be awarded anywhere else any time soon. They'll have to sideline it until a long-drawn-out legal challenge is processed. And I'm rather confident that the FRA is going to be compelled to re-award it to CA.

Its funny, going back to BART, that the system WMATA emulated in most manners solved the issue of passing between cars from the beginning. You've always been able to travel from one car to the next with full size vestibules on BART. When BART had their second set of rolling stock delivered...