chuljin
Lead Service Attendant
Bay Area EveryRail ‘Pilgrimage’, May 24-27
From May 24 to May 27, I took an Amtrak trip from LA to the Bay Area and back, with a goal of exploring every one of the rail systems found there. I managed all except ACE, which wasn't operating any day I was there.
This post is part 3 of 4, one for each day, which I will be posting over the next couple of days. Pictures taken this day can be found here.
I started this day around 8, taking a MUNI trolleybus to Powell/Market (which so far was turning out to be the center of my universe for this trip!), and had breakfast at the Carl's Jr in Hallidie Square, then a coffee at the outdoor cafe across the plaza from the sunken BART/Muni entrance, then off to the Oakland Coliseum station on BART. After a brisk hike up, across the bridge, and down, I reached OAC, where I boarded:
Amtrak 727, OAC to SJC
Consist (seemed to be exactly the same set as my second CC on May 24)
8311 ‘Mount Palomar’ AmCal Cab
8026 ‘Petaluma River’ AmCal Coach
8813 ‘San Fernando Valley’ AmCal Dining *w00t, I, like, live there, like, for sure
*8013 ‘Klamath River’ AmCal Coach *Seat 1, one of the AmCal coaches’ famous single seats behind the glass
8021 ‘Kings River’ AmCal Coach
157 P42
By this, my fourth trip on an Amtrak California trainset, I'd become as jaded about them as I long ago did about Surfliners, so I just sat back with my usual cheese and crackers and enjoyed the ride. We arrived to SJC approximately on time (a couple minutes early, IIRC). Across the aisle and up from me were two young women dressed slightly strangely and wearing cat ears. I would later find out why. At the time I just thought they were being fashionable in a way I didn't understand.
Like 5/24 and 5/27, this day had a carefully-planned pig-in-a-poke itinerary, in which I'd given myself some time to explore this historic station, and I did so. At the other end of the hall from the Amtrak counter is a small gift shop/cafe/etc, and I discovered, to my delight, that among the items on offer are some 250 different kinds of railroad lapel pins. While I was looking at the numbered display, picking out which ones I wanted to get, I suddenly detected a strong smell of cigarette smoke. At first I thought perhaps someone was outside, next to a propped open door, but presently a puff floated past my ear, and I turned around to see a woman sitting smoking within the station. Admittedly, I indulge, but I also have the greatest respect for written and unwritten rules about where and when it is appropriate, so I went to the Caltrain ticket agent and said 'um...I didn't want to confront her myself, but the woman over there in the straw hat is smoking.' She said 'What? She was doing that yesterday!' and enlisted the help of no less than three Amtrak ticket agents, who argued with the woman for some 10 minutes before managing to expel her. I chose 6 pins, wrote down the numbers, and presented them to the cashier (I chose only routes I'd been on [or was about to be on, or that were succeeded/replaced by routes I'd been on]):
I then got a VTA Day Pass, and set off on Light Rail to Downtown Campbell (almost the end of the 'green' line and, like Folsom on Saturday, described as 'historic'). I spent a little time here looking around and taking photos, including a few of the Oddfellows/Rebekahs lodge (something like the Elks or Masons; several Ladies in my family are or were members of the Rebekahs back in IN for a long time, and I thought it would tickle them to see something like that so far away). Then back to the Convention Center (the southernmost station that's on both VTALR lines). I should here mention that onboard station announcements are recorded (as opposed to synthesized) and in the format 'station name. The next stop is station name.' Well, one of the stations between Campbell and downtown is called 'Race', and the way its name was recorded for these announcements struck me really funny: 'RRRRACE' (imagine Tony the Tiger when he says 'GRRRREAT!'). I should also mention that of the LRT vehicles I encountered on this trip, or indeed anywhere, VTA's are the least railfan-friendly, in that passengers face towards the center of the car, and are separated from the driver by an almost solid wall, with only one tiny (about 8"x10") and very darkly-tinted window.
I got to the Convention Center and found that my friends on the train were the most conventionally-dressed people I'd see that day, as it was hosting FanimeCon. Especially interesting was this guy, dressed like some Dragonball character. After more snapshots here, off to Tamien station, which I thought, as a VTALR/Caltrain connection point, would be more interesting than it turned out to be, so back up to Santa Clara station, alternately described as 'downtown San Jose'. I discovered nothing here of interest, so I backtracked on foot to Paseo de San Antonio, which I'd discovered in passing by some minutes before seemed more interesting. Here, for the first time, I used one of these green elliptical automatic self-cleaning public restrooms. Yes, restroom visits should be outside the scope of trip reports, but they're high-tech, right, and it was the first time I'd used one. Then off to Quizno's for lunch, where I could watch VTALR vehicles pass by some 20 feet away as I ate.
After a few more pictures, it was north 2 more stations to Japantown. I was at first confused by the lack of anything overtly Japanese, until I noticed the sign directing me there, some 2 blocks north and 3 blocks east of the station. I rather liked it, more historic and less high-tech than LA's Little Tokyo. Then 1 more station to Civic Center, where I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the many government buildings here, then off to Baypointe station, which, uniquely among VTALR stations, has three tracks and two platforms, and is quite attractive. More pictures here before walking around the corner to Tasman station, where I rode all the way out to the end of the line at downtown Mountain View. I should here mention two interesting grade crossings I noticed during this leg: one at the end of the offramp from the 101 north to Ellis Street (described the next day by Richard as 'an accident waiting to happen'), and another, complete with 2-quadrant gates, lights, and bells, with simply an empty, denuded field on either side. Strange.
On arriving at Mountain View, I went right away to the bank of waiting taxis, and said 'This will sound strange, but could you take me to Google's headquarters, wait a few minutes while I take some pictures, then bring me back?' My taxi driver was a little amused, but very accomodating, and mentioned that this request is more common than one might think. He even knew the best vantage points. Back at the station, I got a cheap single-zone Caltrain ticket, and off to the Sunnyvale station on a Nippon Sharyo gallery car trainset. I rode in the 'bicycle car', which I thought was interesting, with the lower level an enormous cavernous space with room to store a couple dozen bicycles. At Sunnyvale I repeated the taxi scene, this time for Apple, the next city over in Cupertino. This is where the wheels fell off. This driver, perhaps sensing my wide-eyed naivete, took rather a more circuitous route than I'd expected. As a result, we arrived back at the Caltrain station in plenty of time to catch my 6:15 train back to SF, but the taxi fare and tip added up to precisely the cash contents of my wallet. While I wandered downtown Sunnyvale looking for an ATM, this 'plenty of time' vanished, and I missed my intended train. Fortunately, Caltrain has 1-hour headways on weekends and holidays, so I just used the extra time I'd accidentally given myself to explore Murphy Street and the Sunnyvale Caltrain station (not bad-looking, IMHO).
My heart sank as my 'new' Caltrain train approached from the south...this trainset was a Bombardier Bilevel Coach set, the same one I ride every damn day on Metrolink at home in LA, only red. Still, at least (in contrast to most of Metrolink's) the car I was in was a newer one, with an outlet under the table. On the way up to SF, we passed through the Millbrae Caltrain/BART station, at which I now regret not having stopped, given its significance among intermodal stations, and that it would have given me an excuse to take BART one last time. Well, there will be future visits, I'm sure.
At the north end of Caltrain, I walked over to the MUNI Metro stop, whence Powell, and trolleybus home. On the way up the Embarcadero towards the Subway, I noticed that the Bay Bridge is yet more impressive at night. Because of that, and the fact that I wasn't quite ready to give up MUNI Metro riding for this trip, I wasn't home but maybe half an hour when I actually got a trolleybus back to the Subway. In contrast to my usual connection between the 31 (east/west) bus to the subway at Powell, on NextMuni's advice I actually took the 24 south to Market and Castro, quite a crazy area. Thence KT or N to Folsom, where I took some night pictures of the bridge and the surrounding area. I finally dragged myself home at 1am or later, where I packed and laid down for a 3.5-hour powernap, thus ending the third day of this trip.
From May 24 to May 27, I took an Amtrak trip from LA to the Bay Area and back, with a goal of exploring every one of the rail systems found there. I managed all except ACE, which wasn't operating any day I was there.
This post is part 3 of 4, one for each day, which I will be posting over the next couple of days. Pictures taken this day can be found here.
- May 24: AmBus to Bakersfield, thence San Joaquins to Martinez; Capitol Corridor to Sacramento; CSRM and its Excursion Train; SACRT Light Rail; Capitol Corridor back to East Bay; BART to SF (pics)
- May 25: Exploring MUNI and BART, including South Beach, Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ocean Beach, Balboa Park, SFO, and Obligatory Token Cable Car Rides (pics)
- May 26: BART to East Bay, Capitol Corridor to San Jose; Exploring VTALR including Paseo de S.A., Japantown, etc.; Google and Apple; Caltrain to SF (pics)
- May 27: Alamada/Oakland Ferry to Oakland; Coast Starlight to LA (pics)
I started this day around 8, taking a MUNI trolleybus to Powell/Market (which so far was turning out to be the center of my universe for this trip!), and had breakfast at the Carl's Jr in Hallidie Square, then a coffee at the outdoor cafe across the plaza from the sunken BART/Muni entrance, then off to the Oakland Coliseum station on BART. After a brisk hike up, across the bridge, and down, I reached OAC, where I boarded:
Amtrak 727, OAC to SJC
Consist (seemed to be exactly the same set as my second CC on May 24)
8311 ‘Mount Palomar’ AmCal Cab
8026 ‘Petaluma River’ AmCal Coach
8813 ‘San Fernando Valley’ AmCal Dining *w00t, I, like, live there, like, for sure
*8013 ‘Klamath River’ AmCal Coach *Seat 1, one of the AmCal coaches’ famous single seats behind the glass
8021 ‘Kings River’ AmCal Coach
157 P42
By this, my fourth trip on an Amtrak California trainset, I'd become as jaded about them as I long ago did about Surfliners, so I just sat back with my usual cheese and crackers and enjoyed the ride. We arrived to SJC approximately on time (a couple minutes early, IIRC). Across the aisle and up from me were two young women dressed slightly strangely and wearing cat ears. I would later find out why. At the time I just thought they were being fashionable in a way I didn't understand.
Like 5/24 and 5/27, this day had a carefully-planned pig-in-a-poke itinerary, in which I'd given myself some time to explore this historic station, and I did so. At the other end of the hall from the Amtrak counter is a small gift shop/cafe/etc, and I discovered, to my delight, that among the items on offer are some 250 different kinds of railroad lapel pins. While I was looking at the numbered display, picking out which ones I wanted to get, I suddenly detected a strong smell of cigarette smoke. At first I thought perhaps someone was outside, next to a propped open door, but presently a puff floated past my ear, and I turned around to see a woman sitting smoking within the station. Admittedly, I indulge, but I also have the greatest respect for written and unwritten rules about where and when it is appropriate, so I went to the Caltrain ticket agent and said 'um...I didn't want to confront her myself, but the woman over there in the straw hat is smoking.' She said 'What? She was doing that yesterday!' and enlisted the help of no less than three Amtrak ticket agents, who argued with the woman for some 10 minutes before managing to expel her. I chose 6 pins, wrote down the numbers, and presented them to the cashier (I chose only routes I'd been on [or was about to be on, or that were succeeded/replaced by routes I'd been on]):
- 'older' Amtrak (the arrow thingie)
- San Joaquins
- South Shore Line (I grew up in NW IN and rode it to/from Chicago quite frequently in my youth)
- San Diegans (because of my frequent rides on the Surfliner)
- Coast Starlight (which I would ride the next day) *they were out of this one
- I forgot the sixth *they were out of this one
I then got a VTA Day Pass, and set off on Light Rail to Downtown Campbell (almost the end of the 'green' line and, like Folsom on Saturday, described as 'historic'). I spent a little time here looking around and taking photos, including a few of the Oddfellows/Rebekahs lodge (something like the Elks or Masons; several Ladies in my family are or were members of the Rebekahs back in IN for a long time, and I thought it would tickle them to see something like that so far away). Then back to the Convention Center (the southernmost station that's on both VTALR lines). I should here mention that onboard station announcements are recorded (as opposed to synthesized) and in the format 'station name. The next stop is station name.' Well, one of the stations between Campbell and downtown is called 'Race', and the way its name was recorded for these announcements struck me really funny: 'RRRRACE' (imagine Tony the Tiger when he says 'GRRRREAT!'). I should also mention that of the LRT vehicles I encountered on this trip, or indeed anywhere, VTA's are the least railfan-friendly, in that passengers face towards the center of the car, and are separated from the driver by an almost solid wall, with only one tiny (about 8"x10") and very darkly-tinted window.
I got to the Convention Center and found that my friends on the train were the most conventionally-dressed people I'd see that day, as it was hosting FanimeCon. Especially interesting was this guy, dressed like some Dragonball character. After more snapshots here, off to Tamien station, which I thought, as a VTALR/Caltrain connection point, would be more interesting than it turned out to be, so back up to Santa Clara station, alternately described as 'downtown San Jose'. I discovered nothing here of interest, so I backtracked on foot to Paseo de San Antonio, which I'd discovered in passing by some minutes before seemed more interesting. Here, for the first time, I used one of these green elliptical automatic self-cleaning public restrooms. Yes, restroom visits should be outside the scope of trip reports, but they're high-tech, right, and it was the first time I'd used one. Then off to Quizno's for lunch, where I could watch VTALR vehicles pass by some 20 feet away as I ate.
After a few more pictures, it was north 2 more stations to Japantown. I was at first confused by the lack of anything overtly Japanese, until I noticed the sign directing me there, some 2 blocks north and 3 blocks east of the station. I rather liked it, more historic and less high-tech than LA's Little Tokyo. Then 1 more station to Civic Center, where I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the many government buildings here, then off to Baypointe station, which, uniquely among VTALR stations, has three tracks and two platforms, and is quite attractive. More pictures here before walking around the corner to Tasman station, where I rode all the way out to the end of the line at downtown Mountain View. I should here mention two interesting grade crossings I noticed during this leg: one at the end of the offramp from the 101 north to Ellis Street (described the next day by Richard as 'an accident waiting to happen'), and another, complete with 2-quadrant gates, lights, and bells, with simply an empty, denuded field on either side. Strange.
On arriving at Mountain View, I went right away to the bank of waiting taxis, and said 'This will sound strange, but could you take me to Google's headquarters, wait a few minutes while I take some pictures, then bring me back?' My taxi driver was a little amused, but very accomodating, and mentioned that this request is more common than one might think. He even knew the best vantage points.
Back at the station, I got a cheap single-zone Caltrain ticket, and off to the Sunnyvale station on a Nippon Sharyo gallery car trainset. I rode in the 'bicycle car', which I thought was interesting, with the lower level an enormous cavernous space with room to store a couple dozen bicycles. At Sunnyvale I repeated the taxi scene, this time for Apple, the next city over in Cupertino. This is where the wheels fell off. This driver, perhaps sensing my wide-eyed naivete, took rather a more circuitous route than I'd expected. As a result, we arrived back at the Caltrain station in plenty of time to catch my 6:15 train back to SF, but the taxi fare and tip added up to precisely the cash contents of my wallet. While I wandered downtown Sunnyvale looking for an ATM, this 'plenty of time' vanished, and I missed my intended train. Fortunately, Caltrain has 1-hour headways on weekends and holidays, so I just used the extra time I'd accidentally given myself to explore Murphy Street and the Sunnyvale Caltrain station (not bad-looking, IMHO).My heart sank as my 'new' Caltrain train approached from the south...this trainset was a Bombardier Bilevel Coach set, the same one I ride every damn day on Metrolink at home in LA, only red. Still, at least (in contrast to most of Metrolink's) the car I was in was a newer one, with an outlet under the table. On the way up to SF, we passed through the Millbrae Caltrain/BART station, at which I now regret not having stopped, given its significance among intermodal stations, and that it would have given me an excuse to take BART one last time. Well, there will be future visits, I'm sure.
At the north end of Caltrain, I walked over to the MUNI Metro stop, whence Powell, and trolleybus home. On the way up the Embarcadero towards the Subway, I noticed that the Bay Bridge is yet more impressive at night. Because of that, and the fact that I wasn't quite ready to give up MUNI Metro riding for this trip, I wasn't home but maybe half an hour when I actually got a trolleybus back to the Subway. In contrast to my usual connection between the 31 (east/west) bus to the subway at Powell, on NextMuni's advice I actually took the 24 south to Market and Castro, quite a crazy area. Thence KT or N to Folsom, where I took some night pictures of the bridge and the surrounding area. I finally dragged myself home at 1am or later, where I packed and laid down for a 3.5-hour powernap, thus ending the third day of this trip.
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