chuljin
Lead Service Attendant
Last Sunday, on returning on one of those hell-of-it weekend day trips to from GDL to OXN and back, I was pleased to discover that the Great Dome 10031 is back on this set. I got a few rather low-quality (cell-phone camera, after dark) pictures; they are here. (The myriad holiday lights, btw, are the Metrolink Toy Train.)
So I made my mind up to take a longer daylight trip on it, and because I'd never been to Ventura, I decided to go there on 799 (and 784 back).
None of the usual wordy, flowery narrative, just pics and, for the first time, videos:
Pics of 10031 here (most are inside; the first and last are exterior pics at GDL and VEC, respectively).
Utterly trainless pics all over Ventura here.
Videos here (most are from this dome trip; there's also an older one of a looooong train 785 during sky-high-gas-prices summer, and and old one of me picking up a bunch of tickets).
A few highlights, though:
799 was, front to back, a P42, 3 'square' coaches, the dome, a 'square' bizcafe, and a cabbage. I sat in my BC seat in the bizcafe only for the first and last 2 minutes, the rest spent in the dome. It was pretty light; there were three of us total until VNC, then I was actually alone, except for the occasional conductor, until CWT; thereafter more people started wandering in, but it was never more than maybe 40% full. We were largely on time the whole way to VEC (no more than a couple minutes early or late at any station, that I noticed). We met several Metrolink trains; usually it would be one of *them* that I boarded at GDL, on my way to work. Holidays rock. I had the BC-supplied coffee, then later a Diet Pepsi and chuljin's famous cheese and crackers bought downstairs.
In Ventura, I walked up and down Main Street a couple times, then a brief tour of the Mission, lunch at the Busy Bee, walked to the end of the pier and back, etc. While walking back from the pier, I had a pleasant surprise and was able to film the northbound Coast Starlight #14 cruising by. That video, too, will be at the link above in a little while.
The trip back on 784 was the usual eventless Surfliner trip. Consist was, front to back, Surfliner CoachCabbage, Superliner I Coach, two Surfliner Coaches, Surfliner CoachCafe, two Surfliner Business (I and the majority of other BC passengers were in the first of these; they didn't open the second until just after [iIRC] SIM), and the 'Red' 'Stay Away' F59PHI (455). BC-supplied white wine and chuljin's famous cheese and crackers from the cafe; later some BC-supplied coffee. I experienced an extreme example of something I've always thought was slightly humorously screwy about Surfliner trainsets: As the doors close, some device hijacks the PA and says 'closing doors' (preceded by the PA attention beep). This is often done some five times per station, three of them well after the doors are closed and the train is already moving (and I couldn't swear to it, but it seems like it only happens when a Superliner Coach is in the consist). As and after we left SIM, it did it a record (in my experience) fourteen times total.
Eventless, as I said, until the end. I noticed a lady Conductor whom I'd infrequently seen in the past, but not for a while. Since she was not the lady Conductor that I knew was not BlueJeanGirl, I got up the nerve to ask (right before we reached GDL, so I could run away if I embarassed myself) 'May I ask you a question? It will either make perfect sense, or none at all. Do the initials BJG mean anything to you?' And she broke into this wide grin. So yeah, I met BlueJeanGirl. It was my stop, so I had to hurry and detrain right after we introduced ourselves, but it was nice to reduce by one the number of mysteries in my life.
Enjoy the pics and videos. As I write this, YouTube is still processing the videos I uploaded. There should be 14 total on my account; if you see less than that, check back.
I *do* travel light!
chuljin
So I made my mind up to take a longer daylight trip on it, and because I'd never been to Ventura, I decided to go there on 799 (and 784 back).
None of the usual wordy, flowery narrative, just pics and, for the first time, videos:
Pics of 10031 here (most are inside; the first and last are exterior pics at GDL and VEC, respectively).
Utterly trainless pics all over Ventura here.
Videos here (most are from this dome trip; there's also an older one of a looooong train 785 during sky-high-gas-prices summer, and and old one of me picking up a bunch of tickets).
A few highlights, though:
799 was, front to back, a P42, 3 'square' coaches, the dome, a 'square' bizcafe, and a cabbage. I sat in my BC seat in the bizcafe only for the first and last 2 minutes, the rest spent in the dome. It was pretty light; there were three of us total until VNC, then I was actually alone, except for the occasional conductor, until CWT; thereafter more people started wandering in, but it was never more than maybe 40% full. We were largely on time the whole way to VEC (no more than a couple minutes early or late at any station, that I noticed). We met several Metrolink trains; usually it would be one of *them* that I boarded at GDL, on my way to work. Holidays rock. I had the BC-supplied coffee, then later a Diet Pepsi and chuljin's famous cheese and crackers bought downstairs.
In Ventura, I walked up and down Main Street a couple times, then a brief tour of the Mission, lunch at the Busy Bee, walked to the end of the pier and back, etc. While walking back from the pier, I had a pleasant surprise and was able to film the northbound Coast Starlight #14 cruising by. That video, too, will be at the link above in a little while.
The trip back on 784 was the usual eventless Surfliner trip. Consist was, front to back, Surfliner CoachCabbage, Superliner I Coach, two Surfliner Coaches, Surfliner CoachCafe, two Surfliner Business (I and the majority of other BC passengers were in the first of these; they didn't open the second until just after [iIRC] SIM), and the 'Red' 'Stay Away' F59PHI (455). BC-supplied white wine and chuljin's famous cheese and crackers from the cafe; later some BC-supplied coffee. I experienced an extreme example of something I've always thought was slightly humorously screwy about Surfliner trainsets: As the doors close, some device hijacks the PA and says 'closing doors' (preceded by the PA attention beep). This is often done some five times per station, three of them well after the doors are closed and the train is already moving (and I couldn't swear to it, but it seems like it only happens when a Superliner Coach is in the consist). As and after we left SIM, it did it a record (in my experience) fourteen times total.
Eventless, as I said, until the end. I noticed a lady Conductor whom I'd infrequently seen in the past, but not for a while. Since she was not the lady Conductor that I knew was not BlueJeanGirl, I got up the nerve to ask (right before we reached GDL, so I could run away if I embarassed myself) 'May I ask you a question? It will either make perfect sense, or none at all. Do the initials BJG mean anything to you?' And she broke into this wide grin. So yeah, I met BlueJeanGirl. It was my stop, so I had to hurry and detrain right after we introduced ourselves, but it was nice to reduce by one the number of mysteries in my life.Enjoy the pics and videos.
As I write this, YouTube is still processing the videos I uploaded. There should be 14 total on my account; if you see less than that, check back.I *do* travel light!
chuljin
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