On July 5th, I was scanning Amtrak's Rail Sale page of their website and came across Train 701 for $10.80 to Sacramento and Train 704 for the same price back to Bakersfield. This was the new set of San Joaquin trains that provided the opportunity to travel up the San Joaquin Valley in the morning and down the valley to Bakersfield in the evening. However, there was no Thruway bus from points south of Los Angeles and the evening connection came only as far south as Santa Ana. The only way to do this trip was to either take the midnight bus to Bakersfield and wait for two hours, or to drive; I chose the latter, deciding to race the bus to Bakersfield.
On the morning of August 8th, the bus departed Los Angeles at 3:55 AM and arrived at Bakersfield at 6:55 AM. I left Santa Ana at 4:15 AM, crossed the Grapevine and passed the bus near the Tejon rest rrea and arrived at Bakersfield at 6:30 AM, going twenty-six miles further but still easily beat the bus and I had time to purchase doughnuts and chocolate milk on my way to the Amtrak station.
San Joaquin 701
We departed on time as I rode in coach 8022 "Pit River" while enjoying my doughnuts and milk as the conductor took my ticket. I looked at it and discovered that Oakland Maintenance installed the clip for the seat check the correct way, while Los Angeles Maintenance installed them upside down. I later learned that Los Angeles Maintenance is now a national joke for this incident. With such an early start after last night's Orange County Railway Historical Society meeting, I decided nap and slept almost to Fresno, waking up just south of the Union Pacific crossing at Calwa and passing BNSF's Calwa yard.
I went to the café car 8022 "San Joaquin River" for a 7-UP then we arrived on time at Fresno before continuing our journey north, crossing the San Joaquin River before meeting Amtrak San Joaquin 702 at Kismet and had no freight train delays. We then passed Amtrak San Joaquin 712 at Ballico on the fly and outside Stockton, our train ran around a stack train without delay then we rounded the connection at Stockton onto the former Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific, to the stop in the middle of the street at the Altamont Commuter Express station. Departure was on time and we went into the siding at Tomspur to meet Union Pacific 2367 East before stopping at the new station of Lodi, where there was a railfan with a scanner and notepad. We proceeded the rest of the way to Sacramento, passing the Siemens Plant with new subway cars for Mexico City, some of them loaded onto flat cars for transport, before we reached Elvas Tower to turn west to the Amtrak station, where we arrived ten minutes early.
SacramentoI walked into the station to find my brother Bruce, who worked as the Amtrak agent there, and we went across the street to Lucy's for lunch where I enjoyed a French dip sandwich as Bruce and caught on several topics. As he had to return to work, I went to the Century Theatre at the Downtown Mall to see "Austin Powers Goldmember" and laughed at several scenes. Afterwards, I walked to Old Sacramento to see what the California State Railroad Museum had for their outside displays. New arrivals were Southern Pacific SD45T-2 6819 and Amtrak F40PH 281, an old friend of mine. I visited the bookstore before returning to the depot where I met Bruce and said goodbye to him then went out to the platform to watch trains arrive and depart before my train exited the storage track, crossed over and pushed into the station.
San Joaquin 704I rode in new cab car 6962 "Point Bonita", which has Pacific Surfliner seats since this car was an add-on to the Surfliner order for use on the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trains. If one had a choice on a train of Amtrak California seats or these, I would always take the Pacific Surfliner-style ones. Riding the Amtrak California coach north reminded me of how nice and comfortable these seats really are. We proceeded south as I had some hot barbecue spicy chicken wings and we stopped at Lodi and Stockton before sitting at the BNSF connection awaiting westbound Amtrak San Joaquin 715 to pass. Further south, we met Amtrak San Joaquin 717 in the siding at Planda and went around BNSF 886 coil steel train at Le Grand. I enjoyed the afternoon ride down the San Joaquin Valley and we continued to Fresno, where we met Amtrak San Joaquin 703 before resuming our dash down the valley.
The sun set nicely in the west and I napped to Sandrini, knowing I still had to drive back home tonight. The valley was pitch black as the train sped on to Wasco before arriving at Bakersfield ten minutes early. I was off in my car back over the Ridge Route to Santa Ana, arriving home at 11:50 PM. In case you wondered, the bus was due in to Los Angeles at 12:25 AM and to Santa Ana at 1:25 AM. If you thought I was already in dreamland by the time that bus arrived at Los Angeles, you are correct. All in all, a great Rail Sale journey!
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