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Metrolink's New San Bernardino Downtown Station 12/17/2017

Since the ability to be in two places at the same time does not exist, I had to choose between riding and writing about the first Coaster train to use Positive Train Control on a weekend, or going to San Bernardino Downtown on opening day. I chose the Coaster then called Robin Bowers to see if he wanted to ride to San Bernardino on Sunday and he replied in the affirmative.

On Sunday morning, we met at the Santa Ana station and after checking with my fantastic Amtrak agent that the train was on time, I found Robin who told me that Metrolink ticket machine on the station side was not working, 0 for 2 with that machine this weekend. We crossed the pedestrian bridge and found the machine on that side then went down to wait for the train and boarded the Pacific Surfliner cab car for a quick ride to Los Angeles.

Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 was not on her usual storage track this morning.

Pacific Surfliner 1761, the train that brought here this morning.

The sun shining on the Southwest Chief made for a beautiful picture. We went down to the LA Metro subway, tapped our Metrolink Sunday passes and soon were trackside and aboard the waiting North Hollywood subway train, which we rode two stops to Pershing Square and a visit to the World's Shortest Railroad, Angels Flight, which was back in operation.

We detrained off the subway then walked to Angels Flight.

Angels Flight is a landmark 2 foot 6 inch narrow gauge funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet, running in opposite directions on a shared cable on the 298 foot long inclined railway.

The funicular has operated on two different sites, using the same cars and station elements. The original Angels Flight location, with tracks connecting Hill Street and Olive Street, operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969, when its site was cleared for redevelopment. The second Angels Flight location opened one half block south of the original location in 1996, with tracks connecting Hill Street and California Plaza. It was shut down in 2001, following a fatal accident, and took nine years to commence operations again. The railroad restarted operations on March 15, 2010. It was closed again from June 10 to July 5, 2011, and then again after a minor derailment incident on September 5, 2013. The investigation of this 2013 incident led to the discovery of potentially serious safety problems in both the design and the operation of the funicular.

Before the 2013 service suspension, the cost of a one-way ride was 50 cents (25 cents for Metro pass holders). In March 2017 an announcement was made that the line would be reopened later in the year after safety enhancements are completed; Angel's Flight reopened for public service on August 31, 2017.

Although it was marketed primarily as a tourist novelty, it was frequently used by local workers to travel between the Downtown Historic Core and Bunker Hill. In 2015, the executive director of the nearby REDCAT arts centre described the railroad as an important "economic link", and there was pressure for the city to fund and re-open the railroad.

Built in 1901 with financing from Colonel J.W. Eddy, as the Los Angeles Incline Railway, Angels Flight began at the west corner of Hill Street at Third and ran for two blocks uphill (northwestward) to its Olive Street terminus. Angels Flight consisted of two vermillion "boarding stations" and two cars, named Sinai and Olivet, pulled up the steep incline by metal cables powered by engines at the upper Olive Street station. As one car ascended, the other descended, carried down by gravity. An archway labeled "Angels Flight" greeted passengers on the Hill Street entrance, and this name became the official name of the railway in 1912 when the Funding Company of California purchased the railway from its founders.

The original Angels Flight was a conventional funicular, with both cars connected to the same haulage cable. Unlike more modern funiculars, it did not have track brakes for use in the event of cable breakage, but it did have a separate safety cable which would come into play in case of breakage of the main cable. It operated for 68 years with a good safety record.

During operation in its original location, the railroad was owned and operated by six additional companies following Colonel Eddy. in 1912 Eddy sold the railroad to Funding Company of Los Angeles who in turn sold it to Continental Securities Company in 1914. Robert W. Moore, an engineer for Continental Securities, purchased Angels Flight in 1946. In 1952 Lester B. Moreland and Byron Linville a prominent banker at Security First National Bank purchased it from Moore and the following year Lester B. Moreland's family purchased Byron Linville's interest in the Railway, becoming sole stockholder. In 1962 the city forced Moreland to sell though condemnation and the city's redevelopment agency hired Oliver & Williams Elevator Company to run it until it was shut down on May 18, 1969. The following day the dismantling began and the cars were hauled away to be stored in a warehouse. The railroad's arch, station house, drinking fountain and other artifacts were taken to an outdoor storage yard in Gardena, California.

In November 1952, the Beverly Hills Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West erected a plaque to commemorate fifty years of service by the railway, which reads: Built in 1901 by Colonel J.W. Eddy, lawyer, engineer and friend of President Abraham Lincoln, Angels Flight is said to be the world's shortest incorporated railway. The counterbalanced cars, controlled by cables, travel a 33 percent grade for 315 feet. It is estimated that Angels Flight has carried more passengers per mile than any other railway in the world, over a hundred million in its first fifty years. This incline railway is a public utility operating under a franchise granted by the City of Los Angeles."

In 1962, at its first meeting, the city's new Cultural Heritage Board designated Angels Flight a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 4), along with four other locations. Los Angeles was early in enacting preservation laws, and the first sites chosen each were "considered threatened to some extent," according to the history of the board, now the Cultural Heritage Commission.

The railway was closed on May 18, 1969 when the Bunker Hill area underwent a controversial total redevelopment which destroyed and displaced a community of almost 22,000 working-class families renting rooms in architecturally significant but run-down buildings, to a modern mixed-use district of high-rise commercial buildings and modern apartment and condominium complexes. Both of the Angels Flight Cars, Sinai and Olivet were then placed in storage at 1200 S. Olive Street, Los Angeles. This was the location of Sid and Linda Kastner's United Business Interiors. At this location the Kastners maintained a private museum "The Bandstand". The Bandstand featured antique coin-operated musical instruments where one of the cars (Sinai) was on display in the museum. Olivet was stored in the garage of the building. They were stored at this location for 27 years at no charge in anticipation of the railway's restoration and reopening, which according to the city's Redevelopment Agency, was originally slated to take place within two years.

After being stored for 27 years, the funicular was rebuilt and reopened by the newly-formed Angels Flight Railway Foundation on February 24, 1996, half a block south of the original site. Although the original cars, Sinai and Olivet, were used, a new track and haulage system was designed and built, a redesign which had unfortunate consequences five years later. As rebuilt, the funicular was 91 meters long on an approximately 33-percent grade.

Car movement was controlled by an operator inside the upper station house, who was responsible for visually determining that the track and vehicles were clear for movement, closing the platform gates, starting the cars moving, monitoring the operation of the funicular cars, observing car stops at both stations, and collecting fares from passengers. The cars themselves did not carry any staff members. Angels Flight was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 13, 2000.

On November 1, 2008, both of the repaired and restored Angels Flight cars, Sinai and Olivet, were put back on their tracks and, on January 16, 2009, testing began on the railway. On November 20, 2009, another step in the approval process was achieved. On March 10, 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the safety certificate for the railroad to begin operating again.

The new drive and safety system completely replaced the system which was the cause of the fatal 2001 accident. Like the original Angels Flight design and most traditional funicular systems, the new drive system incorporates a single main haulage cable, with one car attached to each end. Also like the original design, a second safety cable is utilized. To further enhance safety, unlike the original design, each car now has a rail brake system, as a backup to the main backup emergency brakes on each bull-wheel. Another added safety feature is an independent evacuation motor to move the cars should the main motor fail for any reason.

Robin and I boarded Sinai for our trip. The gates closed and soon we were headed upwards.

The journey up the grade, passing the out-of-service Olivet car. We paid at the top, then waited for the gates to be closed and would be taken down the grade.

The ride downgrade, which we both enjoyed. We returned to the Pershing Square subway station and waited for the first train.

Five minutes later, a Wilshire and Western train returned us to Union Station, where Robin went to Subway.

Metrolink Train 354 arrived at Union Station to take us to the newest Metrolink station at San Bernardino Downtown. The conductor let me board the bicycle car before the other passengers and Robin found me at my usual table and the train departed on time. Our tickets were inspected and the conductor found the usual fare evaders aboard.

BNSF power before the flyover.

The San Bernardino Subdivision goes south into B Yard.

BNSF A Yard in San Bernardino.

"The short way cut-off", which is used by Metrolink and Amtrak, while freights trains take the long way.

The new tracks at the San Bernardino station.

Our new rail mileage would start once we left the the station platform.

The former Santa Fe station in San Bernardino, built in 1918.

Passing the east end of BNSF A Yard before crossing West 3rd Street.

Curving to the right.

A southeast turn.

The final curve to the left going under Interstate 215.

We crossed Walkinshaw Street then travelled straight into the new San Bernardino Downtown station.

The control signal at milepost 57.5, where we arrived and detrained. The station is owned and operated by Omnitrans, the area's public transportation agency. Opened in September 2015, the center consolidates three Metrolink commuter rail services and more than a dozen local bus services, including the sbX bus rapid transit service into one central location. The transit center was complete by August 24, 2015, when a celebration was held at the site, but it did not open for service until September 8, 2015, coinciding with a major service change for Omnitrans, which saw more than a dozen bus lines rerouted to serve the transit center.

Train service came to the station in late 2017 after the completion of a project that built tracks between the transit center and San Bernardino's Santa Fe Depot, which was the city's primary train depot. A total of four train tracks are located along the southern edge of the transit center, served by two side platforms and one island platform. The Arrow service uses the two tracks closest to the central bus plaza, which continue across South E Street to Redlands. Metrolink trains use all four tracks, including the two southernmost stub-end tracks, where trains can be stored for extended periods of time without blocking the main line.

San Bernardino Transit Center is served by 34 Metrolink San Bernardino Line trains (17 in each direction) each weekday, with trains arriving every 60 minutes all most of the day. Weekend service consists of 16 trains (8 in each direction) on both Saturday and Sunday, evenly spaced throughout the day.

Metrolink 354.

Metrolink F59PH 861, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1992, on the rear of the train.

The future route to Redlands, which Elizabeth and I rode in October 2022.

Metrolink 359 waiting for a signal, after which I went inside the Transit Center building.

Our train now had a red-over-yellow signal, which meant we would take the other track back to San Bernardino station, and left on time.

The famous Arrowhead symbol on the Arrowhead Mountain that was uncovered a few years ago by a major forest fire.

BNSF power in A Yard.

Union Pacific 4777 West with a work train.

BNSF A Yard as seen from the flyover.

More BNSF motive power at San Bernardino. Our tickets were checked again and Robin and I enjoyed the trip back to Los Angeles. Once there, we went to Weztel Pretzels inside the station before Robin went to the information desk and I went up to the platform to wait for our train home.

Metrolink 664 arrived as Metrolink 665. Before our departure, the message board said there had been a trespasser strike but gave no train number nor location. I called Julie, Amtrak's automated agent, to ask about Pacific Surfliner 777 and was told there was a service disruption. We departed on time and reached Anaheim, where their sign said Pacific Surfliner 777 would now be arriving at 3:45 PM. We detrained at Santa Ana and the Amtrak agent told us that Pacific Surfliner 768 had hit someone and tied up the railroad south of Oceanside, so it was a good thing Robin and I had gone to San Bernardino today. We said our goodbyes and I went home to write this travelogue.

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