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We departed Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal on time at 7:25am. For this trip, I would be riding in Pacific Business Class Car #6800. I would get lots of pix as we passed by Amtrak's 8th Street Yard and Shops including photos of the Sunset Limited pulling into the yard for servicing and turning. I also saw several private cars and other Amtrak equipment there as well as some more equipment parked at the Redondo Roundhouse including Santa Fe 4-8-4 Steamer #3751 which is based there. We made our first stop at Fullerton, CA at 7:53am and departed on time at 7:55am. This would be the place I would be going to later today after getting my rental car in San Diego and checking into my hotel in Solana Beach. We made our next stop at the all-new Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center which is the new Amtrak station serving the City of Anaheim. This new state-of-the-art facility replaced an "Amshack" that once sat on the property, having arrived here at 8:02am and departed at 8:03am, running on time. This was very much an uneventful ride, always a good thing! We made our next stop at Santa Ana, CA at 8:10am and departed at 8:11am, still running on time. Next up would be Irvine, CA at 8:20am, arriving 6 minutes early!
No announcement was made for a smoking/fresh air stop so I just stayed in the Business Class car and we departed there at 8:26am, running on time. We would make a stop at the Laguna Niguel Metrolink station but not to pick up passengers, as this is not a regular stop for this train, rather we had to wait for another train to pass us as the mainline drops to single track after this station. Laguna Niguel as you might recall, was the location for the infamous "Moon Amtrak" event in years past! We made our next stop at San Juan Capistrano, CA and quickly departed both at 8:50am, now running 8 minutes late. We would eventually go by Dana Point and would now see the beautiful Pacific Ocean! This always looked so beautiful to this New Yorker! This train was not scheduled to stop at the San Clemente Pier station in San Clemente, CA so we just passed by there. San Clemente is one of the places I plan to visit on this trip later on. We made our next stop at Oceanside, CA at 9:21am and quickly departed at 9:22am, running 7 minutes late. Our next stop would be at Solana Beach, CA which will be my "home base" for this end of the trip a little later today. We arrived there at 9:37am and quickly departed at 9:38am, 10 minutes late. South of Solana Beach (near where I-5 meets CA Route 52), we had to stop again, this time to let a Coaster commuter train pass us heading north as the mainline once again drops to single track. Our next stop would be San Diego-Old Town station at 10:14am and we departed there at 10:15am, running 13 minutes late. We were now coming into downtown San Diego with the final destination for this train being the San Diego station. We would pass by the San Diego International Airport which is where I'll be flying home out of. At 10:22am, running 12 minutes late, we arrived at the San Diego Santa Fe station. I took roster photos of the entire train, and would get a taxi over to Enterprise Rent-A-Car's San Diego Airport facility which was located off-site from the actual airport, similar to Los Angeles where I rented a car from them last year.
Once at Enterprise, I picked up a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu for a rental car and as soon as I left their place, the GPS had me making a turn onto some street that ran underneath I-5 that must have had a 12% grade with a red light at the top! I was so worried that the car was gonna roll back (thankfully it didn't)! Once I got onto I-5, I headed back north to Solana Beach to my hotel for this end of the trip, which was the Courtyard By Marriott San Diego/Del Mar/Solana Beach on Route 101 in the city of Solana Beach. I would find out here that there was a $12.00/day fee to park the car here that I was not made aware of when I booked the reservation though I guess it makes sense because all of the parking for this hotel is located underground, underneath it. After putting my bags in the room, I went over to a deli next door to get some Diet Pepsi and water for the hotel room and later decided to walk to the Amtrak station in Solana Beach with my camera bag and tripod in tow so as to catch my next train to Fullerton. About halfway through the walk, I ended up having to walk back to the hotel due to a concern that came up and I ended up driving to the station. Eventually, I got to the station and just made it to the platform. Before we head to Fullerton, check out some photos taken on this wonderful ride to San Diego! |
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