President's Day was Monday and a statutory holiday, so Winston Walker and I had decided to ride the train to Santa Barbara. I told Steve Grande about this and we decided to open it up to anyone who wanted to go as a Train Travel Meetup Group excursion. The plan was Pacific Surfliner 763 north to Santa Barbara, lunch at The Habit and Pacific Surfliner 784 home. I contacted a few people to see if they wanted to go, and Steve, while on a trip to San José, put a notice up on "What's New" on Trainweb's homepage.
I awoke early and prepared myself for a great day of train riding. At 6:40 AM, after scraping the ice off my windshield from a very cold Southern California night, I drove to the Santa Ana station to wait for Pacific Surfliner 562 which arrived on time.
The bridge towers with the east one now having stairs.
Pacific Surfliner 562
The on-time train arrived, I boarded and sat upstairs in the cab car.
A few minutes later, we passed the two blimp hangars, which are the world's largest wooden structures. Heading south, I detrained at Irvine where I went up and over the pedestrian bridge to the northbound platform.
Unlike other times I have done this, the northbound signals were not lit which made me think something was amiss. Metrolink 807, on its way to San Juan Capistrano, came and went. About the time my Metrolink train to Santa Ana was meant to arrive, the station trackside message boards flashed on and read "Attention Metrolink Passengers, The 600 Train Service to Los Angeles due at this time is running 15 to 30 minutes late". Minutes later, a green signal at CP Tinkham appeared. Would this be my Metrolink 607 for Santa Ana or Pacific Surfliner 763 for Santa Barbara?
A headlight appeared from the south and it was the Metrolink train. We stopped at Tustin before it dropped me off at Santa Ana. Inside the nice warm station, I found Winston sitting there waiting and after I called Julie, Amtrak's automated agent, about Pacific Surfliner 763, we went outside and waited for our train.
Pacific Surfliner 763
We boarded the lone Superliner car on this six-car train and took seats at the forward end of it. Our tickets were collected and we sat back to relax. The train stopped at Anaheim and then Fullerton, where we were joined by fellow Trainweb.com travel writers Jim Nowell and Carl Morrison. We proceeded to Los Angeles, where we were joined by Chris Parker and we were sitting having a nice conversation when Assistant Conductor Karen Monday came up and told us that we would all have to move for a group of twenty passengers. She told everyone in our half of the car in a rather nasty tone to get up and find new seats. Any smart conductor would have just opened up the empty cab car and put the group in there. There were no empty seats for us, so what did she do next, but move more passengers. She gave us their seats and continued to move people, which made those passengers angry. So much for a happy train ride to Santa Barbara.
We departed LAUPT on time and passed the leased Sounder and Altamont Commuter Express trainsets at the Metrolink shops then resumed our discussions while stopping at Glendale, Bob Hope Airport and Van Nuys, where Lupe Ramirez boarded to join us, which made us a group of six. The train rolled onward to Chatsworth before the scenic trip through the tunnels and by the rocks made famous in old western films. Soon we entered Summit Tunnel and exited into the Simi Valley, then passed the nicely-restored Santa Susana depot before we pausing at Simi Valley. We rolled west through Moorpark and Camarillo, where we met Pacific Surfliner 774 using the east platform. After doing our station work on the usual platform, we continued onto Oxnard and then Ventura. From there, the fun would begin.
Our Pacific Surfliner reached the surf north of Ventura.
The Channel Islands.
Further north, recreational vehicles camped along Old Highway 101. The train rolled north to Carpinteria and finally, Santa Barbara, arriving early.
As we detrained, I organized a group picture. From left to right: the Santa Barbara station, Carl Morrison, Lupe Ramirez, Chris Parker, Jim Nowell and Winston Walker.
Chris Parker offered to take a picture with me in it. After that, it was time for lunch and while I had suggested The Habit, some of our group decided to go to the Santa Barbara Fish Company. Jim, Chris and I walked up State Street to The Habit.
The Habit is a hole-in-the-wall but offers great food.
Here Jim and Chris are enjoying their meals, with him having a salad with Jim and I enjoying a tri-tip sandwich. We returned to the station to wait for the northbound Coast Starlight.
The on-time Coast Starlight doing its station work.
The world's largest fig tree, the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. A seaman visiting Santa Barbara in 1876 presented a seedling of an Australian Moreton Bay fig tree to a local girl who planted it at 201 State Street. After the girl moved away a year later, her girlfriend, Adeline Crabb, transplanted the tree to the corner of Montecito and Chapala streets, just a few blocks from the ocean, on land then owned by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. The tree was officially designated as a historic landmark in 1970 and the property was deeded to the City of Santa Barbara in 1976. The tree has since been placed on the California Register of Big Trees. The roots are protected by a chain barrier the size of the canopy.
The Coast Starlight departing.
The Southern Pacific Santa Barbara station built in 1902 in the Spanish Mission Revival Style. Design work was by Santa Barbara architect Francis W. Wilson. It is located within walking distance of Santa Barbara Harbor, Stearns Wharf and State Street, Santa Barbara's main thoroughfare. The historic depot was renovated in 2000; the project included the restoration of the ticket office and upgrades to the plumbing, electrical and heating and cooling systems.
For most of the first decade of the Amtrak era, the station was only served by the Coast Starlight, which ran southbound during the evening rush and northbound at lunchtime. In 1988, Amtrak and Caltrans extended the San Diegan, previously a Los Angeles-San Diego service, to Santa Barbara, providing an additional round trip between the Central Coast and Los Angeles. Eventually, service was extended to nearby Goleta and later all the way to San Luis Obispo, resulting in the route being rebranded as the Pacific Surfliner in 2000.
The ticketing area.
The main waiting area.
There is a fireplce in the former women's waiting area. After the Coast Starlight left, we went outside, sat on the station benches and Winston returned and told us about their lunch. Carl went down to the Santa Barbara Wharf and found a wine tasting. He returned to the crowded station platform as we waited for Pacific Surfliner 784 and I suggested that we sit in the third car to avoid Assistant Conductor Monday.
Pacific Surfliner 784The train arrived and quickly filled. We chose the middle four seats on both sides of the car and waited for our departure, which was delayed by the late-running Thruway bus from San Luis Obispo. Our tickets were taken and I asked who the conductor was on this run and was told it was Kurt Lewis, so asked to see him. A few minutes after we departed at 2:25 PM {1:59 PM}, Kurt came by and I told him about the events of this morning and he said he would talk with her about it.
We made our way back to Los Angeles and after Carpinteria, saw a hang glider riding the updrafts from the cliff above, then passed Pacific Surfliner 769 in the siding for us at Seacliff. We saw four airplanes buzz the train along the surf and later, some windsurfers wererbeing pulled by parachutes before Ventura. At Chatsworth, we met Pacific Surfliner 775. Lupe detrained at Van Nuys as the train became standing room only and we arrived at Los Angeles early, thanks to plenty of padding in the schedule. There we said goodbye to Chris Parker and the train continued to fill up more with passengers, blocking the stairwells as we departed on time.
At Fullerton, we said goodbye to Carl and Jim then Winston and I continued onto Santa Ana where we detrained, ending another Amtrak and Train Travel Meetup Group adventure.
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