Bill Compton and I decided to railfan Orange County and we picked Saturday August 24th. He picked me up at 6:00 AM and after a stop at 7/11 for ice, we drove south on Interstate 5 to Alicia Parkway, turned left on Muirlands Boulevard, right on Los Alisos Boulevard and another right on Brussels Avenue where we parked. Armed with cameras and backpacks with reading materials, we walked out to the bridge over the Metrolink San Diego Subdivision and set up to be ready. All photo locations would be new today except the last one at Atwood.
Pacific Surfliner 562 for San Diego was the first train of the day.
A few minutes later, Pacific Surfliner 763 bound for Los Angeles came by our location. We returned to the car and drove east of Los Alisos Boulevard, turned right on Jeronimo Road and after crossing Alicia Parkway, turned right into the Gateway Shopping Plaza and parked. We walked out onto the Alicia Parkway bridge over Metrolink's San Diego Subdivision. A phone call to Amtrak told us that Pacific Surfliner 564 was cancelled, as was Pacific Surfliner 573 so we set up for Pacific Surfliner 565.
Pacific Surfliner 565 for Los Angeles.
Following him was Metrolink 661 for Los Angeles as he climbed to the highest point of the old Santa Fe Surfline.
Metrolink 857 for Oceanside. It was then back to the car then west on Alicia Parkway back to Interstate 5 south to Avery Parkway, then south on Camino Capistrano where we parked and walked to our photo location.
Pacific Surfliner 566 for San Diego came by us first.
Next was Pacific Surfliner 567 heading to Los Angeles. Upon returning to the car, I called Let's Talk Trains before we drove Interstate 5 south to Pacific Coast Highway and a wrong turn cost us Metrolink 660. We found a place to park close to the pedestrian ridge at Capistrano Shores and we waited for our first train here.
First came Pacific Surfliner 769 heading to Goleta.
Next was Metrolink 859 heading to Oceanside.
Pacific Surfliner 768 for San Diego was our final train at this location. We returned to Intetstate 5, taking it north to Crown Valley Parkway then turned right on Cabot Road and parked across the street in a business complex.
Metrolink 662 for Oceanside.
Metrolink 665 for Los Angeles.
Pacific Surfliner 572 for San Diego was our last train here. We headed back to Interstate 5, stopping at a 7/11 store in Irvine for snacks before we took Interstate 5 to California Highway 57, where we exited at Orangethrope Avenue. We took that east then turned left on Melrose Street, right on Crowther Avenue to our next new photo location, the pedestrian bridge over the BNSF mainline in Placentia.
BNSF 6624 West.
A light engine move, BNSF 6952 West, snuck up on us.
BNSF 7593 East was our last train here, after which we drove east over to Atwood.
BNSF 7826 East.
BNSF 6850 East.
The last train of our trip today was BNSF 5105 West. Bill returned me to Santa Ana where I listened to today's Let's Talk Trains as I wrote this story.
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