We had reached the end of track just short of the next grade crossing of CA Highway 88 just west of Martell. They had a Hot Dog truck meet us and I had a Jumbo Hot Dog, chips and Mug Root Beer then watched the turning of the speeders on the pad the group had installed at the end of the railroad.
Here is how you turn a speeder on the Amador Central Railroad.
Fred Dunn's speeder did not need that device as he has a lifting device to turn his car.
We found 1894 rail on this unique railroad.
Chris Parker relaxing during our layover.
It was now time to reboard our speeders for the trip back to Ione. We were the second speeder in line on the return trip. I gave Chris the photo seat and I would do the red flag as needed but would otherwise relax the whole way back.
We started the trip back.
The tower of the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station could be seen on the way to Ione. We returned and we thanked Fred Dunn for the excellent trip on his speeder today. We bought the Amador Central Book and had it signed.
The Trip HomeWe left Ione, following the railroad on CA Highway 88 east to Martell, then went south on CA Highway 49 to CA Highway 26 to CA Highway 12, to our first stop of the trip home.
The Valley Springs Southern Pacific station built in 1888.
The sign on the station. It was then back onto CA Highway 29 to CA Highway 88 to Jack Tone Road, south to French Camp Road to CA Highway 120 to Escalon, then J7 south along the BNSF mainline.
San Joaquin 715 north of Turlock-Denair.
North of Ballico was BNSF 8077 West.
BNSF 5028 West was north of Fluhr. From here we drove through Merced, then cut over to CA Highway 140, then Santa Fe Road through Le Grand to the grade crossing. But alas San Joaquin 717 was 38 minutes late and it was getting late so we drove back to CA Highway 99 then went south to Selma, checking into the Super 8 there before having another Carl's Jr dinner and a good night's rest.
10/19/2014 We had breakfast then checked out of the Super 8 heading south on CA Highway 43 where we filled the car with petrol at the Arco along the highway then went south looking for trains. North of Corcoran we saw a headlight and stopped.
San Joaquin 701 north of Corcoran. We continued the drive south until we reached Elmo.
BNSF 627 West at Elmo.
BNSF C44-9W 627.
CSX ES44DC 5339.
BNSF 5134 West at McComb Road just north of Wasco. We took CA Highway 46 to CA Highway 99 south.
Union Pacific 4120 east at Cawelo. From here we drove into Bakersfield where we found a Union Pacific westbound train at the station then continued and found a BNSF train behind him.
BNSF 6249 West NS C44-8W 8429 with DPUs 6548 and 6039 at Bakersfield. Behind him was another westbound BNSF train.
BNSF 4854 West at Bakersfield. We headed east then topped off the car with petrol before going by Sandcut then down the hill where we found the most colorful train that I had ever seen.
BNSF 5407 East with NS C44-8W 8358 and CSX ES44AH 3153 at Bena. This train stopped shortly after this picture so we moved to Sandcut and waited there for him to pass below us.
BNSF 5407 West at Sandcut. We started east but only got by Bena before we stopped again.
BNSF 7758 West with DPUs 7760 and 7719 at Bena. From here we headed east and at Tunnel 2, spotted a Union Pacific train heading east towards Bealville so decided to head to Woodford, where we found a BNSF westbound train with middle DPU's and soon found a pair on the rear end.
KCS SD70ACe 4160 at Woodford.
BNSF SD70ACe 8788.
The BNSF DPUs here. We soon heard that Union Pacific train coming our way.
Union Pacific 5419 East with DPUs 5429 and 5467 on the rear end. From here we went to Cable.
Union Pacific 5419 East at Cable. We made our way to Mojave.
Ferromex SD70ACe 4082 in Mojave. It had certainly been a colorful morning of railroading. We went to Subway for lunch in Mojave before I drove Chris back to LAUPT then fought traffic on Interstate 5 to get back home to Santa Ana. It had been an excellent trip riding the speeders on the Amador Central.
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