With no Trainweb booth to work again this year at Fullerton Railroad Days, I had the freedom to ride and visit this event. I decided to do my normal weekend riding but would not go to Los Angeles, instead stop in Fullerton. Robin Bowers planned to join me at Santa Ana on my first northbound trip of the morning so after breakfast, I drove to the station, bought my Saturday weekend pass then waited for Pacific Surfliner 562 to arrive.
Pacific Surfliner 562 picked me up and we made our way to Oceanside. The train stopped at Irvine followed by San Juan Capistrano then we passed Pacific Surfliner 763 at Serra.
My favourite American Flag!
The San Clemente Pier on a stormy morning. We made it to CP Eastbrook where the train dispatcher stopped us at 7:51 AM to wait for Pacific Surfliner 565 which passed at 8:07 AM then we arrived at Oceanside at 8:12 AM and I quickly exited the train, went through the underpass and up the stairs.
I paused to photograph Metrolink 661 with Conductor Henry waiting at the door. I ran on aboard into the last car then two other passengers boarded and we departed on time at 8:15 AM. The train met Pacific Surfliner 564 at CP Capistrano, then Robin boarded at Santa Ana and we rode the rest of the way to Fullerton and detrained, walking through the misting rain and went up on the pedestrian bridge.
Metrolink 660 departing on this wet morning. This was only the second time it had rained at Fullerton Railroad Days; the first was in 2003 when I was at the sunny Illinois Railway Museum and Richard Hamilton was hosting Let's Talk Trains live from the event.
Fullerton Railroad Days HistoryThe Fullerton depot's new parking lot and the installation of two sidings by the city provided the perfect site for what would be Fullerton Railway Plaza Association's (FRPA) inaugural Railroad Days weekend event in May 1999. It was a spectacular success, attracting 15,000 adults and children over the two days.
The annual event grew yearly to a record 40,000-plus visitors at its 10th anniversary in May 2008. The response verified FRPA's initial belief that a permanent, rail-related attraction at the depot would be well received by the public.
Meanwhile, in 2005, the City of Fullerton began preliminary planning to redevelop the area near the depot, and FRPA was encouraged by city fathers to present plans for a permanent destination attraction to be considered for inclusion in the project. FRPA hired attractions consultant Barry Howard - design concepts creator of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento - to put the organization's dreams onto paper. His vision of an active, educational, learning-can-be-fun approach to the facility marked a new perspective to the static display concept of the past.
From Mr. Howard’s conceptual design study, FRPA developed a prospectus and a business plan for its newly named Southern California Railroad Experience and presented them to the city to be included in the Transportation Center’s planning process. Unfortunately, in December 2008 the proposal was not accepted by the city and FRPA was left to consider other options.
FRPA immediately refocused its efforts on a more regional basis. New vision, mission and goals were adopted; the organization name was changed to Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. and the association began to search for alternative ideas for holding our events and creating a railcar display venue.
We decided that the best choice for the Railroad Days location should have access to the main line at the Fullerton Train Station lot. After several years of research and consideration, SCRPA has acquired six vintage railcars that are on permanent display and open for tours as the Fullerton Train Museum, at the east end of Fullerton train station.
Overview of Fullerton Railroad Days. We heard a westbound train horn coming our way.
BNSF 4997 West. We took the elevator down to the Track 4 platform.
Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751, built by Baldwin in 1927.
Pacific Parlour Car 39972 "Napa Valley", nee Santa Fe 577, built by Budd Company in 1956.
Coast Starlight Business Class Car 34512, nee Amtrak 74-seat coach 34112, built in 1995. It was converted to a family coach in 1996 and re-numbered 34512. Sometime in 2008-2009, the lower level of the car was equipped with video arcade games. Amtrak has since returned these cars to regular coaches, having replaced the arcade on the lower level with the normal 12 coach seats found in normal Superliner coaches, still retaining the number 34515.
Amtrak Heritage Unit P40DC 822, built by General Electric in 1993, in the Phase III Heritage paint scheme.
Fullerton Railroad Days scenes.
Next came BNSF 6507 East. Now we went over to the grounds to explore there.
Amtrak Thruway Bus 47994.
Disneyland Railroad 4-4-0 1 "Cyrus K. Holliday", built y Disney Studios/Dixon Boiler in 1955.
San Pete Valley Railway speeder 01 built by Kalamazoo, visiting from the SanPete Garden Railroad.
San Pete Valley Railway speeder 02 built by Fairmont, visiting from the SanPete Garden Railroad.
The Santa Fe 3751 tent.
Photo T-Shirts area.
California High Speed Rail tent.
Rail Giants Train Museum tent.
CJ's Best Bricks tent.
Daylight Sales Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry tent.
LA Rail tent.
Rail Threads tent.
Somethin' Different Lanterns tent.
Orange Empire Railway Museum.
Amtrak National tent.
Amtrak Coast Starlight tent.
Fullerton American Legion Post 142 tent.
Imagination Depot.
RC Fly Buy tent.
Solar City tent.
LuLaRoe - Lori Shiohama tent.
FHS Football Boosters tent.
Niles Gift Depot.
Irvine Park Railroad tent.
Norm's Train World tent.
Usborne Books tent.
Muckenthaler Cultural Center tent.
Fullerton Fire Department tent.
Fullerton Police Department tent.
Operation Lifesaver tent.
Fullerton Railroad Days Welcoming Tables.
Buddy Young Layout.
Metrolink booth.
Fullerton Police car.
Fullerton Police SWAT Unit.
The garden railroads of this event.
Pacific Coast Modular Club, HO gauge layout.
Toy Train Operating Society - Southwestern Division, O-gauge layout.
ZoCal Z-Scale layout.
Southern California 'S' Gaugers, S-gauge layout.
Del Oro Model Trains layout.
Toy Train Collectors Association Western Division layout.
Orange County LEGO Users Club, HO gauge layout.
CSC On30 Modular Group, On30 gauge layout.
John Bowman, O-gauge layout.
Orange County 'N'gineers, N-gauge layout.
Orange County Modular Railroaders, HO-gauge layout. I next went to the Amtrak car display and walked through the two passenger cars then returned to the pedestrian bridge.
Fullerton Railroad Days scene.
Pacific Surfliner 567 stopped before continuing to Los Angeles.
BNSF 7860 West with a baretable train. I went to wait for Metrolink 662 at my usual spot on Track 3.
BNSF 6893 West with BNSF 90, which was built as a 10-6 sleeper but went through a total revamp when it became a Track Geometry car. After that unique train, Metrolink 662 arrived and Robin and I boarded, bound for Oceanside. Today we went to CP Serra and waited for both Metrolink 663 and Pacific Surfliner 573 and from there, it was straight to Oceanside where Robin went to Burger King to get us lunch while I stayed to watch our belongings. While here, both Pacific Surfliners 777 and 572 arrived and departed.
Now aboard Metrolink 665, it was a direct trip back to Santa Ana and we detrained two very happy railfans.
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