Bill Compton wanted to ride a train me. I suggested San Diego but he said he has been there too much. As I would be riding down there on Thursday, I asked him where else would he like to go? He said Perris and since he had never ridden there I agreed to it. I then learned he had never been on the Olive District so why not go to Perris. We picked President's Day since we both had it off and met at Santa Ana at 9:15 AM.
That morning I slept in, then watched "In the Room" on the Pittsburgh Penguins website, fixed my breakfast then checked my e-mail, learning I had three people coming to my Pre-Winterail Albany & Eastern excursion train I am running Friday morning before Winterail. Then my cell phone rang and it was the lady from the Albany & Eastern and I told her that 47 of the 60 people needed to break even had signed up at this point. She told me that the track to Foster was exempt so we could not run a passenger train there.
After that I drove down to the Santa Ana station, parked in the northeast parking lot then bought my Metrolink round trip ticket to Riverside. I walked up the stairs and across the bridge then took the elevator down to Track 1. A few minutes later I saw Bill and called to him to walk up the stairs and across the bridge and while he was doing that, I got on the Metrolink ticketing machine and set it up for his round trip ticket to Riverside which he paid with his credit card. The crossing gates went down and I climbed the stairs to get a better photo angle.
Pacific Surfliner 566 arrived before leaving for San Diego. A few minutes later Metrolink 803 came in much too fast and missed the handicapped ramp on the south end of the platform, so we had to walk fast and board the cab car then walked through it to the bicycle car, where we sat a table with me riding backwards. The train left Santa Ana to Orange and I always enjoy it when my friends start their new rail mileage. As we went up the Olive District, Bill told me that he worked in a building with a staircase outside the back door and I found the building. The train then crossed the Santa Ana River before crossing the Riverside Freeway and stopped at the Anaheim Canyon station. Once we left there it was only 0.8 miles to Atwood where Bill's new mileage would now be over since he had ridden the Barstow Flyer a few years ago over the BNSF mainline. I then learned he had never ridden the San Bernardino Line nor the Riverside Line of Metrolink. We enjoyed the lake on the BNSF maintenance road in Santa Ana Canyon before we stopped at West Corona and Downtown Corona stations. We made our way to La Sierra before arriving at the Downtown Riverside station where we detrained.
Metrolink 803 leaves Riverside for San Bernardino. We walked to the east end of the platform then heard a train horn coming our way.
BNSF 7387 West came through Riverside. From here we walked over to Mission Blvd to shoot railroad related items during our layover here.
The old loading dock, part of the former Southern Pacific station.
This is the grade of the Southern Pacific line in Riverside. We walked over to next building to photograph.
The Santa Fe station in Riverside, built in 1927, now an art gallery.
The tracks the Union Pacific once used in Riverside.
The Union Pacific Riverside station, built in 1904, now a Mexican Restaurant.
The Old Spaghetti Factory. We then walked back to the Metrolink station returning the way we had come from.
Metrolink 733 arrived. We waited until the doors reopened and rode the bicycle car, sitting at tables across from each other.
Bill waiting for his first train to South Perris to depart. We departed Riverside at noon and Bill was on new rail mileage until we returned to BNSF mainline. Once we reached the Perris Line Junction, Bill would be on new mileage all the way to South Perris. Since this is my third story about this line, I wouuld not be taking any pictures. We climbed the grade to the Hunter Park/UCR station then climbed the Box Springs grade and Bill was really impressed. Next we stopped at the Moreno Valley/March Field station and Bill enjoyed watching us pass the cars as we ran along Interstate 215. He was able to see all the industries that the BNSF serves along our route. We then stopped in Downtown Perris before we ran the rest of the way out to South Perris where we detrained.
Metrolink 734 at rest before it left for the storage yard.
Metrolink 734 turning into Metrolink 735 at the South Perris storage yard.
Pretty mountains on a beautiful day. I used the machine to get some cookies and sat on a bench awaiting our departure time.
First a Metrolink truck came spraying something on the rails. Next we watched the bus come and go then the Sherrifs briefly visited. The Metrolink truck got off the tracks and then Metrolink 735 left the storage tracks. We noticed that the station clocks were off by six minutes which I reported to my excellent conductor on my return trip to Riverside.
Metrolink 735 arrived in South Perris. We boarded the bicycle car for the quiet trip back to Riverside.
As we arrived in Riverside, Metrolink 817 was waiting in the storage tracks there.
Metrolink 735 at rest. We said goodbye to my excellent train crew then walked to where we would board Metrolink 817.
Metrolink 402 next arrived running a few minutes late.
After the conductor checked that no one was coming to board her Perris train from Metrolink 402, Metrolink 736 left for Perris on her last run of the day.
Metrolink 817 came in and picked us up with us riding in the bicycle car for our trip back to Santa Ana. It had been a fantastic day of train riding with Bill but all good things must end as we detrained back at Santa Ana, two very happy, but tired, train riders.
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