We were awoken at 3:32 AM by the sound of a glass bottle hitting the door frame and breaking, then the sound of two girls' bodies slamming themselves against our door at the Jack London Inn. Chris called the front desk and they called the police. I slept very soundly again until 6:05 AM, when I prepared for my day of riding the Coast Starlight.
Union Pacific 4830 North leading a stack train through the streets of Oakland. Bob Jacoby, Chris and I walked over to the Buttercup Grill where I had French Toast and bacon, which was excellent.
The Western Pacific station in Oakland, built in 1910.
Capitol Corridor Train 720 came down the street.
Coast Starlight 11 arrived at Jack London station and we waited in a line to have our tickets scanned before boarding Business Class. We departed on time at 8:50 AM and the tracks were bumpy down to Newark this morning, where we arrived at 9:20 AM and started the detour all the way to Burbank Junction, passing the Southern Pacific station in Fremont before arriving in Niles at 9:37 AM.
Looking into Niles Canyon.
The crossing at Niles.
The train curving onto the former Western Pacific, the route of the fabled California Zephyr, after which we travelled through Niles Canyon and Tunnels 1 and 2.
The Niles Canyon Railway train preparing for the day's excursions. We entered the Livermore Valley and Livermore at 9:55 AM then crossed the Greenville Trestle and proceeded up Altamont Pass.
Climbing the pass.
The Greenville Trestle which we had just crossed.
The journey across Altamont Pass. We travelled over the flat San Joaquin Valley, crossed the San Joaquin River and passed through the ACE station in Manteca before reaching the former Southern Pacific connection, where we continued to Lathrop.
The train on the Southern Pacific connection. The train arrived at East Lathrop at 10:52 AM.
On the southeast leg of the wye, stopping at South Lathrop at 10:58 AM.
There, we reversed to North Lathrop, stopping at 11:09 AM.
On the northwest leg of the wye, after which we departed Lathrop for good at 11:18 AM and started the trip towards Bakersfield, running through Modesto at 11:40 AM.
The Stanislaus River south of Modesto. We sped through Turlock at 11:54 AM.
Foster Farms S6 S6, ex. Foster Farms 1, exx. Southern Pacific 1229, nee Southern Pacific 1062, built by American Locomotive Company in 1956. I had not come across a locomotive numbered the same as its model number before.
We made our way to Merced at 12:15 PM, after which I had an Angus beef burger for lunch and during that time, the train stopped at Madera at 12:43 PM, Fresno at 1:09 PM and Calwa Crossing at 1:16 PM. After lunch, it was Selma 1:27 PM and Kingsburg at 1:30 PM, followed by Goshen Junction at 1:44 PM and Tulare at 1:54 PM. We rolled through Tipton, Delano and McFarland before arriving at Earlimart at 2:37 PM then Bakersfield at 3:01 PM.
Northbound Train 14 passed us, departing at 3:04 PM. We left Bakersfield at 3:20 PM and proceeded for the hills doing track speed, running through Edison and Sandcut as we continued to Bena. We came to Caliente and noticed we were following a Union Pacific stack train.
Union Pacific 4441 East from Caliente. We then had a yellow signal and were on our way again.
Our train on the Caliente horseshoe curve before going through Tunnels 1 and 2.
The Allard Horseshoe Curve before we went through Bealville and Tunnel 3.
Rounding the curves to Tunnel 5, where Union Pacific 4441 East was at Cliff siding, then passed through Tunnels 6 and 7.
The train at Rowen. At Woodford, we went around Union Pacific 6522 East before navigating the Tehachapi Loop.
The journey around the Tehachapi Loop. We made our way to Marcel and Cable and I realized that we had met five Union Pacific freights since Bakersfield, but only two BNSF freight trains. We then ran through Tehachapi and Monolith before descending to Mojave, followed by Lancaster and Palmdale, then a climb to Vincent and into Soledad Canyon. We met Metrolink 269 at Lang siding and met Union Pacific 8424 West at Humphreys. We continued on to Via Princessa, Santa Clarita and Newhall before entering the San Fernando Tunnel.
Exiting there at 7:15 PM, the train made its way through Sylmar and Sun Valley, and upon reaching Burbank Junction, the detour was completed at 7:31 PM. We stopped briefly so our Union Pacific pilot crew could detrain, then continued to LAUPT, arriving at 7:55 PM, thus ending the two days of unique Coast Starlight detours.
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