The New Mile
Angels Flight, Metrolink San Bernardino-Downtown Station
Old - New
by
Robin Bowers
December 17, 2017
Sunday
Text and Photos by Author
The author retains all
rights. No reproductions are allowed without the
author's consent.
Comments are appreciated at... yr.mmxx@gmail.com
Several weeks ago Chris
Guenzler asked if I would like to ride Metrolink to the opening
of the San Bernardino-Downtown Station. Service began
on December 16, 2017 and we decided to go on Sunday
December 17. So we met at the Santa Ana Amtrak station
where I purchased a one-way ride to Los Angeles, senior, for
Train 1761 departing at 6:36
am. Afterwards we bought our Sunday weekend $10.00 ticket at
the machine on the platform. Our train arrived on schedule and
we had a nice trip to LAX. As our Surfliner arrived at 7:30 and Metrolink 354 departed at
9:00, we had some time to explore.
We decided to make a quick trip to ride Angels Flight. With
your Metrolink ticket you can transfer to most connecting buses,
shuttles or rail lines for free. After exiting the Surfliner,
then walking down to the tunnel, to its end, it was then down
several stories to the Red Line platform. Both the Red Line and
Purple Line leave from this platform so we boarded the waiting
train to ride two stops to Pershing Square. We scanned our
Metrolink ticket and the gate opened for us to proceed. Our ride
was no more than a few minutes before we exited and went up to
street level. At Hill Street we walked one block to 4th Street
and saw our new ride.
We had the car to ourselves.
This car is going down.
souvenir ticket
Present your Tap card for a 50% off your fare.
Our train from Union Station.
Headlight on our train to Union Station.
.
Our train to Union Station.
We had our ride up Angels
Flight, paid the fare and rode back down. I saw the escape
stairs installed before the ride could be reopened. From here we
walked to the 4th Street entrance to the Pershing Square
Station. Then it was a quick ride back to Union Station with
about 45 minutes till our Metrolink train left during which I
went to the Subway shop for a breakfast sandwich to eat later on
the train. After waiting on the platform for the car doors to
open, we were able to board and about ten minutes later #354
left on schedule at 9:00am
The San Bernardino Line runs parallel between the I-210 and I-10
east to west.
San Bernardino yards.
San Bernardino Santa Fe Depot behind the bridge over the tracks to
the Amtrak Southwest Chief platform.
The new San Bernardino-Downtown Station.
The new station is one mile east of the Santa Fe Depot.
This was all new mileage for both Chris and I.
End of line looking east. Plans are for extending the line to
Redlands in the future.
Exiting the train with a 35 minute layover, we took pics and
walked around the station.
Transit Center at W. Rialto and F Street.
Train # 359 awaiting us to come on board.
The Southwest Chief stops here.
View from train on the flyover.
Metro is putting these buildings in several of their stations.
They have a big one at Union Station. Bike from home and then ride
the train to work.
A interesting item of this San Bernardino Line is that from near
CalState L.A. to the Rosemead area, the tracks run between the
east and west lanes of the I-10.
We left the Downtown Station
on # 359 at 11:25am and arrived on schedule at Union Station at
1:15pm. We were going to take the L.A. to Oceanside train #664
with a 2:00 pm
departure. Chris would wait on the platform while I
decided to walk into the waiting room and go to the Information
desk to pick up a copy of the Downtown News. While I
was at the desk I saw the holiday decorations and wanted to take
some pictures.
Walking back through the
tunnel, I found my train posted on the information display.
Train 664 would be on track 8B. I found Chris on the
platform but no train. We were waiting for train #663 from
Oceanside to arrive at 1:37
pm. Upon arrival it would turn into #664
and return to Oceanside. After the train arrived, the doors were
left open so we could board and find a seat. We once again used
our $10 ticket. I think we would get about 200 miles today
on this $10 ticket. We arrived in Santa Ana on time at 2:52 pm and then went to our
cars. A good eight-hour day of train riding was had by all.
