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Railfanning California’s Central Valley offers diverse operations, wide-open vistas, and plenty of action. Even so, the Central Valley gets no respect. Fresno, Bakersfield and even Sacramento are the butt of jokes by Los Angeles and Bay Area citizens. Railfans make trips to Cajon, Donner and Tehachapi passes but seldom celebrate the tabletop-flat topography of the […]
LOS ANGELES — Alstom will become contract operator of Metrolink commuter rail operations, expanding on the company’s current maintenance role and replacing Amtrak, which has provided Metrolink’s crews since 2010. The initial five-year contract, valued at approximately $515 million, begins Jan. 1, with Alstom taking over operations on July 1, 2025. It will run through […]
SANTA PAULA, Calif. — Sierra Northern Railway, partnering with nonprofit Operation Toy Train, ran a pair of Santa trains Saturday, Dec. 7, on its Ventura Division between Ventura and Piru, about 30 miles. The first train, consisting of Genset locomotive No. 2666, an open-air car, and heavyweight business car No. 409, left Ventura at 10:30 […]
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California state legislator is seeking to bar resale of diesel-powered trains for reuse following Caltrain’s sale of equipment for use to launch a commuter rail service in Lima, Peru. The San Jose Mercury News reports that state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) introduced the bill on Monday. Just a single-sentence […]
MILLBRAE, Calif. — Commuter rail operator Caltrain will relocate its headquarters to Millbrae, near a station served by both Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit, the agency announced Thursday, Dec. 5. Caltrain currently shares headquarters space in San Carlos, Calif., with SamTrans, the San Mateo County Transit District, which announced in March that it would […]
Santa Fe All the Way display in HO scale | Trains.com Contributor Gerry Leone visits with layout owner/building Andrew Bobis and his expansive modular display inspired by the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railway. As configured for operation at Trainfest 2024 event in Milwaukee, Wis., you’ll see detailed modeled sights including the depot in Topeka, […]
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Three men have been each been charged with a pair of felonies after allegedly stealing more than $300,000 in Air Jordan shoes from a BNSF train stopped in the Mojave Desert, the Orange County (Calif.) District Attorney said in a Nov. 27 press release. Nike had placed a GPS tracker in […]
Increasingly, the holiday season is also a team for brightly decorated trains on major commuter and transit systems. The New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco areas will all see such trains this year, including a new train on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro North Railroad, and Metra trains with more elaborate decorations. Here’s […]
Compared to the likes of the Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Western Pacific Railroad can be considered the “runt of the litter” for Class I U.S. railroading in the Far West. Yet these five traits of the Western Pacific help paint a bigger picture of this San Francisco-Salt Lake City system […]
LIMA, Peru — A signing ceremony has transferred 19 F40PH-2 locomotives and 90 bilevel gallery cars from Caltrain to the transit authority in Lima, setting the stage for the launch of a new commuter rail operation serving Peru’s capital. The ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 16, was held at Monserrate rail station. It brought together U.S. […]
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Caltrain’s diesel-powered commuter rail trainsets will find a new life in Peru. The commuter rail operator announced that it has completed an agreement to send 19 locomotives and 90 gallery commuter cars to Lima, Peru, for some $6 million, a deal which also involved the U.S. State Department, Department of Commerce, […]
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — The first full month of electrified service on Caltrain’s San Francisco-San Jose route spurred significant ridership growth, the commuter rail operator says. All-electric operations began Sept. 21. In October, Caltrain carried more than 753,000 passengers, a 54% increase from October 2023. That included average weekday ridership of about 27,000, up 38%, […]
