Roll up, roll up for the magical mystery tour

Roll up, roll up for the magical mystery tour. Step right this way….

Alright, maybe not the magical mystery tour, but a tour nonetheless. This one by train from the historic Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego to the historic Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

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Arrive at Santa Fe Depot on the San Diego Trolley:

The San Diego Trolley is in its 32nd year of operation. It is the fifth most-ridden light rail system in the United States. It’s a lot of fun to ride — clean, efficient, and on time.

The historic Santa Fe Depot opened on March 8, 1915. Originally it handled passenger traffic from three railroads, the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe, the San Diego & Arizona Railway, and the San Diego Electric Railway. Currently it handles passenger traffic for Amtrak, the San Diego Trolley, and the Coaster. BNSF Railroad freight traffic passes through without stopping on an adjacent track, but only during the night; there is no freight traffic through downtown San Diego during daylight hours.

My Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train to Los Angeles, and the car I chose to ride in:

If you ever need to find me on a train, I’m either in the very first car or the very last car. If the engine is pulling the train, I’ll be in the last car. If the engine is pushing the train, I’ll be in the first car. The views are better!

Once you get out of San Diego, keep your eyes open because there is a lot to see between San Diego and Los Angeles. Regardless of which side of the car you sit on, keep your head moving constantly from one side to the other because both sides have interesting things to see.

We in San Diego are proud of the United States military located in the County. According to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, San Diego County now has the world’s highest concentration of United States military personnel, surpassing the D.C./Arlington, Virginia area a couple of years ago.

Between San Diego and the Los Angeles metroplex is Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, a huge military base comprising over 125,000 acres. Camp Pendleton is what prevents Los Angeles from annexing San Diego, but if we ever see peace in the world and Camp Pendleton is closed and developed, you’ll see a Los Angeles/San Diego metropolitan statistical area.

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The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant is at the northern border of Camp Pendleton, almost exactly sixty miles from my home. The first reactor was commissioned in 1968 and decommissioned in 1992. The second reactor was commissioned in 1983 and the third in 1984. It has been offline for a year due to various problems, and the longer it is offline, the more questionable it becomes as to whether it will be restarted.

You’ll go right by the home of the 2002 World Series champions, the Anaheim Angels, known as the California Angels from 1965-1996 and known since 2005 as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:

Of course, there is lots of train action in and between the nation’s second-largest and eighth-largest cities:

As you get close to Los Angeles Union Station, keep an eye out on the left side of the train. If you’re lucky, you’ll see Santa Fe #3751, a historic 4-8-4 steam locomotive built in 1927 by Baldwin Locomotive Works. It still runs on regular excursions throughout the United States. Sometimes you can even catch it at the Los Angeles Union Station, as I did.

Also keep an eye out for views of downtown Los Angeles:

The tallest building in that picture is the U.S. Bank Tower. At 73 stories and 1,018 feet tall, it is the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and the tenth tallest in the United States.

Soon after you see the downtown skyline, you’ll arrive at Los Angeles Union Station, also known as the “Last of the Great Railway Stations.” It opened in May 1939, just as diesel engines were taking over from steam locomotives, and passenger traffic was starting a long decline that would finally end in 1971 with the creation of Amtrak.

To get from Los Angeles to San Diego, simply scroll up through this post!

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner in San Diego

Along with the weather in San Diego, which allows me to be outside quite often, one of the most enjoyable aspects of living here is the opportunity to ride trains, and at a reasonable cost. The red San Diego Trolley takes me most places, but there’s also the Coaster from downtown San Diego to Oceanside, the Sprinter from Oceanside to Escondido, Metrolink from Oceanside to Los Angeles, and Amtrak from San Diego to Los Angeles.

I recently rode the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to Los Angeles and back. Here is my train at the historic Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.

The Pacific Surfliner normally has a single engine and six cars. My train this day was a double header with six cars! Trains between San Diego and Los Angeles use the push/pull system whereby the engine always points south. So when the train is traveling south from L.A. to San Diego, the engine is at the front of the train, pulling. When the train is traveling north from San Diego to L.A., the engine is at the rear of the train, pushing.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner along the Pacific Ocean in Del Mar, California

Jim’s chamber music group, in which he plays piano, had a practice in La Jolla yesterday. That meant that I was going to go to La Jolla and points north to explore while they were practicing. “Explore” in the Russel Ray Dictionary means “train watching.”

I went a few miles north, to Del Mar, and parked my car at 200 4th Street.

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From there it was a quick walk to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and, more importantly, the railroad tracks used by BNSF (at night only, to go to Los Angeles), the Coaster commuter train, and Amtrak. In 2½ hours I got 76 train pictures.

Following are five pictures of Amtrak’s “Pacific Surfliner” which travels between San Luis Obispo and San Diego. It is one of the most beautiful Amtrak routes I’ve been on, and I’ve been on them all! It also is Amtrak’s second busiest route, behind the Northeast Corridor from Boston to New York City to Washington D.C.

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Once the southbound train gets through the oceanside cliffs in Del Mar, it heads inland, passing through Torrey Preserve and over a beautiful bridge:

Unfortunately for people like me, Torrey Preserve is a protected and fenced area, and trespassing has significant financial penalties associated with it if one is caught. Best just to buy a telephoto lens and take pictures from the boundary fence.

During weekdays there is a train — Amtrak and Coaster — passing by about every 45 minutes. They will be northbound and southbound, so keep your eyes open in both directions. There are lots of great trails for walking and jogging, and overlook points for great views of the trains as they pass by.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!