santa fe depot san diego pictures

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.