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!

Oh, noooooooo! They found out!

I have some San Diego friends who follow my blogging adventures, and one of them took me to the woodshed this morning because my picture of the Santa Fe Depot in my earlier post this morning “is nothing like that.”

He is right.

Here is the picture I put in my post:

Santa Fe Depot, San Diego, California

Many decades ago, the Santa Fe Depot was probably the tallest building in downtown San Diego. No more. That area is so overrun with skyscrapers that there is no way to get a decent picture of the Santa Fe Depot. I have 206 pictures of the Depot, and this is the best I could get of the full building:’

The beautiful domes were hidden behind the palm tree or lost in the maze of the skyscraper. The other tilting skyscrapers didn’t add anything to the picture.

Enter Photoshop CS6….

I spent 1½ hours removing the skyscrapers using Photoshop’s Magic Wand and Quick Selection tools. Removing 90% of the skyscrapers was really easy. It was those skyscraper parts invading every nook and cranny of the outline of the Depot that took so much time to get right. Once I got that, I simply inserted a new sky and — voilà! — nice picture.

What I noticed as I was compiling this post was that I was so excited about the sky and the lack of skyscrapers that I forgot to lighten the shadows. When I lightened the shadows, I noticed the people, the car, the trash can, two poles, two electric raceways, and a sign on an exterior wall. They started bugging me, so back to Photoshop I went. Here’s my final product:

I’m wondering which picture you like the best. Actually, no I’m not. You don’t get to vote…. you don’t get to choose…. you have no say whatsoever…. so there!

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!