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Today I went to San Diago------------------
At Fullerton While while waiting for my train, a BNSF train pulled in on the center track, and the Brakeman steps out, goes to the Cafe', Buys a soda, And stands there drinking it and chatting with poeple around him!( is this aloud? ) then 2 BNSF loco's go by on the tracks nearist the station, but they have no load! And by now, all the Railfan around me were just standing there cofused kinda, then he gets back into the Dash-8 and just Idles till my train arrives and I leave.
On the train, they dont let anyone into the 2 leading cars, again (whats up with that?) And I noticed that the train I was on was the exact same consist from my last 2 visits!.
When we arrived in San Diago, I got off, took some photos, Watched some idiot almost get hit by the Red Car, then walked down to America Plaza and up the street some.
When I got my Day Pass for the San Diago Trolly( The RedCar ) , A young Child, 8-10 years old, was bording the RedCar with his parents, but the door shut before he could get on, he didnt look to surprized, he just Casualy stepped back and pushed the button, but the doors wouldnt open and he started to panic, the the Trolly took off, He ran after it crying, yelling wait, and Banging on the door. I and all who stood around me stoped to watch, but the MotorMan never seen him and kept on going, He ran up to someone on the sidewalk, after crying and talking to poeple who seen what had Happend, San Diago Transit Employes talked to him and had someone pick him up. But still it was a terible site to see a little boy runing after the Trolly, pounding on the door, and screaming wait.
When my Trolly came, I went to San Yoseedro, where they paint Amtrak's California Cars, but this tme they had a Canadian National GP38 Locomotive! Dont know why, it was pretty beat up though.
On the Train back to Fullerton, they kept saying "Track is HiBall", Whats that mean? The Train got really crowded on the way back, When I went to the Cafe', some guy almost got into a fight with my Dad about the seat I left empty, but he wimped out when he seen the Conductor coming!
The train was so crowded that Poeple were still looking for seats long after they borded, I pulled out My Scanner and started Scanning Amtrak Frequincies, The Conductors started a conversaytion over there 2 ways, There said that they were thinking about Kicking Passengers off in Anahieme!!!
I was suprized to here that, But poeple who were getting off soon, decided to head down to the lower level early, so no one was givin the boot, but Over all I enjoy it!
Hope to hear some Replies!!!
------------------ JONATHON D. ORTIZ
Posts: 989 | From: DIAMOND BAR CA. U.S. | Registered: Nov 2003
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JONATHON; The BNSF crew were probably waiting for tracks to clear so they could do some work in one of the industrial track down the line.They sometimes block the main line for 30minutes to 1 hour while switching cars. This way they were taking a break until the passeneger trains all cleared and the dispatcher gave them the signal to go do their work.
As far as having the 2 front coaches blocked off it might have been a group. We like to keep the groups together if possible. Or the second car might have been B/O with mechanical problems which kept them from using car 1 because they couldn't let anyone into car 2.
I would immagine the motorman took a good butt eating for not looking out his mirrow to make sure all was clear before taking off.
I'll tell you a little story about that. We had a passenger try to get on the Capitol train in Richmond one day and the doors began to close and she jumped back onto the platform. Her purse stayed inside the train and the strap was wrapped around her arm when the train took off. The train drug her about 50 feet before the strap broke. This was not my train and I always look both directions before I highball the train but a bulletin did come out the next day requiring us to look both directions before taking off. Every rule is written in blood. She was alright, only had scrapes, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.
"track is Hiball" probably meant they had a clear track to the next station with no expected delays.
posted
So where were the kid's parents while he was left behind?
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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Yea, you would think they would be yelling and screaming at the motorman to stop.
Posts: 100 | From: Sacramento,CA | Registered: May 2003
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If an Amtrack ticket said "San Diago" would the train take you to San Diego? My point is that if you can't spell youre going nowhere besides giving others a headache trying to figure out what you mean.
Posts: 113 | From: San Antonio, Texas,USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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Most are just crying about the lack of education in today's schools.
A few decades ago, students were actually taught how to spell, or at least how to look up words in a dictionary. Now, we have www.dictionary.com and still.....
Improper spelling makes your posts hard to read.
[This message has been edited by mikesmith (edited 02-19-2004).]
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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Agreed - if Jonathan is in elementary school, then more power to him for posting stuff for us to read. If he is approaching or in high school, then 50 plus (yes FIFTY!) errors in spelling, grammar and capitalization is indeed a sad commentary on the school system. Back in my 'stone age' days, any teacher would have trashed a writeup like that with tons of red ink and insisted on it being done over.
nuf sed
Posts: 114 | From: pismo beach CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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Mike and Pismo, I happen to agree with you on the subject of education, but publicly deriding someone's shortcomings is rude and bullyish. Jonathan came here to share an exciting story, not to be made fun of. You speak of the old days when English was taught, well manners were taught then also.
Posts: 106 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Well sorry I'm not some hi class, rich, spoiled, little mama's boy, who gos to a private school, and has perfect grades,
Maybe I should thank my middle school teacher for walking in every morning with a hang over, or not being able to type fast without a few mess ups...
or maybe Trash talking poeple younger than you makes you feel big, Well thats your problem, I rote that to let poeple on this board know what happend in San Diago,
And if you dont like it, Then dont read it, its that simple.
------------------ JONATHON D. ORTIZ
Posts: 989 | From: DIAMOND BAR CA. U.S. | Registered: Nov 2003
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Jonathon and Coaststarlight: Re-read my post and try to read for content this time.
And FYI, public school used to teach reading writing and arithmetic. That's where I was taught how to properly form a sentence and how to properly spell the words that made up those sentences. (No, I wasn't very good at it)
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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GENTLEMEN and gentelmen acting like childern. Whoa! Wait just a minute. What the HELL happened to our respect???? It doesn't matter who started this little squabble, for Petes sake drop it.
Come on guys. Are we so board that we have to nitpick someones spelling. I think not. We are all intelligent people here and we are not all professional writers. Why in God's name are you doing this??? I don't understand. Jonathan always has interesting conversation on this forum. So what if his spelling is not perfect. It's the content that's important isn't it.
espfoamer; you started this. I think it would be polite of you to show you are a man if you apologized to Joathon for starting this ridiculous chain of criticism and let us get back to being friends and on with the subject.
Thank You
[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 02-20-2004).]
What the h...{Insert 400 line spelling flame about your spelling skills, to include your entire history of your life and all the mistakes you and your ancestors have made since the beginning of time!}
{FYI, there is a difference between some mispelled words and an unreadable post due to the large amount of mispelled words}
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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LEAVE JONATHON ALONE!!!!!!!!!!! I too cannot type more than a couple words without 20 million mistakes, since I am a terrible typist, and I have to proofread everything I write several times. Jonathon just doesn't proofread his posts, but, like Sheriff and others have said, Jonathon is a young guy with a lot of experiences and information to share with us here. Let's forget about spelling and grammar, and go back to being a group of people who are interested in trains and AMTRAK!
Don't let these guys upset you, Jonathon......
P.S. I just corrected about 20 mistakes in this post that I typed in only a few lines...
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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While mistakes like "you're" and "your" are harder to spot, mistakes like "terible" and "conversaytion" are easy to fix by using a dictionary. None of us are perfect but all it takes is a little effort to make your posting a little more readable - and I, for one, return the favour (English spelling - I'm a Brit) by making a little more effort in reading it and making suitable replies. It's not a question of how fast you type - it's a question of whether you bother to proof read it before submission.
However, I must admit it is quite funny to read the "fonetik" spellings that are commonly used these days.... but you still can't beat proper spelling though ;-)
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Some of you that are making fun of those who can't punctuate or can't type well are hanging onto a thin wire tied to civilization as it was before this thread.
I see nothing wrong with anything written by Jonathan as long as I can still read it. What I mean is that I know he means San Diego when he types "San Diago" but jeesh I don't correct him. So lets get back to the Rails, shall we?
BTW I liek Trians!!!!!!!!
I think someone is gonna come along and ____________.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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We are NOT making fun of Johnathon, but, as a matter of common courtesy to fellow members, your post should at least be readable.
Posts: 113 | From: San Antonio, Texas,USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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There should be an S at the end of "Sometime" ---------------------------------------------No... and your post proves my point.
Posts: 113 | From: San Antonio, Texas,USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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When I went to San Diego, I wanted to visit La Hoya, but I couldn't find it on my map (really!). And when is Ahnold gonna change the spelling to Colleefoorneeya? If I didn't take so long to correct my own typing, I could post more and be more spontaneous. I like Jonathan's posts.
When i don;t hav backspacr I tupe like this. Dyslexics of the world, Untie!
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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I've read through this entire thread and I'm sorry but everyone makes spelling errors. I type 55 words a minute and have a Bachelor's Degree and trust me, I still make spelling errors, it's human to make mistakes, I don't care how much education you have! If you make a spelling error, so be it, fix it if you can catch it in time. Otherwise, don't degrade someone's character simply because they aren't a 3 time winner of the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee! Now can we all return to talking about Amtrak already??? And Jonathan, I read your posts all the time, keep up the good work and don't let these people bother you...
Posts: 113 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Sep 2002
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Concur with Twin Star rocket, Sheriff. et al. Leave Jon alone. Knock it off with the spelling police, will ya? Not everyone on the 'Net has perfect spelling and punctuation - not even me. I like Jon's posts.
P.S. Attention Spelling police: I made two errors in writing this post, and I had to proofread and correct them. Doesn't stop me from typing, and using my high-toned edumakashun while pontificating and opining in regards to passenger rail service. So there!
Now, let's get back ON-TOPIC and return to discussing passenger rail and AMTRAK, , shall we?
[This message has been edited by CG96 (edited 02-21-2004).]
[This message has been edited by CG96 (edited 02-21-2004).]
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thats in Coalifornia 
