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Saturday afternoon I decided, for the first time in my life, to go over to Salinas (CA) to watch the southound Coast Starlight come in, and get a few pictures.
I checked to see if it was on time, found out it was an hour late, so I planned to get there just before 1:00pm. I might have made it but I got a little turned around in downtown Salinas and had to go around the block twice to find my way into the station. Just as I was parking the train pulled in. I was too late to photograph its arrival.
But I did take time to snap a few photos and I was surprised at the assortment of locomotives on this train. I'm not real familiar with types, but the lead unit was a Genesis. The second and third looked like F40s or something similar, one was painted silver or grey and light blue with "Amtrak" in bold lettering while the next had the standard Amtrak red, white and blue stripes. The fourth locomotive was an Amtrak California unit, the type usually seen pulling California Cars. To this novice trainwatcher it seemed like an unusual collection on one train.
Through the windows I could see a lot of happy travelers, one even waved at me as the train pulled out and I was snapping photos. I wish I could have been on it. (sigh)
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
MPALMER Member # 125
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Four locomotives on the Starlight?! Wow! Maybe an extra unit or two were being sent south due for "power balancing". The blue and silver is the new color scheme.
daniel3197 Member # 27
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Here is a sighting of that same Amtrak train (#11 departing Oakland on 2-24)that was posted to another email list. To subscribe to the Foamers List and discuss Western USA railroading send an email to:
foamers-request@smrn.com and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Here now is that message about Amtrak 11 southbound in CA on 2-24:
From: xxxxx To: Subject: Surfliner F40 and SP 8013 Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 13:59:16 -0800
Amtrak F40PH 415, recently repainted in Surfliner blue and silver, was the second unit on Tr. 11, the southbound Coast Starlight that passed through Oakland this morning (2/24). It is one of the F40's Amtrak bought from GO Transit years ago, and the locomotive still has its Canadian style vertical rear headlight to prove it. The full consist of the Starlight was P42DC 117, F40PH's 415 and 369 (the latter in standard Phase III paint), and CDTX F59PHI 2004.
Also, the last B39-8 in SP paint was in Oakland today. I caught SP 8013 sitting under the Adeliene/Middle Harbor Rd. overpass near Magnolia this morning. The unit's front number boards have been painted black for some reason. By the way, Middle Harbor Rd. has been relocated between the old WP yard office and 7th St. It now veers to the west through the still-under-construction Joint Intermodal Terminal, intersecting 7th St. well west of where BART enters the tube.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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I have a photo of the locomotives in question. This is also an experiment on my part to see if I can get it in here. If you see it, it worked.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
BCAmtrak1 Member # 148
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Does anyone have pictures of the Surfliner F40s
reggierail Member # 26
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Thanks Mr Toy for the great photo of that most unusual locomotive consist. I would imagine some of those loco's were deadheading for 1 reason or another. Reggie
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