On a rather nice and refreshing Sunday, I decided to head out and do some railfanning down at Berkeley for the majority of the afternoon. The Berkeley Amtrak Station is a rather intriguing place to railfan mainly due in part to a number of factors regarding its location. The station is located along Union Pacific's Martinez Subdivision, where BNSF trains can be seen utilizing the line daily for through bound trains destined for the Port of Oakland. Additionally, Amtrak also utilizes this line for their Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, California Zephyr, and Coast Starlight trains; thus making for some plentiful action to say the least ! Furthermore, the station features a nice mural underneath the University Avenue bridge representing the Amtrak California service, where the region's historical citizens can be seen utilizing the train. :) The station still also retains the original Southern Pacific Depot built back in 1913, though it is currently vacant and not used for passenger service. Consequently though, Berkeley also sees a lot more trespassers than other surrounding cities, which explains why the frequency and reports of trespasser strikes is much greater through here. Nonetheless, whether it is the high variety of trains, tons of awesome horn action, amazing train crews and meets, or the perfectly timed meets, Berkeley is certainly a nice place to railfan and see some great action !
Note : Berkeley is the only Amtrak station in the Bay Area that is not served by the Amtrak San Joaquin, where all San Joaquin trains can be seen bypassing the station and not stopping. This was mostly in response to low ridership corresponding to station pairs.
Train 1 : Amtrak 737 with F59PHI #2009 & CabCar #8312. Nice engineer on #2009 with some loud horn action !
Train 2 : Union Pacific MRVWS-14 with SD70M #5188, C45ACCTE #5285, SD70M #4655, & GP40-2 #1410. Immediately as Amtrak 737 begins to depart, MRVWS-14 is seen following right behind. Friendly engineer on #5188 with a nice horn salute !
Train 3 : BNSF B-OIGLAC5-14A with ES44C4 #8060 & C44-9W #4431. BNSF trains can be seen daily along UP's Martinez Subdivision south of Richmond, mainly pertaining to intermodal trains originating / terminating at the Port of Oakland. Nice and friendly engineer on #8060 !
Train 4 : Amtrak 732 with CabCar #6965 & F59PHI #2004. The engineer sure was laying on the horn for an idiot when departing the station !
Train 5 : Amtrak 716 with F59PHI #2014, NPCU #90225, & P42DC #73. With recent issues pertaining to PTC functioning on the NPCU's, F59PHI #2014 is seen leading 716.
Train 6 : Amtrak 713 with SC-44 #2107 & CabCar #6962. This train sure was hauling !
Train 7 : Amtrak 734 with CabCar #8307 & F59PHI #2006. Nice engineer on #8307 !
Train 8 : Amtrak 741 with F59PHI #2001 & CabCar #8309. Decided to try a different vantage point. With the high rises in close proximity to the station, the engineer sure made for some great horn echoes and reverberations as he departs Berkeley !
Train 9 : Amtrak 736 with CabCar #8314 & SC-44 #2102. Awesome and friendly crew on this train !
Train 10 : Union Pacific MRVOA-14 with SD59MX #9913 & SD70M #4922. Another friendly crew as well !
Train 11 : Union Pacific EOARI-14 with C45AH #2724, SD70M #4634, & C45ACCTE #5443. Talk about a perfectly timed meet with MRVOA-14 ! This move is a power transfer from Oakland to Richmond.
Train 12 : Amtrak 5 (California Zephyr) with P42DC #46 & #3. Nice horn action from the engineer. Pretty nice sounding P42DC, especially with number "46" leading in my opinion ! ;)
Thanks for Watching !
6 июл 2024
