@WesternPacific2217 posted:I went over to the Santa Clara, CA train station this morning on a cool and overcast day. Here's a quick description of Santa Clara for those unfamiliar: Santa Clara is located at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay and is the heart of Silicon Valley with corporate headquarters for Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Agilent and many more. The Santa Clara train station building houses the SBHRS (South Bay Historical Railroad Society) which has two large model railroads in N and HO scale.
The Santa Clara train station services Caltrain (San Jose to San Francisco), Amtrak California Capital Corridor (San Jose to Sacramento), and ACE (Altamount Commuter Express (San Jose to Stockton), but ACE does not run on weekends. Just south of the station is a small Union Pacific yard that is not used much anymore.
This morning I was lucky and unlucky to catch the Amtrak Coast Starlight (Seattle, WA to Los Angeles, CA). Unfortunately I had just gotten out of the car and onto the loading platform when the Starlight rounded the corner and I barely had time to get my phone out to photograph the train traveling at 40 plus mph. I should have been on the other passenger platform as well! :-(
And then I was starting to head over to the Amtrak platform when the Amtrak Capital Corridor was rolling into the station, and this is on the weekend!
Starlight passing through as it doesn't stop at Santa Clara. Next stop San Jose Diridon Station about 4 miles down the tracks. This mornings Starlight only had 6 passenger cars, sometimes it's as large as 12 cars. It still has two GE Genesis loco's pulling it.
Amtrak California Capital Corridor. I couldn't fit the whole train in one shot, so front and back photo. Eastbound trains are pushed. In the photo it's heading north, but just 1/4 mile up the tracks it turns right and heads northeast.
Caltrain MP36PH-3C #926 with Bombardier consist. Notice the SBHRS museum sign as they are open today. I've posted photos of museum before.
Here's a couple of videos of two Caltrain's that I videoed this morning.
Northbound heading to San Francisco being pushed by F40PH-2 with Nippon Sharyo consist rolling into the station.
Same Northbound heading out of the station to SF.
Southbound heading to San Jose Diridon Station. I love the deep throaty sound of the MP36PH-3C! Turn up the sound! The 6 Caltrain MP36PH's are all mated to a Bombardier consist of 5 or 6 cars. One of the cars is for bikes and their riders and they are almost always full.
Wow Scott, you caught lots of train activity at Santa Clara. Love your photos and videos of all the action along with the descriptions. So, THAT’s what Caltrain looks like. Thank you for posting and nice work. Well done. 👍
