Highball!  Welcome fellow railfaners and friends to my first blog, RailNut, third post. During my first few months of having a blog, I was trying to come up with some interesting ideas to write about and I finally realized that it was time to get this blog underway! I live in Tustin, California near Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner route, and Metrolink's Orange county line (visit Metrolinktrains.com for more information).

First, I thought it would be interesting to give you a fun train quiz.  Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers.  They will be posted by next Monday.

U.S.A Railroad quiz:

1. Name the differences between Viewliner and Superliner trains (include as many details possible):

2. What is the only train that uses Deluxe sleepers?

3. What is a transition sleeper, which trains is it used on and where is it located on the train:

4. What is the origin and final destination for the Southwest Chief:

5. List as many Superliner (double decker or more professionally, Bi-level) routes as you can.  Hint, most Superliner routes are west of the Mississippi River:

6. What is the name of the locomotive that Amtrak operates on most of its short-haul and long distance trains?  Hint: it is 4,000 horsepower:

7. Exclusively on all Amtrak California short distance trains they use a special locomotive, name it:

8. Where are the origin and destination for most Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains (hint, the answer is not San Luis Obispo):

9. List the standard Amtrak Superliner consist including Sleepers, Coaches, Diners, Lounges, Baggage car, and Locomotive(s) in order:

10. List the California Zephyr origin and destination from west to Midwest:

I thought I would also give you some information about some of the trains mentioned in my eBook, A RailNut’s Guide to Railfanning in Southern California. Metrolink runs 8 weekday lines (routes) per day.  I ride the OC line most, which is shared by Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains (APS). These two types of passenger trains running on the same route, therefore I get lots of train action. 

There are certain times in railfanning, where there's an overload of trains (sometimes one in every direction every 5-10 minutes). This usually happens during rush hour. This is why the trains have multiple tracks (2 tracks most of the time).  Even so, trains are sometimes forced onto side-tracks (a special short track to store cars while other trains pass).

Amtrak and Metrolink don't own most of the train track they use, it is usually owned by Union Pacific or BNSF freight companies. 

The freight dispatchers (the people who are in charge of remotely changing switches and directing trains to stop), who work for Union Pacific or BNSF, generally give priority to their trains rather than Metrolink or Amtrak, which can cause major delays to passengers.

Another fun train and bus system I live near (North County Transit District) has a train called the Coaster. It runs between Oceanside and San Diego's Santa Fe depot (visit GONCTD.com) and is used by commuters. It has 6 intermediate stops (Carlsbad Village, Carlsbad Poinsettia, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Sorrento Valley, and Old Town San Diego). These intermediate stops are great places to railfan. APS trains travel through 4 of these stations at speeds up to 90 miles per hour, which is enough to blow your camera over if you’re not holding on tight (believe it that it almost happened to me!)

Another popular location is San Clemente, which is part of Metrolinks OC line and is also shared by Amtrak, San Diego’s Santa Fe Depot, and Los Angeles Union Station (all mentioned in my free eBook A RailNut’s Guide to Railfanning in Southern California). 

Suggested links:

GONCTD.com

Amtrak.com

Metrolinktrains.com

A RailNut’s Guide to Railfanning in Southern California 

Explanation of Terms:

Highball – during the last century there used to be a ball on a pole that the conductor would raise to signal to the engineer that the train was clear and ready to depart the station. Today, the conductor and the engineer communicate with radios. For example, “Amtrak 572 Highball” means that a particular train number is ready to leave the station.

BNSF - Burlington Northern Santa Fe (sometimes referred to as BSF)

Thanks for reading and more to come soon,

Sky

Northbound Metrolink departing Fullerton, California at sunset