Southern Ontario Rails and Transit

I was invited up to Ottawa to do a program for the Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders, a large group of railfans and modelers, in April 2010. Coincidentally, my home Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, the Wilmington Chapter, had been looking to do a set of streetcar charters in Toronto. Combining the two into one trip into Canada seemed pretty logical, so on April 13 I set out with brother Bruce and friend Tom Moran for a trip north of the border.

Day 1: April 13, 2010 -- The Charge To Ottawa
Photos for both April 13 and April 14 can be found here in Photo Lines.

On the first day I met Bruce and Tom over at the airport in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where we ditched Bruce's car and headed north in my rental. Since the OVAR meeting was that night, we were on a bit of a time constraint, so we headed straight across the Canadian border at Thousand Islands. Once in Canada, we made a brief stop at Brockville, where we shot the signals and station.

The light wasn't real good at the station for an eastbound (which is what we had coming), so we moved around the corner from the depot and got one VIA Rail Canada train from Toronto bound for Ottawa. From there, we pressed on to Ottawa.

The OVAR meeting turned out to be a lot of fun. They are a large group (140 people at the meeting, which included a pre-meeting meal) and I really enjoyed giving the program. After the meeting it was off to a motel in Ottawa for the night.

Day 2: April 14, 2010 -- Around Canada's Capitol

The next morning we were invited to take a look at the ongoing restoration of Ottawa streetcar 696 at the OC Transpo shop. We had time beforehand, however, to go looking for a VIA train or two, and a pair left Ottawa bound for Toronto and Montreal early in the morning. We set out looking for a spot to shoot the Toronto train first, finally settling on Richmond, Ontario. After shooting there, we scooted cross country to the Montreal line, but were too late getting there for the second VIA train.

From there we went back into the city to the OC Transpo shops. We took a look at car 696, which is undergoing a full restoration to operation (which can't happen until Ottawa gets a new electric light rail system put in). Also at the shop was car 905, which had been rescued from its second career as a summer cottage.

After our tour of the two cars, we headed over to where Ottawa's diesel-powered light rail line crosses the Rideau River near Carlton University. Dubbed the O-Train, the five-mile line features two trains in service simultaneously, and all northbound and southbound trains are scheduled to meet just north of the Rideau bridge at the Carlton station. We shot many trains on the bridge, but then got out of town -- there was a shot southwest of the city calling my name.

Our afternoon destination was Dalhousie, Quebec, where a surviving water tank still stood along the Canadian Pacific main line. I had spent an afternoon there in 2009 but didn't get any trains. All I wanted was one westbound in the afternoon, and I'd be happy.

Along the way we made one brief stop to catch VIA at Maxville, Ontario, then we got to Dalhousie, which sits right on the Ontario-Quebec border. With the CPR quiet, however, we decided to gamble and leave the shot of the tank (even though it was perfectly lit) and grab a shot of VIA up at Glen Robertson, Ontario.

Well, you can probably guess what happened. Yup, as we headed back to Dalhousie a westbound CPR train passed the water tank in perfect sun. We were about three minutes too late -- in fact, the rear of the train was still on the crossing in Dalhousie as we came to a sad, mad stop in town.

Okay, that didn't work. After another long wait with nothing happening, two more VIA trains were due heading for Montreal. We decided to gamble (again) and headed just east of Dalhousie to the diamond at DeBeaujeu where the CPR main line crosses VIA's Montreal-Ottawa line. Here we were rewarded with a couple of trains -- and CPR didn't show up to make us mad this time. A couple of signal boxes with locks for both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific made for some nice "detail" shots as we waited for trains.

Back at Dalhousie the wait for a westbound CPR freight resumed. The sun was rapidly setting, and all we got was two out-of-the-sun eastbounds. The sinking sun made for some very nice silouhette shots of the tank, but that still wasn't what I was after. Very reluctantly, we finally packed up at sunset and headed for a motel in Cornwall. Once again, I had been beaten by the tank.

Day 3: April 15, 2010 -- On The Ontario-Quebec Border
Photos for April 15 can be found here in Photo Lines.

We awoke in Cornwall as the sun was rising into a clear sky. That silouhette shot we had gotten at the tank at Dalhousie at sunset the previous night kept going through my brain -- that wasn't a bad shot for a morning eastbound. The sun was out, we had some time -- "We're going back to Dalhousie," I declared.

So back we went. This time, luck was very much on our side, and it didn't take long to get an eastbound Canadian Pacific freight rumbling past the water tank. One of the primary missions of the trip had been accomplished!

With that piece of business out of the way, we heard on the scanner what sounded like a train up on VIA's line at Glen Robertson. We headed up there to investigate, and sure enough there was a Canadian National local, led by a battered locomotive, taking the switch onto the old Ottawa Central (which CN had just recently bought back). The train quickly vanished into the trees to do some switching, so we headed up to Glen Sandfield to wait him out at the crossing. Eventually he arrived and we got our shot.

Next up was a Montreal-bound VIA train, so we returned to the main line at Glen Robertson and got a broadside shot passing a farm. With that train out of the picture, we were then left to try to figure out what to do next. Hmmmmm.... We finally settled on chasing that CN train up the Ottawa Central on its way to Hawkesbury. We headed up the line and finally overtook the train at Vankleek Hill, which has a small yard used when the OC ran the line.

The train only paused for a moment here before resuming its journey up the line. We'd get him again crossing the fields at Green Lane. Alas, once in Hawkesbury we found that photo opportunities were limited. We broke off there and headed back down to the VIA main, which had two trains due through -- one Montreal-bound and one headed for Ottawa -- in fairly short order. We decided to head for the station in Alexandria to shoot them.

Our arrival into Alexandria had a bit of a surprise -- the Montreal train was already sitting in the station! As it turns out, he was running about ten minutes early, so we had plenty of time to park (more or less), get out and get a few photos before he departed. The meet occurred "just around the corner" at DeBeaujeu, so we didn't have long to wait for the Ottawa train. We shot him in the station, and again as he made his departure.

With the day pretty far along at this point, we had to make a decision -- we were ultimately heading for Toronto, but we weren't really in good range to see a lot before darkness settled in. We decided to head back the wrong direction, eastward towards Montreal, and hit the Canadian National main line at Coteau, Quebec. This is where Ottawa-to-Montreal trains join the main line, plus there are the through Montreal-Toronto trains, a yard, some freight, a station and a three-track signal bridge. Plenty of stuff to shoot.

Our arrival pretty much coincided with a westbound VIA train powered by one of the "genesis" diesels pulling LRC cars. About 45 minutes later we got a treat, as an F40 pulling an all-stainless steel train headed westward. An eastbound CN grain train was through shortly thereafter. As soon as the eastbound freight cleared, we got a westbound VIA train under the signal bridge, followed by a freight 20 minutes later. A local freight pulled into the yard, and the day finished off with one more eastbound VIA train and two more westbound VIA's. A nice show to end the day.

Day 4: April 16, 2010 -- Rain, Rain, Go Away
Photos for April 16 can be found here in Photo Lines.

We were back in Cornwall for the night and when we awoke, unlike the previous morning, we found clouds and rain. The clouds had actually moved in the previous day while we were at Coteau, but now they had precipitation along with them.

We headed west towards Montreal, and almost immediately picked up a westbound Canadian National freight. We gave chase, finally pulling off the freeway and down to the tracks at Ingleside, Ontario. Unfortunately, we were blocked by a gate here and couldn't get a really good shot, so we headed back out, this time getting the train at Maitland.

We knew we had both east- and westbound VIA trains coming, so we headed into Lansdowne where the two trains met almost in front of us (actually just a few seconds apart just to our east). Just as we were leaving, we spotted a headlight and caught a Canadian National freight heading east through the signals in town.

We continued our westward push, stopping at the VIA station in the middle of nowhere at Gananoque, Ontario. With the rain still coming down, we got a westbound and eastbound freight about 20 minutes apart. The (fairly) new construction station, built for VIA, now houses a model railroad club and a small VIA waiting room; only a few trains stop here.

We arrived at the next big town, Kingston, with the rain still falling. An eastbound VIA train was due, and as he made his station stop a westbound freight came by. Fortunately, the freight cleared before the VIA train proceeded east, so we were able to photograph both trains. The VIA train would split at Brockville, with one section going to Montreal and the other to Ottawa; interestingly, the two trains operated as one unit, complete with the Ottawa section's locomotive tucked into the middle of the train!

Up next was the train we were looking for -- a Windsor-bound train that would have F40s on the point and Budd-built stainless steel cars following -- almost a 1950s streamliner (ignoring the F40 for a moment). While this westbound train made its stop, something nice happened -- the sun came out!

The clouds had returned by the time we made our next two stops. We caught eastbound and westboundVIA trains at Napanee on the bridge located there, then we shot a westbound VIA train at Belleville. The next stop was at Trenton, where the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National run side-by-side. We caught an eastbound CP freight and a westbound VIA train on the CN, but the photo angles were pretty tight. Heading west, the CP and CN remain fairly close together, so we headed towards Newtonville, a location that has bridges over both railroads.

We didn't get to Newtonville -- at least not right away. I spotted the end-to-end wooden bridges over the two railroads at Wesleyville, and with the sun out we decided to make our stand there. The Canadian Pacific was up first, with a prefectly-lit view of a train passing the signal on single track.

Then the double-track CN got into the action with two westbounds -- a freight followed by VIA. Back over on the CP, we got a westbound passing under the wooden road bridge. We finally moved down to Newtonville, where (with the sun still out) we got an eastbound VIA train and a westbound CN freight right at sunset. Time to head to Toronto!

To be continued -- check back.

Frozen Tundra of the South

As a recently elected to the Board of Directors of the National Railway Historical Society, I ventured south to Charleston, South Carolina, to attend a board meeting on January 9-10, 2010. While I briefly considered flying, I decided that I wanted to see a few things along the way, so I loaded up my iPod with some great tunes, downloaded a few trainwatching guides, programmed the scanner and headed south on the evening of January 7. The night was cold, and I encountered some snow showers below Baltimore. I met up with my brother Bruce at a motel in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where we'd begin the next day's photography.

Day 1: January 8, 2010 -- Ashland Interlude
See the photos in Photo Line

Virginia Railway Express provides commuter rail between Fredericksburg and the nation's capitol, but only one train would head north after daybreak. With the sun attempting to pop out after the previous night's snow showers, we had trouble finding a location that might provide nose lighting on the locomotive (which pushes from the south end of the train) and was out of the shadows of the trees that closely hug the track. We weren't sure if Amtrak's Auto Train had gone north yet (Julie at Amtrak's toll-free number said it hadn't arrived yet at Lorton, about 30 miles up the track). We finally found a place in the woods and snapped the northbound VRE train pushing northward.

After that the sky clouded up again and snow -- heavy snow (and not in the forecast) began falling. We went to VRE's Leeland Road station about four miles above Fredericksburg and in fairly short order we got a northbound CSX coal train and a southbound Amtrak train. We then moved to the nearby overpass for a view of a northbound Amtrak.

The ultimate goal for the day was to get to Ashland, a quaint town where the tracks roll through the middle of the main street downtown on a private median. But on the way to Ashland is the town of Doswell where the former Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (the line we were following) crosses the former Chesapeake & Ohio. the C&O is now operated by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, and they had a local train working Doswell. We also got a northbound train rattling the diamond on the former RF&P. Meanwhile, a solid line of crystal clear sky was working its way in from the west, so we beat feet down to Ashland.

We started off in Ashland with a badly-lit northbound train. Talk on the radio, however, indicated that a bad switch several miles north at Milford had southbound trains blocked. Once the switch was fixed, a parade of two Amtrak trains and two CSX freights came through. Nice.

Next up was a very poorly lit northbound, but we could hear him talking to a southbound up the line. I had never gotten the shot of a train passing the church at Gwathmey, two miles below Ashland, so while Bruce stayed in town to get a shot near the Ashland station, I headed to Gwathmey for the southbound. Just below Gwathmey the freight met a northbound (and once again poorly lit) Amtrak train.

The day was winding down, and long shadows were creeping it at Ashland. With one more Amtrak southbound on the schedule, we headed back to Doswell, which was more open. Before Amtrak arrived, a northbound local freight appeared and stopped to work the Buckingham Branch interchange. Then in was time for Amtrak, and then it was time to hit the road. Bruce headed north back to New Jersey, and I headed non-stop south to Charleston. Okay, I made one stop -- I had to get a taco at South of the Border!






Day 2: January 11, 2010 -- Empty Palmetto Rails
See the photos in Photo Lines

Ah, the warm south -- not! The fountains in front of the Charleston Place Hotel had ice clinging to its horses. After two days of meetings, it was time to head north and I was anxious to explore what is known as the Lowcountry in South Carolina. I had several stops I wanted to make along CSX's ex-Atlantic Coast Line trackage. Since this was the I-95 of the rail world, I figured getting trains at most of the locations would be a snap.

It was sunny and pleasantly warm(er) as I stopped next to a signal bridge just south of the Charleston Amtrak station in North Charleston. I hoped to get one freight going south before I had to relocate to find better lighting for Amtrak's northbound Palmetto. Sadly, all that came was a light engine move (with the engine running backwards) and a local freight (with the engine running backwards). Amtrak was nearly on time, however, so I pushed north hoping to find a wide open spot to shoot a broadside of the train.

Driving north, I passed the dragging defect detector at Goose Creek along U.S. 52. This would start talking on the radio once a train passed over it, so I made note of the mileage. Before I got to Monck's Corner, the detector, now about ten miles behind me, went off. I had a ten-mile lead on Amtrak. Crossing the tracks on a bridge at Monck's Corner I noticed a depot to the north -- that would be where I would make my stand. I snaked through town and down to the depot, only to discover the angle that looked so promising from the bridge (a quarter mile away) was quite cluttered. What to do . . . Amtrak was closing fast.

I decided that I would press my luck and try to make Macbeth ahead of the train. I snaked back out through town, drove north on 52 and made the left turn for the one-mile trek into Macbeth. It wasn't as open as I would have liked, but when I opened the car door I could hear horns to the south. This would be the shot, like it or not. It didn't frame up half bad, and I snagged it. Without any freights in the immediate forecast, I decided not to wait at Macbeth and pushed on to the next target on my list.

The next place I wanted to reach was Etta, just north of St. Stephen (and called the best train watching location in South Carolina). The town of St. Stephen looked like it might have a depot, so I swung onto the main drag off U.S. 52, wandered to the tracks and -- yup -- there was a depot. After snapping that, I headed into Etta where the tracks cross the Santee River on a long bridge. This would be worth a wait, so I turned the scanner up (I'd hear trains calling signals miles away) and eased back for a nap. Taking a nap proved to be too easy, as the radio stayed quiet. After about an hour, the sun had pretty much moved out of position for a good shot, so I headed back north.

Lane had good potential for shooting, and I could hear a maintenance crew talking on the radio north of town. I wandered up and found a work train sitting waiting for a signal to go north. I continued on, stopping at Kingstree to shoot the Amtrak depot. By now the work train was on the move, but it was coming directly out of the sun. With no light on the nose and practically no light on either side, I settled for a shot of the train passing the Railroad Auction.

Lake City looked big enough to have a depot, so I followed the old highway into town and found a station, along with an Atlantic Coast Line caboose and observation car on display. Still no trains. The small town of Scranton had good possibilities, but still no trains. A decaying depot was still standing in Effingham a few years ago (according to reports), but investigation showed that all that was left was a concrete platform.

Finally I arrived at Florence, the end of my planned itinerary. I had been following the railroad for 80 miles and six hours, and other than Amtrak and the work train I hadn't seen much else. So much for it being a busy railroad. At Florence I found the old ACL depot and headquarters building (now used by a hospital), and the new Amtrak station next to that.  I had about twelve hours of driving left to do, so I prepared to head north. As I left Florence, the first southbound freight left town heading into the territory I had just fruitlessly followed. Some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug.

Below L.A.

In late October we had some family business to tend to in San Diego, mostly involving getting an aunt's house ready for sale, as she no longer needed it (small house -- actually what we used to call a trailer). Mom and brother Bruce boarded Southwest out of Philadelphia, heading for Los Angeles. On Monday, October 26, we went to a taping of The Price Is Right, then headed down to San Diego in the evening. Upon arrival, we found that the local church had already done most of the work, and a friend of my aunt's was willing to drive Mom around to take care of paperwork. That left me and Bruce with four almost totally free days to explore deep Southern California. Woo hoo!

Day 1: October 27, 2009 -- Sprinting Along
Photos at Photo Lines

An ocean fog had blanketed much of the coast around San Diego, so after trying to figure out what to do we headed inland to Escondido, the eastern terminus of the diesel-powered light rail Sprinter service to Oceanside some 22 miles away. We started at the Escondido station, getting a few photos. Since service is only every 30 minutes, we decided that moving from location to location by auto (instead of riding the train) would maximize our photo output. After several shots at Escondido, we moved on to the Nordahl Road station for a few trains.

At the Cal State station in San Marcos, we opted not to shoot at the station (lack of parking being one reason), so found a perch just east of the station that gave a nice elevated view of the railroad. Most of the line is on an old ex-Santa Fe branch (and indeed there is still freight service to Escondido), but the light rail line at San Marcos is on new right-of-way, eliminating a lot of grade crossings (freight still uses the original right-of-way).

At the San Marcos Civic Center station we shot a train or two passing the junction where the western end of the new right-of-way joins the original line. A long passing siding goes through the Palomar College station, so we got a few shots there, then finished up at the western end of the double track at CP Missy (named for parallel Mission Boulevard).

Hard as it is to believe, in a complete afternoon we only covered about a third of the line. That just means we have to try again sometime!

Day 2: October 28, 2009 -- Pacific Breezes
Photos at Photo Lines

Just a few months previous (March to be precise) we had been in California for Winterail in the Bay Area, but included Southern California in the trip. We had spent a day in the Del Mar area, but persistent ocean fog made for a less than fully productive outing.  Today was different. We arrived in Del Mar under sunny skies and immediately knocked off a scene that we had gotten skunked on in March -- a Pacific Surfliner passing a very expensive house on the coast.

Del Mar is located about 20 miles north of San Diego and is in the heart of where the Santa Fe followed the coast from below San Juan Capistrano southward. Today it sees frequent Amtrak service (the trains are push-pull with the locomotives on the south end) and Coaster commuter service between Oceanside and San Diego (push-pull with locomotives on the north end).  After successfully getting our southbound Amtrak train, next up was a San Diego-bound Coaster. Since it would be pushing (and thus the locomotive's headlight would be out), we opted for a broadside shot with the ocean as a backdrop.

A northbound Amtrak train would catch our attention next, with a northbound Coaster following. The Coaster sure looked good along the cliffs! After another northbound Amtrak, we left the cliffs and headed north of the old Del Mar station (no longer used as such) for a few more trains.

We worked our way up to Oceanside, where Coaster service ends and Metrolink service into Los Angeles begins, plus the Sprinter comes in from Escondido -- Oceanside's station hosts passenger trains from four different operators! We found a nice hill to shoot the Sprinter from just west of downtown, but were just a few minutes late getting into position. We put that shot into the memory banks to try again later in the week. After shooting the Sprinter in the station, we headed to the bridge just north of downtown and shot a southbound Amtrak.

Unlike Amtrak and the Coasters, Metrolink doesn't seem to run its locomotives consistently on one end of the train, so it's a guessing game if you'll get a locomotive or cab car leading. We hedged our bets and set up for a broadside on the bridge.

We hadn't been to San Clemente in -- gosh -- 18 years (hard to believe), and wanted to shoot there. Unfortunately, since our last visit things had changed. There's a lot more fencing and trees between the tracks and beaches and we found shooting there to be challenging. We just barely caught a southbound Amtrak, then got a going-away view of a northbound Amtrak followed by a very nice view of a southbound Metrolink train. A few more Amtrak trains and a Metrolink (cab car leading, but ncie shot) rounded out our San Clemente visit.

For a grand finale, we headed back to Oceanside to get those pesky what-end-is-the-engine-on Metrolink trains. A broadside of a northbound (with the locomotive pushing) rounded out the day.

Day 3: October 29, 2009 -- Clang Goes The Trolley
Photos at Photo Lines

The San Diego Trolley ushered in the new era of streetcars and light rail when it started in the early 1980s. Since then, dozens of cities across North America have followed San Diego's lead and put in new rail transit systems. Despite its status as a pioneer, however, I had only gotten a few token shots of the system in the past. Today would change that. We'd spend a day riding and photographing part of the trolley. (Trolley is a bit of a misnomer -- it sounds quaint, but this is one modern light rail system.)

We parked the car at the Arnele Avenue station on the far north/west end of the combined green and orange lines (since we were staying near El Cajon on this trip) and boarded a northbound car to get to the end of the line. After a stop at Gillespie Field (end of the orange line) we went on to the end of the green line at Santee Town Center, one of a few stations located adjacent to a mall (this sytem really knows where its customers want to go!). Retracing our route back towards San Diego, we stopped at Amaya Drive for a few shots. I could see a young transit cop talking on a cell phone and, sure enough, when he was finished he wandered over to us. "You can't take pictures of the trolley," he said. "There's no law against it," I replied. "I was on the phone with my sergeant and he said we can't have people taking too many pictures." "Why?" That led to the standard 9/11-security-terrorist speech. I tried not to roll my eyes. "There's no law against it. We're out here all day, and if your sergeant has a problem with that he can come find us." With that, the transit cop wandered off. Never did see another one.

Our next stop was the elevated Grantville station, where we were able to get some nice telephoto shots of the trolley passing Jack Murphy (I refuse to call it Qualcomm) Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. From there, we paused at the Stadium station (also elevated) for some more shots.

At the Old Town Transit Center the green line ends and the blue line begins. We spent several minutes here waiting for an Amtrak train and a Coaster to come by on the parallel main line. One operator wanted her picture taken in her trolley (whatever happened to that "no photos" stuff we encountered earlier) and another operator acknowledged that a lot of "foamers" worked for the transit system. Friendly people.

Continuing on into downtown San Diego, we stopped at the ex-Santa Fe depot to shoot Amtrak and some streetcars. A Coaster was also in the station, getting ready to head north. The area around the Amtrak station is target-rich, and we found plenty to see and photograph here.

Across the street from the Amtrak station is the busy America Plaza trolley station, a transfer point between the orange line back to El Cajon and the blue line on its way to San Ysidro. The downtown area provide a lot of shooting opportunities.

The area around the Convention Center in San Diego is full of nice buildings that make for a good photographic backdrop, so after finishing downtown we hopped on an orange line train and rode it to its terminus (which just happens to be near the Coaster maintenance yard). Riding back, we got off at the Convention Center station to shoot streetcars, and even got a northbound Coaster coming out to go to the station. Nice.

Time was rapidly not getting on our side and we had to get back to El Cajon. Just to be different, we rode the orange line back. This has more street running in the city than the blue line, and it passes through some of the grittier parts of town. It was quite a contrast to the area by the Convention Center. We rode non-stop to the Grossmont Transit Center, passing old railroad stations in Lemon Grove and La Mesa (and even a steam engine on display in the latter).  At the Grossmont Transit Center, where the green line rejoins the orange line, we headed away from our final destination, returning to Jack Murphy Stadium to get a few shots that the light hadn't been quite right to get in the morning. Believing that to tell the whole story you need to photograph people interacting with the transit system, I shot a passenger buying a ticket from a vending machine. After finishing up at the Murph, we headed back to Arnele Avenue and our car for the return trip to El Cajon.

Day 4: October 30, 2009 -- Heading To the Harbor
Photos at Photo Lines

We needed to bid farewell to the San Diego area on this day and get back up to Los Angeles for the flight home. After taking care of some loose ends in the morning, we set out and took care of some photographic loose ends. First up was getting a trolley passing the steam locomotive on display in La Mesa. Then, using a timetable for a guide, we intercepted a couple of Amtrak Surfliners, one near Sorrento Valley and another at Carlsbad. At Oceanside we stopped to get the shot of the Sprinter from the bluff that we had not quite gotten right a few days before.

We had a motel reserved near Los Angeles International (preparing for an early-morning flight the next day) so we dropped Mom at the motel and Bruce and I headed for San Pedro. Bob and Diane Gallegos (from Milwaukee) were also in California, so we met up it them to chase the San Pedro streetcar around. Primarily a tourist operation, the streetcar serves the cruise ship dock area of Long Beach, bringing back memories of the old Pacific Electric that used to serve San Pedro.

Bob grew up near Long Beach and knew his way around, so after getting the streetcar we set off exploring the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Despite it being a prime target for terrorists smuggling in small thermonuclear devices (according to the press), the Ports have a surprising number of public access points to watch containers being unloaded and to watch the Port's railroad, Pacific Harbor Line.

We came across a ship unloading containers from CSX; these weren't containers full of Chinese imports, but rather empty containers for domestic use that were constructed overseas (domestic containers are larger than ocean-going ones). We all clicked away at the stack of new containers and got some great stock images of port activity.

Finished with the containers, we headed towards Anaheim Street looking for Pacific Harbor Line action. We were rewarded with a train crossing the bridge onto Terminal Island, which we shot from a marina. We later caught up with a BNSF train on its way out to ITS.

All good things must come to an end, and that was the case for our trip. Bob and Diane, like Bruce and I, had dinner plans, so we said farewell and went our separate ways. A nice dinner, a short night, and it was back on Southwest to Philadelphia, leaving sunny California behind.