Railfanning the San Diego Sub on Presidents' Day - 4K

Описание: Watch in 4K Resolution! On President's Day 2019, I spent the afternoon railfanning the NCTD San Diego Subdivision, or "Surf Line". I started out just outside downtown San Diego and worked my way north to Carlsbad Village. It started out as a clear day, but by the time I got to Carlsbad Village, it had started to rain. Despite the national holiday, NCTD was running Coaster trains on a regular weekday schedule, so there were plenty of trains to see. Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner trains are now being pulled almost entirely by the new Siemens SC-44 Charger locomotives, but I did catch one F59PHI in what ended up being its second-to-last day in Surfliner service.

Along the way, I stopped at multiple locations where recent or current improvement projects are taking place on the rail corridor. More info on these projects is given in the train descriptions below.

Trains:

Train 1: Southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 768 crosses Noell Street as it approaches downtown San Diego.
CDTX 2113 - SC-44
CDTX 6953 - Cabcar

Train 2: Northbound Coaster Train 645 crosses Noell Street shortly after departing San Diego.
NCTC 2105 - F40PH-2C
NCTC 2302 - Cabcar

Train 3: Southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 572 passes through Sorrento Valley. I just barely had time to set up before this train passed through.
CDTX 2120 - SC-44
CDTX 6951 - Cabcar

Train 4: Northbound Coaster Train 645 makes its station stop at Sorrento Valley.
NCTC 2105 - F40PH-2C
NCTC 2302 - Cabcar

Train 5: Northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 579 passes through the recently completed San Elijo Lagoon Double Train project. The contractor still has some cleanup work to do, but the double track and bridge are complete.
CDTX 6953 - Cabcar
CDTX 2113 - SC-44

Train 6: Northbound Coaster Train 651 makes its station stop at Encinitas.
NCTC 3002 - F59PHI
NCTC 2308 - Cabcar

Train 7: Southbound Coaster Train 654 passes CP Ponto and crosses the wooden trestle at Batiquitos Lagoon. This trestle is one of the last remaining wooden trestles on the Surf Line and is slated for replacement by a new double track bridge in the upcoming Batiquitos Lagoon Double Track project.
NCTC 2302 - Cabcar
NCTC 2105 - F40PH-2C

Train 8: Southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 774 passes through Batiquitos Lagoon a few minutes later.
CDTX 2114 - SC-44
AMTK 6904 - Cabcar

Train 9: Northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 583 passes through the Track Bulletin Form B limits at Carlsbad Poinsettia. Lots of headway is being made here on the Poinsettia Station Improvements project. The new platform for track 2 is nearing completion and part of the new track has already been constructed. This new platform and track will soon be put into service. The station will undergo several interim configurations as the construction is phased to maintain operations while the project continues through to completion.
CDTX 6951 - Cabcar
CDTX 2120 - SC-44

Train 10: Southbound Coaster Train 656 passes Amtrak 583 at CP Farr and makes its station stop at Carlsbad Poinsettia.
NCTC 2308 - Cabcar
NCTC 3002 - F59PHI

Train 11: Northbound Coaster Train 653 is heard getting cleared through the Form B, then makes its station stop at Carlsbad Poinsettia.
NCTC 2101 - F40PH-2C
NCTC 2303 - Cabcar

Train 12: Southbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 580 passes through Tamarack Avenue in Carlsbad with a female runner completely ignoring the lowering crossings gates as the train approaches. F59PHI 459 belches clouds of black smoke as it leads, a sign of improper combustion. This would be the second to last day of revenue service on the Pacific Surfliner for this locomotive as it would depart California for its new life of Metra service two days later. With only one Amtrak F59PHI remaining in Surfliner service as of uploading this video, this was probably the last video I will ever get of one of these locomotives pulling a Surfliner train.
AMTK 459 - F59PHI
AMTK 6906 - Cabcar

Train 13: Northbound Coaster Train 655 makes its station stop at Carlsbad Village.
NCTC 2105 - F40PH-2C
NCTC 2302 - Cabcar

Train 14: Northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 785 passes through Carlsbad Village, running about 50 minutes late. By now, it had started raining and the light was rapidly fading.
AMTK 6904 - Cabcar
CDTX 2114 - SC-44

That's all for this video.

Enjoy!