Saturday 6 April 2013

Day 21 - San Bernardino to Fullerton

Fullerton is the last stopover before we come home. Hard to think that 3.5 weeks ago we were getting into San Francisco - where has the time gone ? We spend 4 nights here.

Today we re-visited the lower slopes of Cajon Pass and discovered some great places to film and photograph trains. We had another run in with Mr. no neck security guard who told us to get back behind a gate, which was cool as I didn't like filming there anyway and we went separate ways. The 'B' team told us of a good place they found and we told them where to find McDonalds.

Whilst the 'B' team filled their bellies, we went to a place called the Blue Cut on Cajon Boulevard. Up until then, traffic had been pretty slow but steady, nothing amazing. We sat at the Blue Cut for about 15 minutes and then all hell broke loose:

I was getting ready to film a train from the right, and when I turned left to tell my team mates about it, they were frantically trying to get my attention and tell me about two coming from the left.  It was a triple track line  - so no worries about collisions. What we did witness was a pretty rare feat - the train on the far line was well ahead of the train on the middle line which were approaching from the left, but by the time the locos were directly opposite me, the middle line train had caught up and was overtaking. At the same time, the one from the right came around the corner on the near track, and all three trains met at almost the exact same spot right in front of me - I got the whole lot on video and still managed to snap off a few stills. The other team were sooooooooo jealous !

We hung around for a few more then decided to head off, losing the other team again who were feeling a bit tired and were in need of a nap.

We went to the construction site of the new Colton Flyover which is still under construction, then went to a bridge that went over the far eastern end of Colton Yard. Some local had told the other group that Colton Yard was dead with nothing happening. I couldn't drag my guys away it was that busy with locals, switch jobs and main line arrivals and departures. This resulted in us being too late to visit other locations, and also meant that I had to take the most direct route to the hotel - along the San Bernardino and Orange Freeways - which in one place was 7 lanes wide - all doing 70 mph. Insane.

Dinner at the cafe on the platform at Fullerton watching the trains go by.

Awesome day.







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