First day in California. We take an afternoon/evening tour of Caltrain in San Mateo/Burlingame.

After flying in on this 10/23/23 day and arriving from NY around noon, and after a little power nap, I railfanned Caltrain with its GM power and prime movers which is music to my ears. I visited the “horn lovers” towns of San Mateo and swanky Burlingame. Those towns are loaded with railroad crossings that make this “Retired Railfan Horn Guy” happy. Looking forward to an exciting time in the Bay Area with Caltrain being my main focus although I will see other operators of trains. Enjoying the California sun. (FYI. The F40-PH-2C’s are really F40PH-3C’s)

[@straightto8]

Glad to see you are enjoying yourself on my old stomping grounds, was a engineer for Amtrak when they ran things there, there’s a few cab ride videos on my channel which date back to 03-05 when all of the rebuild was newly constructed. Glad to see you are a SF Giants fan, I am a SF native, my Uncle was a lifetime fan, I went to many a game at old Candlestick Park. Shame how worn and dirty the equipment is now.

[@3985uprr]

I never cared for Madison Bumgarner. I do like Matt Cain and my last name is Hosey so I dug Buster Posey 😀😀. I heard candlestick Park was kind of a miserable place to play baseball. Too much wind in the afternoon and it was hard to get to on public transportation.

[@john678]

Love these video’s, thank you!

[@davidkavanaugh8956]

Same here. I worked in San Mateo years ago and went to lunch in the area that had the CalTrains going down the street. I also went to Jack London Square a few times where the CalTrain went down the road there as well. Even longer ago I lived in Santa Clara CA and had to take CalTrain to get to work in San Francisco.

[@jquas1965]

You can go anywhere and you’ll know all trains all locomotives all schedules. I don’t know how you do it but provide good information and content.

[@3985uprr]

Research, research, research!!

[@jkrspecnet]

Great video. Carl Yastrzemski: in addition to his great baseball prowess Carl was also quite a high school basketball player at Bridgehampton HS in the mid 1950s. In fact for quite some time he held the Suffolk County high school single season basketball scoring record. Bridgehampton HS and Center Moriches HS had quite a sports rivalry in basketball and baseball in those days. Although we were in League B-2 (the small East End schools) and they were in League B-3 (the really tiny East End schools) we played them in non-league games twice a season, and in 2 seasons for the Suffolk County Small Schools baseball championship. Bridgehampton won both times. I personally played basketball 4 times in 2 seasons against Carl and his Bridgehampton teammates (we never won).

[@3985uprr]

Carl was great. I have a book about him, which pretty much tells about his basketball prowess.

[@jackchen7003]

sad the the F40s will be Soon gone in a few years, but it will be nice to see electric trains flying down this line and hopefully California high speed rail someday too.

[@c.j.w.0863]

Pretty cool, Tim. You remember seeing me at Hoboken back on October 1??? I was wearing the Conrail hat and NS shirt that day. I’ve never seen Cal Train in person before but I heard Cal train is gonna replace all of their current fleet with new electric trains or something like that. Hope you had a great time there.

[@PeninsulaTrainFan]

30:29 this is actually the LRQ50, composed of two SD59MXS. While the LSF51 usually runs with a pair of GP60s

[@Adamdaj]

Too bad you're too far north to pay your respects to Sgt. Friday and Ofr. Gannon aka Jack Webb and Harry Morgan. Have a wonderful time!

[@alleycatvietnam]

@11:14 Her name is pronounced Spear...In 1978, while working for Leo Ryan his aide, Speier survived five gunshot wounds when Ryan was assassinated during the Jonestown massacre.[2] Speier served as a member of the California State Senate, representing parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties. On April 8, 2008, she won the special election for the vacated United States House of Representatives seat of the late Congressman Tom Lantos.[3] In 2021, she announced that she would not seek reelection in the 2022 midterm elections

[@3985uprr]

There was a baseball player that had the last name spelled the same way, and his last name was pronounced like the way I pronounced it.

[@DKS225]

Note the vintage pick-up Tim. My favourite part of the film Bullitt was The Car chase between a black Dodge Charger and a green Ford Mustang. McQueen's character was driving the Mustang

[@3985uprr]

He knew how to drive!!!!!!

[@rochesterjohnny7555]

nice diesel line, I only ever took trains between LA and San Diego in CA

[@mrbpdx]

You might want to go south to go take a look at Metrorail in Los Angeles and Coaster routes as they are still Locomotive hauled although there is a route between Rancho Cucamonga and Redlands that is run by Metrolonk operated by Stadler Flirts.

[@user-np2po7di8k]

you look great in SF Giants Cao!!

[@3985uprr]

Thanks. I was wearing it continuously the whole time I was out there. As soon as I got home, I put it back on the shelf. I’m a Phillies fan but they didn’t give me much to be happy about while I was out there. I watched them lose the series at a bar loaded with Dback fans.

[@douglasalan5783]

Nice change of pace from the LIRR. Sorry about your Phillies. My interest in the World Series is zero. Couldn’t care less about the D-backs or Rangers. Some good motive power in the LA area such as the the EMD F125. “Bullitt” had the best car chases!

[@superbaddy4]

Back around 2017-2018, Caltrain refitted all their MP36s and Bombardier Cab Cars, as well as the final few Gallery Cabs, with LED Ditch Lights without changing the upper headlights. The F40PH-3Cs gained theirs when they were overhauled right around that time, and the MP36s are now getting their upper headlights replaced with LEDs too as they also get overhauled. That should explain the presence of LEDs across Caltrain. Cab Cars 119 at 8:54 and 120 at 10:40 there are units of significant note. They don't have P2s. They have these unknown horns said to either be Leslie 2-Chimes of some sort or heavily modified K2s. 120's horn sounds significantly better because 119's horn is more Restricted. 120 also holds the distinction of having the only Transtronic Bell on all of Caltrain, though 119 used to have one too before it was replaced with a Graham White E-Bell (which 113 and 115 also now have). The two of them were built in 2008, making them quite younger than the others. They're nicknamed the "Blood Moons" because of their uniqueness and how in the past, it used to be very rare to ever see them leading, but in recent days, they've both been leading much more often. Felt I should educate you on those two units, because they're kinda Local Celebrities on Caltrain, and they'll hopefully both stick around on the Gilroy Service after the Electrification hits.

[@Kirkpatrick82]

Metrolink have same here in south californa from san bernardino to LA and also they route san bernardino to oceanside

[@Randoman35]

Did you visit the East Bay? There's another world of sports and trains across the bridge, with the A's and the Capitol Corridor.

[@3985uprr]

Didn’t make it

[@Randoman35]

@3985uprr You likely missed your last chance to see Oakland A's baseball and one of your last to see F59s on Amtrak trains, unless you're coming back this year. Cross the bay next time you visit.

[@ratreepoolsappasit8755]

Try rail-fanning Santa Clara station, you have UP, Amtrak, Capital corridor, ACE, and Caltrain.

[@3985uprr]

I spent some time there. It’s on another video

[@lohphat]

The Caltrain route shares the same challenges the NE corridor does for HSR readiness. It's at grade and has many grade crossings making it too dangerous to have trains run around full speed so they'll either have to slow the trains to 80-100MPH or raise the trackbed as they have at San Carlos so that street traffic passes under the tracks now. There is at least one incident a month of a car or pedestrian getting hit severely enough to call the corner. Don't forget to eat at La Cumbre Taqueria @ the San Mateo station. Birthplace of the "mission burrito".

[@3985uprr]

Thanks, but I’m not into that kind of food

[@user-np2po7di8k]

Did you photo n or Ride Los Angeles Metrolink Trains?

[@3985uprr]

I was only in the San Francisco area. Last time I rode Metrolink was 1997 from San Bernardino to LA and return.

[@DennisL22]

The hotel you’re talking about in Bullet, is actually in Millbrae. It’s on the other side of 101 freeway. The named has been changed but at that time it was The Thunderbird Hotel.

[@3985uprr]

I’m sure it’s a real motel, but they mentioned it was in San Mateo

[@DennisL22]

Here’s the proff

[@USArailfan2000]

[23:53] Here, you would think you was standing somewhere back East -- until you turn around, of course.

[@loocpoc]

Go Dodgers

[@3985uprr]

Hahaha.

[@expressrailfan7129]

When do they plan to fully take the F40s and MP36 out of service?

[@3985uprr]

I would imagine when all the electric trains are put in service. The Gilroy trains will still have locomotives, but I hear they want to get battery versions of the EMU’s. The crews I talk to are not happy about the electric trains.

[@sixfifty_sebb]

The F40’s and gallery cars will be out of service when the electric trains be in service in September of 2024 but the 3CS and MP36’s will stay in service with the Bombardier Coaches running on the non electrified line

[@kevinb8881]

I'm curious if Caltrain will retire their passenger cars or sell them off to another rail company!!

[@3985uprr]

I don’t know, they look a bit tired. They could go to VRE maybe or Chicago. The routes have to have high clearances so that eliminates some eastern commuter railroads

[@kevinb8881]

​@@3985uprr Yeah, VRE and Metra, or South Shore in Indiana would be the only game players for the Nippon Shayro cars!!

[@caltrain_acefoamer907]

The L4s don’t stop at hillsdale

[@3985uprr]

So I found out 😀

[@bflewis9713]

Why does that Milbrae station remind me of Stamford?

[@3985uprr]

It does somewhat

[@Yo_Its_Matty_ice]

@8:02 I will not tolerate such P2 slander, sir

[@3985uprr]

Don’t take it personally 😂. I get a lot of slander about my beloved LIRR K5LLA horns. I’m old enough to know what kind of horns you could hear on that line many years ago. If you are a young person, you wouldn’t believe the beautiful sounds they made.

[@jmream2618]

Why don’t they install 3rd rail and use MU cars like Metro north & Long Island use

[@3985uprr]

They are using MU’s. Overhead seems the new way to electrify.

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

I’m gonna do my best to avoid going to California until they finish the high speed rail line. (Which will take a very very very long time)

[@jimevans6885]

AWFUL HORNS,YOU WOULD OF APPRECIATED SP DAYS WITH P3,M5,M3,AND P5S JIM EVANS, FIVECHIMEConsultants

[@3985uprr]

I know all too well!!!!!!