DEcember days are short, and as Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Weekend Service train 580 arrives at the Orange station at 3:45 pm (15:45) the sun is already very low in the sky ... but providing... (more)

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner 572, heading from Los Angeles to San Diego, passes through CP Maple, the junction of Metrolink's Orange Sub and Olive Sub (and thus the plethora of switches), in Or... (more)

Bringing up the markers on San Diego-bound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner 1564 is AMTK non-Powered Control Unit 90278 (ex-AMTK F40PH 278). When the prime mover (diesel engine) was removed, they ... (more)

Union Pacific's Marlboro Local has just crossed Meats Avenue as it backs through the industrial area served by this job. UP GP40P-2 1375 and GP60 1083 are shoving two box cars back to the rest of... (more)

With a pair of ET44C4s, 3684 and 3755, for power, BNSF Railway train V-SBDSDG4-11A (San Bernardino to San Diego), passes through Control Point Maple, and off Metrolink's Olive Sub and onto their O... (more)

Departing the Orange Station is Metrolink train 662, heading from Los Angeles to Oceanside. (Orange, California – November 24, 2023)

Metrolink train 624, heading to Oceanside from Los Angeles; approaches the station in the city of Orange, with F125 910 for power. (Orange, California – April 7, 2025)

After sitting on Track 1 at the Metrolink station for an hour, BNSF train F-T216-1-07T, consisting of a pair of locomotives (BNSF 5159 up front, and ET44C4 3740 on the rear) with just one car betw... (more)

San Diego-bound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner 566 has P42DC 198 on the point (rather than the usual SC-44), and its six cars are also a bit unusual, as only half are technically Surfliner... (more)

On March 24, BNSF and the US Department of Transportation operated a train from Los Angeles to San Diego, returning on March 25, to evaluate the trackage. Nearly two weeks later, that train made ... (more)

Union Pacific's 8-car Costa Mesa Local, which hasn't served Costa Mesa in decades, heads south on Metrolink's Orange Sub, on which it has trackage rights from Control Point (CP) College (na... (more)

Metrolink Orange County Line train 625 (Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo to Los Angeles) departs the station in Orange under a vivid sunset with Hyundai-Rotem-built cab car 660 leading, and MP36PH-3C 8... (more)

Not Your Typical Surfliner!

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner 572, making its way from San Diego to Los Angeles, is radically different than the usual Surfliners: (A... (more)

Winter Solstice: Worst Day to Railfan?

The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This yea... (more)

About 124 miles into its 216-mile trip from Barstow to San Diego, BNSF train H-BARSDG1-13A is already 16 hours behind schedule. Sadly, that's no longer an aberration on today's railroads. And wi... (more)