The freight to San Diego normally operates at night, after the busy line heading south along the Pacific quiets down. But at times they operated in the daytime, often because of maintenance being... (more)

Dumb Luck and a Long Lens...

As Metrolink Inland Empire-Orange County Line train 1858 departs the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center heading from Oceanside to downtown San ... (more)

BNSF Railway High-Priority Freight H-BARSDG1-02A, heading to San Diego from Barstow, has just hopped onto Metrolink's Olive Sub after holding at Atwood (on the BNSF’s San Bernardino Sub) for eas... (more)

Heading from Barstow to San Diego, BNSF ES44C4 7008, ES44DC 7865 and ES44C4 8210 are leading train H-BARSDG1-09, comprised of 34 loaded cars. The train is bisecting Chapman University as it passe... (more)

As Union Pacific train UP MWCNP-16 (a West Colton CA to North Platte NE manifest) climbs Cajon Pass on BNSF Cajon Sub's Main 1, BNSF High Priority Freight H-BARSDG3-16A, running a mere 15½ hours ... (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)

Passing through the campus of Chapman University is BNSF Railway freight train H-BARSDG1-22A, with the first half of the train having just transitioned to Metrolink's Orange Sub after traveling do... (more)

Held up a bit by a pair of late passenger trains (Amtrak 769 running 10 minutes late, and Metrolink 859 running 8 minutes behind because it had to wait for AMTK 769), BNSF High Priority Freight H-... (more)

A somewhat rare daylight move of a San Diego-bound freight, BNSF H-BARSDG1-25A, occurred when the train transitioned off Metrolink’s Olive Sub and onto Metrolink’s Orange Sub at 11:00 am, as A... (more)

Rolling off Metrolink's 5½-mile-long Olive Sub and onto Metrolink's Orange Sub is BNSF Railway train H-BARSDG, a (supposedly) High Priority freight heading from Barstow to San Diego. At this poi... (more)

Orange, California, as the name implies, was a hub of activity in the citrus industry's heyday. (Ironically, the city was not named for the fruit, but rather after the city of the same name in Ne... (more)

For the second day in a row, the BNSF train from Barstow to San Diego passed through the city of Orange at about 10:30 in the morning, making for a daylight run along the beach. And also for the ... (more)

While the old Santa Fe "Surf Line", now Metrolink's Orange Sub, is closed to passenger traffic in San Clemente due to yet another landslide, freight trains are still allowed to pass by a... (more)

BNSF train H-BARSDG1-15A, a High Priority Merchandise freight heading from Barstow to San Diego; has just gotten a clear signal at Atwood, and is now continuing its journey an amazing 99 hours ... (more)