UP
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UP has assigned UPY 2734 and UPY 2733 to Anaheim to work on the locals. These are new GENSET switch engines. I believe UPY 2733 is working on the Marlboro engine set along with UP 1048.

Went by Wednesday evening and the UPY 2734 was gone as well as another SW1500 that was on the siding. UPY 1448 (MP1500) is currently sitting with two sleds also.

UPY 598, the GP15 that was stationed at Anaheim since December has now moved over to the Buena Park/ Norwalk local power.

The Norwalk local is coming on duty about an hour earlier these days so it is possible to catch then switching with plenty of light right now. They were out on the main branch around 6:30 yesterday. I got some good images that I will be posting on WestCoastRailForums.com soon.
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UP's LOA36R (Fullerton local) has been very active the last few weeks. Switching up to 19 loads at Cargil at times. Kirkhill Elastomers (Kirkhill Rubber) in Brea has gotten 2 cars of Black Carbon this month which is a rare thing. The Plastic container company at Berry Street and Contractors Warehouse on Imperial still remain active customers, both getting weekly loads.
Currently the 36 is running with 3 Geeps. Sometimes RCL, sometimes with a 3 man crew... but no Remote Sled - which is nice.

I recently posted a summary of photos on a few of the active forums. Here is a link to the posting on WCRF.com

http://www.westcoastrailforums.com/view_topic.php?id=359&forum_id=15

Been trying to keep a somewhat daily tab on the locals activities with the help of a few others. So far so good I think.
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BNSF
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BNSF once again ran an Extra La Mirada local last Saturday out to the Tustin area. This seems to be normal now. They have been making it over there around 3pm or later and returning after 6pm.

Not sure if the 1st LaMirada local is even running anymore. Perhaps they are just running out to Atwood and switching the Olive Sub and leaving the IIC area to the Extra on Saturday's. I hope to be able to catch them again soon.

The 3rd LaMirada has been getting back to previously normal scheduled times for switching the Kimberly Industrial Lead and the Growers Lead. Not sure if they still switch Setco out in Anaheim on the San Bernardino Sub anymore, or if that was given to the 1st LaMirada. Any info on that would be appreciated.

All the customers on both industrial leads remain active, though parking is no longer permitted anywhere on Kimberly Avenue, so parking and watching the local is now a bit more of a task.
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08/09/2006
As of 08/08/06, the signal bridge for the eastbound control signals at Basta and the ATSF era cantilever signal for the westbouund control signals at Basta are no more. Both were cut down and new signal bridges for both control signals were fully assembled.
The RBBX Circus train had a successful departure out of Anaheim on 08/07/06. Leaving for San Diego, CA at 7:38 pm. Photos from the arrival and departure will be featured on the site in the near future.

06/25/2006
Recently the BNSF and Union Pacific have been very busy doing track upgrades and expansion in Los Angeles and Orange County. BNSF has been concentrating their efforts on the 3rd mainline project between Commerce and Basta on the San Bernadino Subdivision. Recent developments on this have been shaping up between the two points and include changes to the signals at Vail with the installation of a new crossover track and relocation of the control signal and yet another new signal bridge base support installed at Basta. This time east of the current signal bridges already there. These new signals at Basta suggest that not only will the classic Steam era Cantalivar signal come down, but also the large full width span signal bridge just to the east. There is also landscaping for what could be a new control signal for the storage siding at Basta that utilizes the former UP row. Currently all the storage tracks at Basta are of the hand-throw type. Just to the east of Gilbert, and west of Basta, another new signal was installed to make the storage siding that runs between Basta and Buena Park dispatcher controlled also. All of this will speed up crew movement in and out of the sidings.

In Union Pacific news, crews came in and quickly replaced the tracks, ballast and rails that run down the southern end of Olive Street in Anaheim. I made an attempt to document the construction as I had for the Santa Ana Street project, but other commitments kept me away for most of the project. They are now complete and thus complete with the entire upgrade of the Santa Ana Branchline project that was started in 2004. Currently it is unknown if they will make any other grade crossing upgrades on any of the line.

They did recently have a crew do upgrades to the La Habra / Whittier line that runs alongside Lambert. That was simple installation of concrete panels for several grade crossings. Nothing as extensive as new rail or ties.

That is about all I can think of for the moment.

02/20/2006
Hmm.. 2006 did not sneak up on me, but where the heck did January go? Heck February is almost gone already and no update on this site... shame on me. I have been doing the usual railfanning stuff I suppose and staying involved in Socalrailfan.com. Returning sort of to my more favorite type of railfanning which is doing branchline stuff, so that is what I am offering up in the updates coming to the site soon - yes, really coming soon. In addition to the branchline stuff, I still continue to railfan the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on a weekly basis when possible... This news link deals with something going on down at the Port of Long Beach.... Click Here

12/29/2005
As we wrap up another year, I thought I would reflect on the great year I have had running CaliforniaTrains. The site is slowly turning into something I hope everyone is finding useful and a good place to visit for information on the local scene. I would like to get more of a broad look on all of Calfornia, but realistically I do not have much opportunity to travel much so I just have to stick with what is around here in Southern California.
In the last year I have met many new friends and taken on a few projects. Besides running this site, I also assist in running Dave Toussaint's website http://www.SocalRailfan.com which does consume a bit of time here and there, but the people that I have met through the site has made it well worth the effort. I would like to thank Dave for creating the site and inviting me to help him with it. I look forward to watching the site grow and acheive it's full potential in the coming new year.
My plans for this site still remain the same as before, but I do plan on doing a bit of moving things around and a slight re-design which I will probably gradually work into the site. Without going into too much detail, I can say to expect subtle changes, hopefully for the better.
Well ... what has been going on around the rails!!
BNSF continues to progress on it's project of adding a 3rd main line at points west of Basta in Fullerton. Bridge work continues in Pico Rivera and track upgrades are taking place at various points along the line. A few key projects were approved for funding in the Pico Rivera area that include a grade seperation at Passons and Valley View in La Mirada which will help re-direct the auto and train traffic in these busy areas.
On the UP local front... Two Anaheim based local jobs were recently merged into one job.. those being the UP Costa Mesa local and the Huntington Beachi local. These are now both served under the LOA32 symbol out of Anaheim. They started out running alternate days working a 6 day week.. not sure if they are sticking to that still.
The LA Times plant in Costa Mesa is projected to have an increase in volume since the Times recently announced that one of it's other printing faclities will be closing it's printing press area... that should provide an increase in paper loads for the LOA32 to deliver.
I guess that is it for the time being ... time to go railfanning... hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and that you have a safe and Happy New Year... most likely will talk to you all in 2006..... Thanks for continuing to visit. Chris Walker

10/17/2005
I was on the way home from Tehachapi and spotted what appeared to be an Amtrak train stopped at Commerce on the BNSF San Bernadino Sub. I got off to investigate and grab a few pictures before it departed. I later found info that the train was a deadhead movement of former Caltrain VRE Budd cars that were sold to the Grand Canyon Railway. They were being moved to Williams, AZ. Click Here for the photos.

10/11/2005
A little Fullerton news to share from observations. One of the stacks of 1:1 scale pre-fabed track has been moved from Basta where it has sat for over a year. Not quite sure where it went exactly, but probably somwhere down near Esperanza. MOW activity has been very high down in that area due to the current 3rd track project. The track going in however will only be another storage track with access by a manual throw switch.
In other Fullerton news, last weekend I observed a new passenger car arrived on the FRPA storage track. The car appears to be a coach called the Western Limit. I have a few photos of the car at this link.

06/26/05
The BNSF completed the grade crossing upgrade / track replacement project for Los Nietos Road and Norwalk Blvd. The grades received new rail, ties and were topped off with concrete road panels. They are doing additional work at the grade crossing for Pioneer Road just to the west.

06/12/05
I posted some photos over on Socalrailfan.com featuring some Long Beach and Los Angeles Harbor action taken today. Click Here for the link to the forum post.

In the news area: The BNSF has started a grade crossing replacement project down at Los Nietos. Concrete panels and large pre-assembled rail / ties have been down along the ride-a-way for close to a month now. They are working on the Los Nietos crossing right now. Nearby Norwalk Blvd crossing should follow. I will be curious to see if they simply replace the grades or if they add in a third grade crossing as well since this would be opportune time to add it in.

05/20/05
As a follow up to the UP derailment, the southside track was replaced and the stranded engine set and then empty train cars were returned to the Anaheim yard on Wednesday (05/11/05) evening. The train ran as an extra and the crew was from the extra board. I was present along with two other fellow railfans to observe and capture the action as there were two Marlboro locals at Marlboro (located in Orange). Images will be forthcoming once time is available. The day before that the Buena Park local put a box car into orbit (well attempted to at least) over behind the Georgia Pacific Buena Park plant. The derailment was cleaned up before I could get picks but there are several floating around Trainorders.com posted by Robby (MRMRL is is TO handle). Things appear to be back to normal in Anaheim for the time being.

05/02/05
The UP's LOA31 Marlboro Switcher went on the ground in Orange this evening around 6:30 at the grade crossing for Taft Avenue. I was following them and at the time waiting at Meats Ave to get a photo of them enroute to Foamex when the derailment took place. Cause of the incident is not definately known at the moment but it appears to be track related as there is a section of rolled rail and a break point on the south side of the grade crossing for Taft. The train derailed 2 tank cars, possible a third (of four total) on the north side of Taft.
Photos are available here

04/27/05
First off ... what is going on with this site you may be asking... no updates for close to a month, which is very strange (if your a continued visitor). Well I have been busy building a website for my father's cafe, and between that and being in bed sick or breaking bones just have not had dedicated time for working on this. Well the good news is, the website for the cafe is pretty much complete. Feel free to take a look at http://www.streamlinercafe.com ... I seem to be doing better with my allergies and being sick. Cant do too much about my fractured toe at the moment, but it is not doing too bad.
All that means that I can once again put time into this site

First means of business was to udate this page a bit. I added some updated events on the right side of the page and the following are a few observations to share.

Wednesday last week (April 20th) the BNSF Railway (as they are called now) dropped off a dozen or less peices of sectioned rail at Basta. The sections look to be about 50 to 75 feet long and were dropped off via truck and crane next to the curb. These join the already present sectioned and assembled peices of rail and tie plates etc. that have been there for a few months.

Spotted a large pile of concrete panels east of the grade crossing for Los Nietos Road in Santa Fe Springs / Norwalk area along with some recently dropped off assembled section rail most likely for the third track project. My speculatio is that the grade crossing will get new concrete panels replacing the current steel panels once the new track is added across the street.

In other BNSF news is that apparently the decision has been made on the new image paint job for new locomotives. The logo will be in Black with a Yellow outline and the dark green paint that was in use for the Heritage II paint scheme has now been replaced by Black. Most other aspects of the H2 paint scheme remain intact.

In Union Pacific news... The company has made the decision to replace the reflective red stripe that was applied on the lower part of the engine body with a reflective Yellow stripe. This is due to new Federal mandate that all rolling stock and engines have reflective striping in either Yellow or White in order to increase visibility at grade crossings. The first engines to receive this Yellow stripe are the new EMD SD70ACe engines which are being delivered to the UP now.

02/11/05
On my way to Fullerton Station Friday afternoon I came across a derailment that happened earlier in the day. This was on the Kimberly Industrial lead in Fullerton, CA. The line follows along side Kimberly Ave and crosses Raymond, Acacia, State College and Placentia Ave. The derailment occured just west of the State College grade crossing on one of the switches that lead off the main branch and into the Kimberly storage yard. It appears that one of the engines jumped a switch and completley hopped the engine off the rails. All eight wheels were off the rails and the piolet's and fuel tank where resting on the rail head.

Click Here for the photos

01/30/05
Rode along for a driving tour of the coastline on Sunday. Trip started in Burbank to follow the UP right of way from the east to the west. A few of the stops brought some photos worthy of posting immediatley. First off are a few from Glendale and the site of the Metrolink accident on 01/27/05. After much ado, and touring we made it on to hwy 101 where we found UP MOW working on the line near La Conchita. They were working using a Herzog MPM111 scooping machine. Click the link for the photos.

Glendale and the Coastline rail MOW

12/27/04
Took a drive over to the Commerce Metrolink station this afternoon and took some photos of the MOW crew working on installing what I think is a new switch at the east end of the station platform that crosses over to the center main track. Signal bridges were installed on both ends of the station many weeks ago and two assembled switches have been laying east of the station parking lot for a couple weeks. Here is a link to the photos.

BNSF Commerce, CA 12/27/04

12/20/04
SP # 2756, one of the few remaining un-patched MP1500 switch engines has returned to service at West Anaheim.
UPY # 1065 which is seen on the current featured photo was put into the outbound hauler engine line up, so it left West Anaheim on 12/20/04.
The engine line up for the eastbound Anaheim to West Colton hauler for 12/20/04 was UP # 2264 (SD60M), UP # 2747 (SD40M) & UP # 2513 (SD60M) as well as UPY # 1065 as mentioned above.