Commuter Trains Anyone?

[Des-Lab]

With gas prices being what they are, do any of you take, or are considering taking a train for your daily commute?

Here in SoCal, the commuter train is Metrolink. I've already always been a fan of them and have taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures of them running on the tracks near where I live. Now, with my office moving 15 miles further away, beginning June 2, I think I'm going to give them a try. The nearest Metrolink stop is just over a mile away from me. And the south end is about two miles from where the new office is going to be. I already occassionally ride my bicycle to and from work (7 1/2 miles ea way) for exercise. So the two short legs on either end of the new journey will not be a problem at all.

Recently, I did a test run of this idea and found out that it can be quite workable. Especially in the afternoon, where, from the new place, traffic is a nightmare.

Imagine that. A guy who owns two cars taking a train to and from work.

But why not? I've been photographing these trains for a long time. Why not ride them for a change?

Here is a sampling of some of the many pictures I've taken from near me. These are all along a five mile section of track here in Orange County, CA.

1. At Jefferson Ave. View facing north. These are the tracks that run about a block away from me (this picture is about a quarter mile from where I live)

2. Crossing La Palma Ave (facing more or less south) pulling into my 'origin' station: Anaheim Canyon.

3. Crossing over the Santa Ana River in the late afternoon. The view is facing northeast. The track/bridge is about a quarter mile south of the station shown in above #2. Note the bicycle trail in the lower right corner. This is the trail I take when riding now. The wife and I also sometimes ride it for fun.

4. Just south of above #3. Note the elevated tracks as it's about to cross the bridge. The view is facing roughly southwest. The street in the foreground is Orange-Olive Road. Immediately to the right, just out of the picture, is the junction of Orange-Olive and Riverdale Roads. Just past that is the bridge shown in #4.

5. About a half mile south of above #4. Orange-Olive Road is barely visible to the far left. The traffic signal also barely visible on the left in the middle distance is that of Lincoln Ave.

6. About three quarters of a mile south of above #5. View is facing northeast. The Lincoln Ave crossing is barely visible on the left in the far distance. Steet sign visible midldle right is Orange-Olive and Fellows. View was taken from the Fletcher St cul-de-sac, which is behind the camera.

7. Roughly the same view/spot as above #6, but on the opposite side of the tracks facing southwest. Orange-Olive road is to the left.

8. About a mile further south at Katella Ave facing northeast. This is about five or so miles east of Disneyland.

9. Another mile south of above #8, crossing Palm Ave. This spot is a favorite of mine to watch and photograph the trains: the palm trees and brick building make for a neat backdrop. The train is about to pull into the Orange Station, which is immediately to the south and behind the picture. It's also a relatively quiet and low traffic street, especially on weekends.

10. The Orange Station. Less than a quarter mile south of above #9 and also facing roughly north-northwest. The historic Sante Fe depot on the site has been converted to a Cask-And-Cleaver steakhouse. I've eaten there and it's very nice with really good food. They have an outdoor patio that's no more than ten feet from the tracks. In the summer months, when it's warm, it's great to sit there in the evening, drink in hand, and a steak in front of you watching the trains roll by.

[braxus]

Trains can be fun, but I don't think they were well known for being on time. We took a train on a trip in 85 and it was very much late in arriving. It was also late in getting back as well. But trains are fun. I would never again want to sleep on one however. I swear he went faster at night then at day.

[Web Police]

Great Pictures Des.

I would love to be able to take a train or public transportation to work each day. Unfortunately for me though there isn't any public transportation that can get me anywhere close to where I work. I live in a second tier suburb southwest of Minneapolis and I work in a 4th tier suburb Northwest of Minneapolis. The public transportation takes people from the suburban areas into Minneapolis and St. Paul. There is no public transportation to take one from one suburban area to another however so I end up driving 20 miles each way daily.

[Nak_novice]

Great Pictures Des.

I would love to be able to take a train or public transportation to work each day. Unfortunately for me though there isn't any public transportation that can get me anywhere close to where I work. I live in a second tier suburb southwest of Minneapolis and I work in a 4th tier suburb Northwest of Minneapolis. The public transportation takes people from the suburban areas into Minneapolis and St. Paul. There is no public transportation to take one from one suburban area to another however so I end up driving 20 miles each way daily.

Me too, but I never seem to be in the right place at the right time for public transport. The last couple of years I have returned to pounding the tarmac on foot to relieve the stresses of the daily grind and also walking tracks around the South Island here. The Milford Track - approx 54kms was particularly spectacular recently. Listening to the decks while I recover is the perfect excuse for a beer or two.

[Fast Forward]

until recently I,ve been able to find work close to home,,but as my job search widens I wish my area had better public transporation

[Scorpion8]

We have no mass transit here except for a pretty good bus line, although it takes about an hour to go 10 miles to work or back. There's only one main road, and a light commuter rail has been proposed (and laughed off the ballot) for the area. Just too few folks to make it effi$ient. So we all drive. There are a few dedicated bikers, but the amount of rain keeps most of us in the cars and trucks.

[Scorpion8]

This is the train you all need to be on .... unknown tourist idiot shown for scale in front of the snow blower ....

Yukon & White Pass railroad (in back ground) departing Skagway, AK on a summer tourist run.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/100_0742.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/100_0743.jpg

[TheReeler]

With gas prices being what they are, do any of you take, or are considering taking a train for your daily commute?

I did that for a long time. I don't know how is there, but here the passengers trains are electrical, not diesel, and don't make noise and are really fast. You can't arrive in less time by car than by train and the traffic is usually also a knightmare.

The trains are between 10 or 15 minutes during the day. It was a pleasure for me and a relax for my stress *Hi5*

[Scorpion8]

.... but here the passengers trains are electrical, not diesel, ...

They still need something to generate the electrical power, such as a diesel generator set onboard. Electric trains just mean the wheel motive power is an electric motor, not a geared shaft off of a IC engine. Somewhere under that sleek aerodynamic train sheathing is a diesel (most likely) genset slaving away in obscurity .... unless they use high line electrical power like the old trolleys in Philadelphia and SF.

[TheReeler]

Don't know how they work, but they don't produce noise, or at least much less than the diesel. I think they use electric power with thousands of volts.

EDIT:

Electrification
3000 V DC Main network
25 kV AC High-speed lines, recent electrification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Spain

[Scorpion8]

Electrification
3000 V DC Main network
25 kV AC High-speed lines, recent electrification

Hi-line power! Awesome, unless you happen to be out for a stroll along the tracks and the conductors are in bad repair. Yikes!

[Skywavebe]

Hi Des,
Here in Chicago, the trains are the Metra- their motto is- the way to really fly. That is true if you get hit by one.
They are diesel engines, they are built to rickety standards- make plenty of noise and in many instances filled with ignorant people especially when there is a Mexican protest gathering in Chicago. Convenience wise, it save me money on gas. It cost $1.50 to park at the station 6 blocks away from my house- you may say why don't you walk? I am not through yet. Not only do I get the cheapest way to get a ticket with a Monthly pass at $102.60/Mo but for that I get to land (remember we are flying) in good old clean Union Station where Kevin Kostner came down the stairs in The Untouchables- those stairs are no where as large as in the movie. Then when I come out of the station I get to walk about 1.25 miles to work. Well, I need the exercise.
All this and I get free parking across the street from where I work. The parking in Chicago is preposterous- you can easily spend $30/day. Music wise, you can put on your I pod or cell phone with music and listen. The big plus is that you don't have to put up with all the bad drivers in Jap and BMW cars- whatever makes them buy those cars also makes them bad drivers. Most people on the hi Way would lose their license in about 7 minutes the way they drive. Remember- I am an Ex Patrolman. Maybe it just bothers me? You do have to watch out for your stop- it is NOT all the time that they announce the stop coming up so you have to be awake.
I have past mine up a couple of times. Time- 40 minutes by train if it does not hit a car. Car- I can make it in that time if traffic is good. Security and rule enforcement- if your grandfather was the conductor would you expect any? There are always trade-offs!

[TheReeler]

The parking in Chicago is preposterous- you can easily spend $30/day.
Here is a pic shot by me the same day Sam and me met in Chicago:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc46/thereeler/chicagoparking.jpg

[JaeTee]

Music wise, you can put on your I pod or cell phone with music and listen.

Dude, you're a tapehead!!!! Where's your walkman!!!!*reelspin**reelspin*

I used to use commuter trains in Germany sometimes. Still do when I visit Nurnberg, but fly into Munich or Frankfurt.

The train system is so ridiculously good. They are on time, and fast! They have intercity trains which travel at speeds of 270 km/hr. Thats amost 170 mph!

Here's a German commuter train entering a short tunnel. This was taken in the wine region along the Rhine river... Can you imagine that commute? Hills, vinyards and castles all over the place. Its quite spectacular.

http://i.pbase.com/o4/01/380001/1/54336446.IMG_3947.jpg

[TheReeler]

The train system is so ridiculously good. They are on time, and fast! They have intercity trains which travel at speeds of 270 km/hr. Thats amost 170 mph!

Germans are slow *devil* here high speed trains run at 300 Km/h *Hi5*

[TheReeler]

Dude, you're a tapehead!!!! Where's your walkman!!!!*reelspin**reelspin*

I used to use commuter trains in Germany sometimes. Still do when I visit Nurnberg, but fly into Munich or Frankfurt.

The train system is so ridiculously good. They are on time, and fast! They have intercity trains which travel at speeds of 270 km/hr. Thats amost 170 mph!

Here's a German commuter train entering a short tunnel. This was taken in the wine region along the Rhine river... Can you imagine that commute? Hills, vinyards and castles all over the place. Its quite spectacular.
This saturday I'll land in München and will stay there some days. I hope I can take some shots of trains like that... very beauty landscapes!

[close652]

I travelled three times in the Rhine-valley by train, fantastic landscape!

[TheReeler]

This Sunday I'll go to Neuschwanstein (http://images.google.com/images?hl=es&q=Neuschwanstein&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ZdCNSvnRFt-ZjAfBmJXkDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1) by train from Munich.

[JaeTee]

This Sunday I'll go to Neuschwanstein (http://images.google.com/images?hl=es&q=Neuschwanstein&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=ZdCNSvnRFt-ZjAfBmJXkDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1) by train from Munich.

I'm jealous!!!! I love it there! Whenever I'm there I see people hang-gliding and riding in hot air baloons. I'd like to do that with my camera early in the morning and get pics of the castle in the mist. That is such an awesome place...

Enjoy!

[TheReeler]

JaeTee, any suggestion for doing more things in that place than to visit the castle?. I had thought going to the top of the mountain by the cableway and when back to the castle, to walk thru the forest to the caselt where lived Crazy King's parents.

Of course I'll be there with the Nikon D90 and three lenses: Nikkor 18-105mm, Nikkor 70-300mm and Sigma 10-20mm and will try to shot everything *Hi5*

[Eldorado]

They still need something to generate the electrical power, such as a diesel generator set onboard. Electric trains just mean the wheel motive power is an electric motor, not a geared shaft off of a IC engine. Somewhere under that sleek aerodynamic train sheathing is a diesel (most likely) genset slaving away in obscurity .... unless they use high line electrical power like the old trolleys in Philadelphia and SF.


I think what you're describing there is called "diesel electric". What Reeler calls an electric train is just that. The vast majority of electric trains are indeed powered by overhead lines, but subways, metro, and suburban lines can be powered by a conductor rail instead (also called the third rail). A lot of the London suburban network (formerly British Rail) is like this. From what I can see from photos, the NY subway is also powered this way. In Tokyo, where a number of companies operate the subway lines, some lines are powered by conductor rails, some by overhead lines.

Japanese railways including the shinkansen are overwhelmingly electric, although there are some diesel lines in Hokkaido and a few other places. The British network is a mixture of electric and diesel trains, with very large areas of the network still not electrified.

The most interesting case is China - when I first went twenty years ago, steam was very common still, though diesel was taking over. Regardless, trains were painfully slow. Now electrification is increasing rapidly, especially for high speed lines, and they plan to have the worlds largest high speed network, of which quite a lot is already in place and running, and more is under construction.

In the same period, Britain has - well, done nothing, really, apart from the link to Paris. We have a total of 68 km of high speed rail.

[TheReeler]

I don't know how many kms. of high speed train lines are in Spain, but for sure they are more than 2000 kms.

I've never been in England but would like to go there soon (maybe in Xmas, who knows) and of course I'll try to take shots of english trains. I've a small book about Deltics that I'd like to complete with my own pics!.

The world is soooo big and have so many interesting places...

[Eldorado]

Before you go crazy taking pictures in England, read up a bit on police activity in recent years. Just so that if you do happen to run into trouble, you'll know you're not the first. The situation is really bad.

That aside, there are plenty of opportunities for good shots over there, and Britain has some fantastic railway scenery, though reaching some of them can be costly.

[TheReeler]

Here is the photo set of my personal view of railways in Japan:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thereeler/sets/72157623976695042/

Of course, from small commuter trains to shinkansen (high speed) and freight trains.

What do you think?.

[close652]

very nice! thanks!