Fewer trains, better experience for railfans?

Calling all railfans…

As railfans, most of us flock to the railroad’s hotter, more congested lines. And why not? If you are going to take an hour or day in pursuit of the hobby, it is natural to want to get the most bang for the buck. Or in this case, the most trains you can see at one time.

It is one of the motivating factors that has driven me to make the Tehachapi Mountains, Cajon Pass, and San Gorgonio Pass here in Southern California my automatic mainline destinations. Work windows and weather aside, they always guarantee a good time.

But in the past few years I have realized that by concentrating on getting the most bang for the buck, I have neglected other, lesser trafficked routes, some rather close to my home.

Except for a diehard core of local fans, I have found that Union Pacific’s Coast Line, especially the southern portion between the Los Angeles area and the mid-California town of San Luis Obispo, sees far fewer fans than say, Cajon Pass.

The reason is obvious. Cajon can be a non-stop treat of train after train, while the Coast Line, most of the time, can be eerily quiet.

On a regular basis, there is only one freight train between here, the Guadalupe local that starts at Gemco Yard in Van Nuys. On select days it makes it way to Oxnard and then the small yard at its namesake in Guadalupe.

Here it disperses freight cars for the locals based there, and interchanges with Santa Maria Valley Railroad. It can be deceptive as it is usually powered by three or four six-axle road switchers hauling 40 to 60 cars, depending on the day’s traffic. But with the exception of an occasional move elsewhere, it is the only through freight that you will see.

Which makes the line pretty much the domain of Amtrak, and Metrolink, the latter Southern California’s regional commuter agency.

On one particular day a few weeks ago I decided to camp out at the “train station” — read concrete platform — at Camarillo, just south of Oxnard.

It is the same spot as the long standing two-story station established by Southern Pacific, where Camarillo used to have a lot of railroad activity. A number of Southern Pacific passenger trains stopped here, and more than a few smaller industries — mostly citrus packing houses and lumber yards — were switched by locals working from south out of Oxnard.

So then, railfans, why choose to look for trains on the sparsely populated Coast Line versus a more robust experience elsewhere?

A number of reasons, actually. First, I get a chance to think a little more about railroading. I wind up watching how today’s passenger rail service is integrated with local and regional bus schedules. Some people are being dropped off to both head in to Los Angeles, others, heading up the coast to Santa Barbara.

I also see railroading as more than just trains. It’s infrastructure, whether it be the bare-bones Camarillo platform, the various signals, the concrete benches, all blend into a smoothly working example of today’s railroading.

When my one train, a northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner came into view, I took but one picture and then just watched. It was gratifying to see passengers get off and on with all the nonchalance community planners had hoped for. No sooner had the train arrived, it departed and then the platform was quiet again.

I was hoping to bag one of Metrolink’s unique EMD F125s but my timing was off, and I didn’t read the timetable as well as I thought I did.

It will give me a good reason to come back.