Freight traffic on UP Coast Line

[Cesar269]

First of all Hello everybody!

I am new here coming from Spain. I will be moving soon to Soledad (CA) and i am currently in the area on holidays.

I would love to take pictures of the trains here but the only thing that seems to go on this railroad is the Coast Starlight...

Is there any more traffic in the area? If there is... is there interactive map or way to know what time they pass by?

You can answer either here or private message if you prefer.

Sorry if this is not the right place for it.

Thank you everybody!!

[kgbw49]

Welcome to the United States, Cesar269!

There are three high traffic railroad arteries in Southern California on which you will find a large amount of railroad traffic. Tehachapi Pass to your north, and Cajon Pass and Beaumont Pass to your east.

The Coast Line is primarily a passenger route with the Amtrak Coast Starlight and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner regional service to San Luis Obispo.

There are occasional freight train moves for repositioning of autoracks and doublestack well cars that are routed by the Coast Line. There is also the Guadalupe Hauler that is a regional long distance local freight train.

One thing you will find in the United States is that the freight trains are significantly longer than those in Europe.

Others can chime in with more detail.

Again, welcome to the US and good hunting!

 

[Cesar269]

Thank you! So far i have only seen wagons thrown in stations here in there, but not a single freight train, seems almost weird but i might be unlucky enough to check at the worst times i guess...

[JOHN PRIVARA]

You might find this map useful:

Open Railway Map.

And this one:

Rail Map Online  (it’s just the western US, and has abandoned lines too)

 

And this one:

National Rail Network Map

 

If you find “Hanford CA” on the Open Railway Map, there is a rail-line there, and another just to the east, both of which are much busier.   Hanford is over the mount range to the east Soledad.

Be careful of going on or near railroad property.   The US is slightly paranoid, so if you are too close to the railroad you might be assumed to be an evil-doer (with a camera) plotting an attack to overthrow our government.   Our authorities can’t be too careful these days guarding our freedoms, and are EVER vigilant. 

[kgbw49]

Cesar269, here is a link to pictures from Cajon Pass, which is a very busy rail route into and out of the Los Angeles Basin. Multiple parrallel tracks and dozens of trains per day from the two biggest railroads in the US:

https://www.railpictures.net/

On this page scroll down and in the Keyword box, type in “Cajon” and then click the button that says “Find the Photos”.

[Cesar269]

Thank you all! There are really a lot of lines and i had the bad luck to end up on the less busy one...

I saw there is a map that gives live time the amtrak traffic, but i haven't found any that shows the freight traffic, i assume they keep it private like in most countries back in Europe.

For the RR vigilants, we have the same problem back home, its easier to go chase us than the real bad guys

[tree68]

Cesar269

I saw there is a map that gives live time the amtrak traffic, but i haven't found any that shows the freight traffic, i assume they keep it private like in most countries back in Europe.

Freight isn't generally scheduled, as such, but regular jobs often get "called" at a consistent time.  What that means for the railfan is that you can usually figure on seeing a given train at a given time, give or take.

A lot depends on if and how much work a train has enroute.

Per one fan forum I found, the "Guadelupe Hauler" runs north out of Van Nuys on Mondays and Thursdays, then goes back south the next day, with the crew overnighting in Santa Maria.

I don't think there's a lot of traffic to be had north of Santa Maria, at least for a fair distance.