Places to railfan in Los Angeles Area ?

[Anonymous]

Hey y'all

new to the forum here, so forgive if this ? has been answered before, but im going to be in the LA area for a few days for a wedding and wanted to know any good places to railfan in the greater LA area.   Tehachipi is probably gonna be a bit far, but even cajon might be workable.   I'll be staying in anahiem/buena park and would like to catch some former sp's and all in all just find some nice places to watch trains.  I dont need tons of action, but some nice mainline locations would be great if anyone knows of any.  Btw, how busy is that coast line through san juan capistrano and San Clemente?  Thanks in advance for any and all help.  I'll have a rental car, and will also be around san bernadino a little bit as well, so any areas near there would be great too. 

Karl

[paulcap]

HELO,KARL YOU CAN SEE MANY TRAINS AT THE FULLERTON TRAIN STATION. LOCATED NORTH OF ANAHEIM ABOUT 3MILES ON HARBOR BLVD.BNSF,AMTRACK,AND METROLINK.UP TO 65 TRAINS PER DAY. GOOD LUCK.PAULCAP

[CShaveRR]

The coast line you mentioned is primarily home to Amtrak and commuter runs.  I'll second Paulcap's recommendation of Fullerton as a good spot, based on what I've heard about the place and a few minutes spent there once waiting for an Amtrak train.

Along the same lines, I'll ask about good spots nearest to Carpinteria, where I'll be heading next spring:  I'd like to see a little more freight action than the Coast line is likely to provide (though it isn't far from my daughter's place!).

Another crazy person named...

[Murphy Siding]

Another crazy person named...

     I've come to believe we're all somewhat crazy on here at times.

     Welcome to the forum krazykarl.  Are you related to forum members CrazyDelmar or Crazy Diamond?

 

[mudchicken]

(1) The diamonds at Colton (not far from San Bdno)

(2) Hobart-Redondo

(3) Buena Park-Anaheim is all BNSF/Metrolink and an occasional UP/SP switcher on the branches.

(4) Bandini

(5) Los Nietos/ DT Jcn

[DRBusse]

1. Stay away from the UP/BNSF diamonds at Colton--UP police patrol the area agressively and do not discriminate between railfans and local riff-raff.

2. To observe operations at Hobart-Redondo (an area south of downtown LA), you might want to find the City of Commerce station platform...it's off I-5 directly south of the BNSF Commerce Diesel facility, and the platform is a good public access place to view Metrolink, Amtrak and BNSF operations. BNSF's major LA yard is Hobart yard, and there's also a good public area at the former Hobart Tower on the west side of the yard, where UP's Harbor branch crosses the BNSF.

For someone not familiar with the area (and being in Orange County), I'd definitely suggest Fullerton. No hassles, plenty of action and a nice trackside cafe with tables and chairs right on the platform.

Tehachapi is a long drive...Cajon's a bit closer, but be forewarned of weekend traffic hassles there with construction on the I-15/I-215 interchange at Devore.

[blhanel]

Cajon's a bit closer, but be forewarned of weekend traffic hassles there with construction on the I-15/I-215 interchange at Devore.

I went through there back in late August to meet Chad up at Cajon on an early Sunday afternoon, and it was backed up alittle then- took me 10-15 minutes to get through that interchange.  It was worth it, though.

[spbed]

Sorry have to disagree with your comments abour Colton. Just go to my web ste & see how many times I have been there & have NEVER been bother by the RR or local police.

 

 

1. Stay away from the UP/BNSF diamonds at Colton--UP police patrol the area agressively and do not discriminate between railfans and local riff-raff. 2. To observe operations at Hobart-Redondo (an area south of downtown LA), you might want to find the City of Commerce station platform...it's off I-5 directly south of the BNSF Commerce Diesel facility, and the platform is a good public access place to view Metrolink, Amtrak and BNSF operations. BNSF's major LA yard is Hobart yard, and there's also a good public area at the former Hobart Tower on the west side of the yard, where UP's Harbor branch crosses the BNSF. For someone not familiar with the area (and being in Orange County), I'd definitely suggest Fullerton. No hassles, plenty of action and a nice trackside cafe with tables and chairs right on the platform. Tehachapi is a long drive...Cajon's a bit closer, but be forewarned of weekend traffic hassles there with construction on the I-15/I-215 interchange at Devore.

[spbed]

I would go with West Riverside-Colton-Cajon Pass-Barstow-Daggett

 

 

Hey y'all

new to the forum here, so forgive if this ? has been answered before, but im going to be in the LA area for a few days for a wedding and wanted to know any good places to railfan in the greater LA area.   Tehachipi is probably gonna be a bit far, but even cajon might be workable.   I'll be staying in anahiem/buena park and would like to catch some former sp's and all in all just find some nice places to watch trains.  I dont need tons of action, but some nice mainline locations would be great if anyone knows of any.  Btw, how busy is that coast line through san juan capistrano and San Clemente?  Thanks in advance for any and all help.  I'll have a rental car, and will also be around san bernadino a little bit as well, so any areas near there would be great too. 

Karl

[chad thomas]

Welcome to the forum Karl. Fullerton is a good and close spot to where you will be. There is pleanty of action there. If you want to get out of town then Cajon is the spot. More specificly Hill 582. It has a great view of all 3 tracks and pleanty of shade trees. There is even a bench and a register box up there. It should only take you an Hour to get there unless you get caught in traffic at the 215-15 interchange, as mentioned they are working on it on the weekends. The Pepper street overpass (off the 10 in Colton) has a great view of the former SP yard. Colton crossing is good for trainwatching and probably the bussiest spot in So Cal, but the neighborhood is not that great. I have never been hasseled there by the man but watch your back as there is a lot of vegrant traffic. You might also consider going up San Timateo canyon for UP action, although you will see UP in Cajon too.

E-mail me if you need directions anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for the help!!!  I greatly appreciate all the ideas and info.  I was kinda surprised by what seems is a relative lack of info on the greater la area online. 

I'll definintly check out fullerton.  Im much more a fan of frieght then passenger, although i'd really like to get a few pics of metrolink because you cant see them anywhere else. 

As for cajon- I had heard about that, and that was the main consideration of going or not, since I'll be staying in buena park.  However, im a truck driver for Swift, and my trucks parked at fontana (in our terminal)  so thankfully, while ive never railfanned the area, I have been to a very limited number of places. plus dont you need some sort of off road permit do get to some of the cajon areas?  I'll be in a rental (total econobox) 

How is the port area?   Ive been to the new maersk terminal for work (once, while helping out our container division(im over the road fleet out of florida-where i live), but couldnt remember seeing that many public areas near there, anybody have any ideas?  I'd love to catch the pacific harbor line if possible.  Any interesting short lines around? 

Again, many, many thanks for the info, I dont know how much time i'll have to railfan, but at least a full day, so im going to try and see what i can.   

Also why im thinking of it, are there any other specific areas where Patched Sp's congregate ?  Thats my main motivation for checking colton.   

Thanks for the info------stay safe

Karl

P.S no im not related to anyone on here lol, krazy was a nickname i'd aquired a while ago when i worked skilled trades in detroit (where im originally from) 

 

[chad thomas]

Karl, There was a time when you needed a wilderness permit to go off road in Cajon but that is no longer required. I might be a bit biased but Cajon is a must do. You just can't beat the action up there. It is bussier every time I go up there. Easily over 100 trains a day on a friday or saturday (sun-mon are not as busy. And you can catch a ex SP unit in red & grey from time to time. I caught this set last visit.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

And this ex DRGW SD50 in SP colors

Even caught a Ferromex unit (but missed a KCS ACe)

You can even still see solid SF blue / Yellow from time to time

And don't worry about the rental car, it can easily get up 582.

 

As for the port, there really isn't a whole lot of public places you can go. And hanging out in one spot is not a good idea unless you are trying to be noticed. You can cruz around and do quick drive bys and see some things though. They have quite a colorfull fleet up there.

 

Colton is also a good spot for trying to catch ex SP locos. Here are some shots from the Pepper st overpass.

[zgardner18]

Welcome to the forum Karl. Fullerton is a good and close spot to where you will be. There is pleanty of action there. If you want to get out of town then Cajon is the spot. More specificly Hill 582. It has a great view of all 3 tracks and pleanty of shade trees. There is even a bench and a register box up there. It should only take you an Hour to get there unless you get caught in traffic at the 215-15 interchange, as mentioned they are working on it on the weekends. The Pepper street overpass (off the 10 in Colton) has a great view of the former SP yard. Colton crossing is good for trainwatching and probably the bussiest spot in So Cal, but the neighborhood is not that great. I have never been hasseled there by the man but watch your back as there is a lot of vegrant traffic. You might also consider going up San Timateo canyon for UP action, although you will see UP in Cajon too.

I would agree with Chad on the places that he has spec for you.  The problem with Southern California is we do have a lot of trains but most of our areas aren't the best looking to railfan.  Cajon is one of the nicest but still is only beautiful a couple months of the year.  Too bad you don't have the time to head up to Tehachapi.  Probably the best place in Southern California.  The beach is beautiful but only seeing passinger trains gets old after a while.  Those tracks are only good if you ride th

[vsmith]

If your feeling daring, Pomona Metrolink station is a nice place to catch alot of UP action and maybe some PD action in the surrounding streets....

 

Fullerton is a great place, safe, clean, lots of BNSF, Metrolink, and Jamtrak action, theres a big parking lot and a cafe to hang at and take a pee. Yes, this can be a big consideration, given that the alternate in some places is to either leave or take a trip out into the giggleweeds and hope your not walking thru poison oak! 

[zgardner18]

If your feeling daring, Pomona Metrolink station is a nice place to catch alot of UP action and maybe some PD action in the surrounding streets....

[espeefoamer]

 I agree with the others on this post. Fullerton is an excelent place to watch trains.There is a lot of action,with BNSF,Amtrak and Metrolink trains running through.There are plenty of places to eat within a couple of blocks,too.

[vsmith]

If your feeling daring, Pomona Metrolink station is a nice place to catch alot of UP action and maybe some PD action in the surrounding streets....

 

Now hold on, Pomona is where I do most of my railfanning because it is the closest place to Glendora (not counting the local that run through town).  I just don't get out of the car at night, but other than that it isn't bad.  Ofcourse there are better places to watch trains.

 

I'm heading up to Cajon Pass with my son on Saturday if anyone is going to be up there let me know and I'll stop in and say hi. 

[ericsp]

You can go to the Dolores Yard at Alameda Street just north of Interstate 405 in Carson, this is near the port. But becareful, this is near the hood with the homies and their automatic weapons. Although I have never had problems in the few times I have been there (for very short visits).

Almost all of the roads in the vacinity of the port are no stopping anytime, so it is very difficult to do any railfanning anywhere.

[e_m_frimbo]

I used to live not far from Fullerton, near MP155 on the BNSF line, close to the Santa Fe Springs/Norwalk Metrolink Station.

No one has mentioned this, I think, that there are actually two other stations in Fullerton. The ex-UP station was moved to a location just west of the Fullerton ATSF/Amtrak station. It was a Spaghetti Factory, at least five years ago it was.

The former PE depot is just north of the Fullerton depot on Commonwealth. There used to be a restaurant in it.

The Knollwood restaurant on Harbor, west of the station, has great burgers and a railraod motif.

Also, not far away, are the Santa Fe Springs Heritage Park which has a static display of an ex-ATSF steam locomotive (Consolidation, I think) and a reconstruction of the SF Springs depot.

There used to be a lot of passenger cars stored on sidings in La Mirada, just south of the BNSF tracks on Valley View. There was a company that restored cars, called Monadnock, as I recall. You couldn't go on the property but it was interesting to see the equipment anyway.

[Anonymous]

I sat under the interstate bridge over the junction at Colton and saw no police whatsoever and I was there all day.

[LA_RailFan]

DRBusse

1. Stay away from the UP/BNSF diamonds at Colton--UP police patrol the area agressively and do not discriminate between railfans and local riff-raff.

2. To observe operations at Hobart-Redondo (an area south of downtown LA), you might want to find the City of Commerce station platform...it's off I-5 directly south of the BNSF Commerce Diesel facility, and the platform is a good public access place to view Metrolink, Amtrak and BNSF operations. BNSF's major LA yard is Hobart yard, and there's also a good public area at the former Hobart Tower on the west side of the yard, where UP's Harbor branch crosses the BNSF.

For someone not familiar with the area (and being in Orange County), I'd definitely suggest Fullerton. No hassles, plenty of action and a nice trackside cafe with tables and chairs right on the platform.

Tehachapi is a long drive...Cajon's a bit closer, but be forewarned of weekend traffic hassles there with construction on the I-15/I-215 interchange at Devore.

 

 

Do you know how one can get to the City of Commerce station platform?

[Electroliner 1935]

I don't get to L.A. often and am wondering if L. A. Union station allows you to go to the platforms without being chased on needing a ticket. I would suspect that the Metrolink traffic is great enough to allow to mingle and watch the activity.

[NorthWest]

No, I tried that at LAUPT a few weeks ago. They get rather cranky...

[LA_RailFan]

Electroliner 1935

I don't get to L.A. often and am wondering if L. A. Union station allows you to go to the platforms without being chased on needing a ticket. I would suspect that the Metrolink traffic is great enough to allow to mingle and watch the activity.

 

 

Nope, there is no place to view the trains unless you go up on a platform and you must have a ticket. Even if you get on one of 15 platforms you can't really see anything anyways. I'm still looking for that perfect spot in L.A. to view various trains with my 5 year old.