Santa Fe # 3751 to be at Fullerton Railroad Days

[sp2353]

Breaking News: The San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society's steam Engine #3751 will be

coming to Fullerton Railroad days tenth anniversary May 3 and 4, 2008. This information

came from the Fullerton Railroad days website.

[New Haven I-5]

 I got to go!

[YoHo1975]

Is it going to need to be lead by a modern loco again or will we actually be able to see it strut it's stuff?

[spikejones52002]

Where is Fullerton?

[espeefoamer]

Fullerton is the first stop south of Los Angeles on Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner,Third stop for most Metrolink trains.(Fourth if train stops at Commerce.)

[Jack_S]

3751 came to Fullerton at about 10:30 AM.  I got there about 10 minutes before.  Yes, it was pushing a BNSF diesel and pulling two Amtrak display cars.  One of these was the Pacific Parlor Car, not currently needed on the truncated Coast Starlight.  There were a couple hundred railfans scattered about the station.

The BNSF loco (sorry, I forgot to check the type) is used a bit differently that one might suppose.  I was told that a steam engine works somewhat better if it has a serious load to push against. So the diesel was put into dynamic braking and 3751 pushed against that resistance.  You could tell that this was happening by the characteristic whine from the diesel and the very sharp bark of 3751's exhaust.

This lashup went east thru the station at moderate speed and took the curve south to Anaheim and Orange.  Then it backed up the Atwood cutoff to rejoin the BNSF Transcon but now headed west.  It came west again to Fullerton Station, stopping at the platform under the pedestrian bridge for 1/2 hour or so.  This delighted everyone and a crowd gathered. 

Then they backed east past the junction and engaged in a good bit of switching to get all the pieces in the right order for the display on the sidings next to the station parking lot, where Railroad Days is located.  The switch for these sidings is just out of sight around a curve on the Transcon and the first order of business was to get everything off the double-tracked main line to free up Track #1 for regular freight and passenger service.

3751 is furthest east with the diesel (a brand new and beautifully prepped example) in front (west) of it.  This puts the walkway from the east end of the station platform to the parking lot between the front of the diesel and the rear of the Amtrak cars.  Three privately owned cabooses had to be repositioned to make this all fit in the space available.

And Sunday night we can watch them reverse all this and go back to LA.  This sometimes turns into a speed run past Fullerton Station.

Jack

[New Haven I-5]

3751 came to Fullerton at about 10:30 AM.  I got there about 10 minutes before.  Yes, it was pushing a BNSF diesel and pulling two Amtrak display cars.  One of these was the Pacific Parlor Car, not currently needed on the truncated Coast Starlight.  There were a couple hundred railfans scattered about the station.

The BNSF loco (sorry, I forgot to check the type) is used a bit differently that one might suppose.  I was told that a steam engine works somewhat better if it has a serious load to push against. So the diesel was put into dynamic braking and 3751 pushed against that resistance.  You could tell that this was happening by the characteristic whine from the diesel and the very sharp bark of 3751's exhaust.

This lashup went east thru the station at moderate speed and took the curve south to Anaheim and Orange.  Then it backed up the Atwood cutoff to rejoin the BNSF Transcon but now headed west.  It came west again to Fullerton Station, stopping at the platform under the pedestrian bridge for 1/2 hour or so.  This delighted everyone and a crowd gathered. 

Then they backed east past the junction and engaged in a good bit of switching to get all the pieces in the right order for the display on the sidings next to the station parking lot, where Railroad Days is located.  The switch for these sidings is just out of sight around a curve on the Transcon and the first order of business was to get everything off the double-tracked main line to free up Track #1 for regular freight and passenger service.

3751 is furthest east with the diesel (a brand new and beautifully prepped example) in front (west) of it.  This puts the walkway from the east end of the station platform to the parking lot between the front of the diesel and the rear of the Amtrak cars.  Three privately owned cabooses had to be repositioned to make this all fit in the space available.

And Sunday night we can watch them reverse all this and go back to LA.  This sometimes turns into a speed run past Fullerton Station.

Jack

Thanks for the head up Jack! Is the cab open to vistors because I'm going tomarrow!

[Jack_S]

3751 came to Fullerton at about 10:30 AM.  I got there about 10 minutes before.  Yes, it was pushing a BNSF diesel and pulling two Amtrak display cars.  One of these was the Pacific Parlor Car, not currently needed on the truncated Coast Starlight.  There were a couple hundred railfans scattered about the station.

The BNSF loco (sorry, I forgot to check the type) is used a bit differently that one might suppose.  I was told that a steam engine works somewhat better if it has a serious load to push against. So the diesel was put into dynamic braking and 3751 pushed against that resistance.  You could tell that this was happening by the characteristic whine from the diesel and the very sharp bark of 3751's exhaust.

This lashup went east thru the station at moderate speed and took the curve south to Anaheim and Orange.  Then it backed up the Atwood cutoff to rejoin the BNSF Transcon but now headed west.  It came west again to Fullerton Station, stopping at the platform under the pedestrian bridge for 1/2 hour or so.  This delighted everyone and a crowd gathered. 

Then they backed east past the junction and engaged in a good bit of switching to get all the pieces in the right order for the display on the sidings next to the station parking lot, where Railroad Days is located.  The switch for these sidings is just out of sight around a curve on the Transcon and the first order of business was to get everything off the double-tracked main line to free up Track #1 for regular freight and passenger service.

3751 is furthest east with the diesel (a brand new and beautifully prepped example) in front (west) of it.  This puts the walkway from the east end of the station platform to the parking lot between the front of the diesel and the rear of the Amtrak cars.  Three privately owned cabooses had to be repositioned to make this all fit in the space available.

And Sunday night we can watch them reverse all this and go back to LA.  This sometimes turns into a speed run past Fullerton Station.

Jack

Thanks for the head up Jack! Is the cab open to vistors because I'm going tomarrow!

I don't know.  A couple of years ago it was but you had to climb directly up the side of the engine.  I don't want to risk that as I am somewhat immobile.  The last time I went they had a wooden stair that got you up next to the cab but not inside.  Crew was there to answer questions.

Jack