Wanted to railfan the day after Christmas, but was elected chauffeur to the mall by the family instead. In Los Angeles, we actually have two malls with railroads in them though, and I managed to snap off this shot of a young father and son waiting on the mall trolley (it’s a real trolley by the way, rebuilt from a Boston PCC) recharching before another run to the Farmer’s Market.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=308547
Next week, back to real trains.
behind the stores at airport highway in toledo you can see the NS (former nyc line).If mamma needs to go to a fancier store to try on clothes we usually drive around to the east side of toledo and see whats in Walbridge and standley yards.
stay safe
Joe
The mall at Steamtown in Scranton, PA has the steam engines from Steamtown National Park, the Delaware and Lackwanna RR (which uses Alco’s), and the Scranton Trolley Museum all running behind it, you can view all the action from the food court or out \door viewing deck behind the mall. Not a bad way to spend some time while the wife shops.
Jim
A very poignant picture. I like it on several levels.
I too, like it on several levels…would like it even more on calendar at eye level…
(that’s a hint, son)
Picture - Nice! Good human interest angle.
Malls - Syracuse’s Carousel Mall is right next to the CSX Chicago Line. You can sit in the parking lot (or behind the carousel on the food court) and watch the traffic.
I really gotta move. I am missing too many of these good watch places!
Carousel is a great place to watch trains, but not if you want to see speed. The Amtrak station is about 1/2 mile east of the mall, and Dewitt Yard is just a few miles further east. Thus everything you see at the mall is either slowing down or speeding up.
Utica Union Station, about 40 miles east of Syracuse, provides lots of speed thrills, as the trains (except Amtrak, which stops there) move through pretty much at track speed.
Tree: Everything I see now is either coming in and going out, so slow doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is the unavailability of places to sit and watch trains go by. Right now we have a semi with tractor and large snow drifts blocking our only watch site.
High speed is fun, but you really can’t watch for detail and possibly a problem. But a nice parking lot that is a little warmer than 9 above would be very nice. You do live in a “temperate” climate, don’t you? [(-D]
Well, it’s already up to 32 today…
First, thanks for the kind words… second… I love that this has turned into a thread about malls that you can railfan at. The other one here in LA that has a real trolley in it is called Americana at Brand and is in Glendale. It actually has a trolley with a trailer car. Believe it or not, when shooting pictures of it, I was thrown out by a guard who told me that my camera was too professional (I have a simple Canon Rebel). Apparently if you look like a professional photographer they throw you out that mall. I may go back with my point and shoot to try and get some more images. It’s a very nice trolley.
I did know about Steamtown Mall of course, not quite the same here, but there is a very large strip mall in El Segundo area (Best Buy and Target, that sort of thing) that is built along the Chevron refinery railroad. This is trackage that has never been accessible for photos before, and soon won’t be again, because trees have been planted to block the tracks from the parking lot. I expect there is a window of about a year that a photo may be possible, but like most industrial railroads, figuring out when it actually runs will be tough.
Can’t think of any others that I know of. Would love to hear of others that folks know about.
I don’t know if this really qualifies as a “Mall/Rail” experience; but, seeking a moment’s solitude within the Chicago Loop, I have snuck into the northeast corner of the old “Narcissus Room” (7th Floor of Marshall Field’s & Company) to watch a few 'L trains pass. With the right lens, the view is pretty good for photography, but the windows are usually pretty grimey whenever I’ve been there.
In Omaha there’s a big shopping complex located on the southeast quadrant of 144th and Center Sts. An AMC 24 motion picture theater sits fairly close to the Union Pacific’s “Lane Cutoff.” It’s always a nice experience to leave the theater and have a few secondary entertainment moments watching some big tonnage roll by along The Overland Route mainline.
Would “Jack London Square” near the water’s edge in Oakland, Calif. and bisected by the Amtrak/Espee mainline qualify as a “Mall/Rail” experience?