I will have a few hours to kill in the morning and early afternoon Modesto CA on an upcoming Friday. Are there any good railfanning sites besides the Amtrak station? (And for that matter, is there much freight activity to watch at the station on a Friday?)
All the UP trains going down the valley pass through town. The Amtrak station is in Riverbank east of town on the BNSF line. You might want to check out the Modesto & Empire Traction. They do a lot of local switching with a fleet of 70 tonners. UP used to have a bit of street running on exWP track but that has been gone for years.
Actually, they have built a station in Modesto. It is off of Briggsmore Avenue in the east side of town. Here is the link to Amtrak’s information and a map. I try to avoid Briggsmore (which has an offramp) near Freeway 99, traffic is really bad there, of course if you are from the Bay Area or LA area, I am sure that is nothing to you.
Not only do trains no longer go down 9th Street, the old tressle over the Tuolumne “River” burned down a few years ago.
The old SP depot is now a bus station. It is at 9th and J streets. The UP locals that work that area are based on the old Tidewater Southern where Whitmore Avenue crosses the tracks.
Be sure to stop by the M&ET shops on McClure Avenue. Here is an aerial photoraph of it.
There used to be a joint ATSF/MET in
We haven’t stayed downtown for several trips to Modesto, but unless things have changed, there is a pretty significant number of UP trains coming down through the center of town. BNSF had a good number of trains at night, it seemed, when we stayed with a sister-in-law who lives on the east side of town this spring.
Briggsmore is pretty busy these days, but the alternate east-west routes are pretty hectic, too. If I remember, MET parallels Yosemite Blvd, but I don’t know what the traffic level is on that line. One area that might be a good spot on the UP is at the north end of town (actually Salida, I think) where Pelandale goes over Cal-99 to some motels and truck stops. They are right next to the line at that point.
Almost all of the medium to large cities along 99 have grown considerably in the past few years. Unfortunately, few, if any, of those cities have received a third lane on 99, much less an freeways to move traaffic to the east side of town. It makes for hidious traffic around 99 and a miserable drive on 99, even in the rural areas. It seems like it is rare when one can go over 55 MPH, even though the speed limit is 65 to 70.
If anyone else is going to Modesto… I found the MET yard on the south part of town when I was there. I’m 6’3" and I couldn’t really see over the barbed wire fence, but I could shoot over it by lifting the camera over my head.
Here’s a shot into McClure Yard.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=214838&nseq=3
I need to get back up there again to get these little critters in action. MET has since bought some SW1500s and I worry for the remaining 70ts.
And quite rightly, I hear parts availibility for the GEs is behind it.
Too bad… I really like those things.