Train Watching In San Bernardino....

Today better known as the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) began in Southern California down in San Diego County where eventually they establiblished the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in National City its Pacific Coast Terminus.

First known as The California Southern Rail Road it was organized in 1880 to build from National City north to the San Luis Rey River, through Temecula Canyon to San Bernardino and on to a junction with the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad.....The latter was preparing to build across New Mexico and Arizona...All materials had to be shipped to National City by ship from the East Coast....Rails, track fittings and most of the steam locomotives and cars came in sailing vessels around Cape Horn. The Rail road contracted with a San Francisco Logging company to ship Ties down to San Diego.
The main line was constructed to the present Oceanside in 1881; to Colton, junction with the Southern Pacific, in 1882, and to San Bernardino in 1883.....Floods and the Southern Pacific hindered the extension through Cajon Pass until 1885.....The last spike was driven on November 9, through service from and to Kansas City began on the 15th and, for a short time, National City really was the Pacific Coast Terminus of the now great Santa Fe Route.

A rate war followed, setting the stage for the fabulous Land Boom in Southern California, which reached its crest in August 1887.....During the fateful period of subsidence and reaction, the California Southern and the California Central Railway, which had built the branch lines forming the Southern California network, were consolidated, for economy, into the Southern California Railway in 1889......The shops were transferred to San Bernardino, the company's headquarters were moved to Los Angeles and the creosoting works was shut down.

Through its subsidiary California Southern Railroad, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) first built a two-and-a-half-story wooden structure on the site in 1886 to replace a converted boxcar that had been used as a temporary station......The 1886 building was mostly destroyed in a fire on November 16, 1916.
Local politicians requested ATSF to build a new station on a much larger scale than the previous.....The new station, designed by architect W.A. Mohr, cost $800,000 ($11,551,475 adjusted for 2005) to build and was officially opened on July 15, 1918.....At that time it was the largest railway station west of the Mississippi River. ....A few years after the depot's opening, an extension was added that included a Harvey House and living quarters.

The station saw heavy use throughout the 20th century.....But like with many railroad stations, there was a gradual decline in usage with the advent of automobiles, buses and air travel.....The Harvey House closed in the 1950s and in 1972, ATSF transferred its passenger service to Amtrak.....Metrolink returned service to the station in the early 1990s.

When Burlington Northern Bought out Santa Fe, they moved all computer operations to Kansas City....At that time it was felt that rail road operations could be centralized and the rail road in the Inland Empire and partially the Yards at San Bernardino could be handled from KC....After the Train wreck in Muscoy when a out of control Train took out a neighbor hood, and several derailments in the Cajon Pass one which resulted in a major fire, local politicians demanded that local control be restored to the San Bernardino Yards, which were a mere 2 miles to the south of the incident scene.....You can imagine the devastation which might have resulted if that train had managed to stay on the tracks and hit the hard right curve that makes up the entire yard....Both main lines and 12 main yard lines, all make a hard right here.....along with bumper lines, offset lines, and the factories, round house for the Diesel matanence.....And the 215 runs right along the tracks in the area.

Today, all operations for the inland Empire area are directed out of San Bernardino....Barstow retains control of its rails and train movements but still sends to SB....LA Traffic control will hand off as the trains pas through western Pomona and by the time the train is into Pomona station the hand off is complete.....Eastbound traffic hands off to Indio Yards once it passes out of the Banning Pass....Here again the Union Pacific runs directly parallel to the BNSF and the UP only heads south as it passes through North Palm Springs for the Southern Desert, past the Salton Sea towards Mexico and the Southern Run into Dallas.

Getting back to the Santa Fe Passenger terminal, In 1992, the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) purchased the historic depot from Santa Fe.....While Amtrak and Metrolink stopped using the depot in favor for a much smaller newer structure on the west side of the older one, SANBAG acquired over $15 million from federal and local grants and funds to begin an extensive restoration of the historic depot beginning in 2002....In 2004, SANBAG and Metrolink moved some of their offices there.....After renovations are complete, SANBAG will share ownership with the City of San Bernardino and both agencies intend on leasing space in it......Greyhound Bus Lines plans on moving passenger operations to the depot in 2009.....It is unclear if the depot will be used by rail passengers from Metrolink or Amtrak in the near future.....That all depends on the high speed rail project from Las Vegas to LA.....If it is ever built, that is, thus the wait.

But the San Bernardino station does serve as the eastern terminus for most Metrolink San Bernardino Line trains which originate from Los Angeles' Union Station and the northern terminus for some Inland Empire-Orange County Line trains....Some San Bernardino Line trains continue southeastward towards Riverside on weekends.....And Amtrak's Southwest Chief, which travels between Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois, stops once a day in each direction here.

So there you have it....You can spend all day on Cajon blvd which runs parallel with the tracks from the Cajon Pass and watch UP 5500's run in reverse for the long run down into the valley, or BNSF which prefers to run pairs of engines, two in reverse, and two forward with compound braking.....The UP splits off in Muscoy to head south towards the Colton Yards and Riverside and points beyond....The Big new EMD's 7,000's move down past Muscoy and slow to 10 mph as they make there way into the SB Yards.

Add in Metrolink, Amtrak and a few odd ball 'specials' and you can fill your day with train watching chasing the trains up and down Cajon Blvd Or plant yourself on a bridge with camera....Oh and the 10 story tall Santa Fe Stack is still standing at 4th and Santa Fe....Its always good for some great pictures.

Gary Hall, the ghostpainter