Railfanning The San Joaquin Valley

I made a quick trip with my wife up to a favorite place in the San Joaquin Valley last week, and in the process I got to do some railfanning. The prime sites like Cajon, Tehachapi, Donner, the Coast, and so forth tend to overshadow some good spots in the Valley. Here's the recent Amtrak/CalDOT Bakersfield depot:

This replaced a primitive AmHut that I photographed in 1995:

The Amtrak/CDOT trains run on the BNSF line from Bakersfield until they get to the Bay Area, where they transfer to the ex-SP UP line to Oakland. It parallels California Route 43, which is much less intense than Route 99 (which parallels the UP). It's much easier to pull to the side of the road and photograph oncoming trains. In addition, since the line hosts 79 mph passenger trains, there's more variety, with interesting signals.

Here's a grab shot from the car window:

An interesting MOW scene at East Angiola:

An Amtrak/CalDOT southbound meeting a northbound BNSF. An ex-F40 NPCU leads

The train is made up of ex-NJT Jersey Arrow cars. Today it's being pushed by an Amtrak P42:

On the way home I caught new San Joaquin Valley Railroad power on the Bowerbank Local with my new phone: