p-DSC_0510-712-Sunmaid
Fresno-Sunmaid, 5 December 2024
I went exploring in Fresno on 5 December and blundered into Sunmaid crossing, where the former SP line to Exeter, now operated by the San Joaquin Valley RR, crosses the BNSF main south of the Santa Fe-Amtrak station in downtown Fresno.
I was just looking for a place to walk Reeses next to the track and found a road on the west side of the BNSF line with decent light. We headed south and almost immediately, a southbound/eastbound BNSF freight appeared.
I knew that San Joaquin 712 was due while we would be there and the Amtrak app showed it as on time.
We walked south and passed the OK Produce warehouse, where their trailers had a variety of jokes about fruits and vegetables. Someone in their marketing department has my sense of humor!
It was south of OK's warehouse that we found the San Joaquin Valley track and its crossing of the BNSF. The name Sunmaid comes from a brand of raisins that are packed in the Fresno area. At one time a tower protected this crossing, but it is long gone and a BNSF dispatcher in Fort Worth, Texas controls operations here.
712 came south, led by a cabbage car (former F40 locomotive now used as a cab car with a baggage room where the engine used to be), and pushed by an F59.
About the time 712 passed, the road ended in a construction zone and we turned around to walk back to the car. As an OK truck stopped between us and the track, I heard an air horn and barely managed to get a video of northbound Amtrak 715 with an SC-44.
Not a bad hour and a half of train watching for this area.
p-DSC_0510-712-Sunmaid
Fresno-Sunmaid, 5 December 2024
I went exploring in Fresno on 5 December and blundered into Sunmaid crossing, where the former SP line to Exeter, now operated by the San Joaquin Valley RR, crosses the BNSF main south of the Santa Fe-Amtrak station in downtown Fresno.
I was just looking for a place to walk Reeses next to the track and found a road on the west side of the BNSF line with decent light. We headed south and almost immediately, a southbound/eastbound BNSF freight appeared.
I knew that San Joaquin 712 was due while we would be there and the Amtrak app showed it as on time.
We walked south and passed the OK Produce warehouse, where their trailers had a variety of jokes about fruits and vegetables. Someone in their marketing department has my sense of humor!
It was south of OK's warehouse that we found the San Joaquin Valley track and its crossing of the BNSF. The name Sunmaid comes from a brand of raisins that are packed in the Fresno area. At one time a tower protected this crossing, but it is long gone and a BNSF dispatcher in Fort Worth, Texas controls operations here.
712 came south, led by a cabbage car (former F40 locomotive now used as a cab car with a baggage room where the engine used to be), and pushed by an F59.
About the time 712 passed, the road ended in a construction zone and we turned around to walk back to the car. As an OK truck stopped between us and the track, I heard an air horn and barely managed to get a video of northbound Amtrak 715 with an SC-44.
Not a bad hour and a half of train watching for this area.