Railfanning San Diego - 11/21/21

After I finished riding the San Diego Trolley’s newly opened UCSD Blue Line, I made a pit stop at the Downtown San Diego Santa Fe Depot to revisit an old favorite and to do some quick, improvised railfanning. When I got to the station, there were three trains anticipated within only 30 minutes, those of which being Coaster #677, Amtrak 572, and Amtrak 581; so, I got set up for those trains. This station hasn’t changed much since my previous visits and railfanning trips here, except the noticeable replacement of the giant palm trees, now replaced with newer smaller palm trees. Rather though, the noticeable changes have been the newer constructed buildings around the station which used to originally be wide open parking lots. That, and the displeasing quiet zone that has unremarkably been around for almost a decade now since its implementation in 2012. It was a great time when the horns were still around, that’s for sure !

Train 1 : Coaster #677 with SC-44 #5002 & CabCar #2307. Friendly crew on #677 ! My first time seeing the Coaster Siemens SC-44 Charger, and I’ll have to admit, the paint scheme is lacking the eye catchiness that the old F40PHM-2C’s and F59PHI’s had in my personal opinion. It also sounds like the E-Bell on these units are a little more rounded off in terms of sound and not as sharp of a “ping” of the bell as the Amtrak Surfliner Chargers. Though it’s not the same as it used to be as the railroad progresses, the newer power will be of great benefit and will certainly get the job done.

Train 2: Amtrak 572 with SC-44 #2122 & CabCar #6906. Some nice spotlighting effects on the train from the gleaming light between the skyscrapers !

Train 3: Amtrak 581 with CabCar #6901 & SC-44 #2119. Right as Amtrak 572 pulls into the Downtown San Diego Santa Fe Depot, Amtrak 581 departs on schedule, northbound, and ultimately to its final destination of Los Angeles Union Station. Makes for a nice meet for sure !

Thanks for Watching !