I'm new to this site and forum. I'm doing some work for Amtrak over the next few weeks, and so I'll be out in their maintenance facility in Oakland a couple of times. My contact there has even offered to give me a little tour. Is there anything in particular people here would like me to photograph or ask about? I'm sort of lucky to have this behind-the-gates look. I'm not really a railfan (I'm an N-scale modeller), so I don't even know what sorts of things people might want. When I was out there last week I was looking at the car washing setup, their short switcher, and the repair building. I'd never given much thought to any of that part of the work before. It never even occurred to me how many cars and engines they have to keep rolling just for the California Zephyr. Once I began doing the math, it added up pretty quickly. (1 train every day, in both directions... the trip is more than 2 days, so that means they have to have at least 6 complete trains... plus they must have something to swap out if a car or engine needs service.)
I don't think it matters what you take pictures of. These are train people here so some one will be interested in every shot. For me any special equipment type of cars or engines or repair facilities is of interest.
Hey, ScooterX, Welcome to the TrainBoard, we're happy that you're aboard! Any photo(s) you take is(are) going to be different from any other posted here, therefore any and all you take are going to be GREAT! Besides, very few, if any of us have ever been where you're going, so take lots of photos.
typically, we all use a photo host site like www.photobucket.com (free). If you already have a wbspace though, or Facebook or something, you can put the pictures up there, then right click on them, select properties, and opy the link shown. Then clik on the little iamge button on this website (looks like a photo of a mountain) and paste the picture address into that. Something to be on the lookout for, are any coaches not in Amtrak. Some of these may be old cars Amtrak's not using, but there;s a good chance you'll get to see one of the Private Varnish cars. Think motorhome on rails, but SOOO much niicer.
My first two photos. I wasn't thinking I'd be sharing them, so these aren't very good. I'll do better next time. These were taken about a month ago. I was interested in the scale of the maintenance equipment (engine washing?) as well as the paint scheme. (I'm a modeler, not a trainspotter.)
Scooter, no apologies needed, these are interesting photos, especially for me who will never be anywhere close to the Jack London area. Thanks
Thanks Hytec, I'll have more, and better, in a few weeks, I hope, when I go back to do more work for them. (my check and invoice for the work I did was "derailed" so I'm waiting for them to sort things out.) and thanks also to Flashwave/Morgan for the how-to on posting pics. I like the little switcher. It's small and doesn't match the fancy red/blue decorations the rest of their equipment wears, so I thought it was kind of interesting.
ScooterX, Thanks for the pictures. I along with the others will be waiting for more. Never know when one of them may have something interesting to model.
