# Cal Train's Baby Bullet Trip



## AMTRAK-P42 (Jul 23, 2003)

I just recently went back home to where I used to live and of course I had to take advantage of riding good ol' Cal Train. I went train watching the day we arrived but was slightly dissapointed as none of the 12 trains I saw were the baby bullets. I decided to call it a night and went back to the hotel. The next day I decided to take the train into San Francisco. I went to the station just as the light of my train came into view. After a few minutes the train came close enough to notice that there was something different. I knew exactly what it was and to my delight, my train was a baby bullet set with P36 #924 doing the pushing. (see picture below). I climbed aboard for the ride to San Francisco. I was quite suprised by the very smooth ride. One thing I did notice is that the breaking on these cars was VERY noisy compared to anything I had ever heard on any previous commuter services. I thought it may have just been this car set, but later that day I found out it was not.

I spent a great day in San Francisco. It was a beautiful day, no fog, sunny, around 72 degrees. I took a cab back to the King Street Cal Train station to catch the 455pm train back south. As I walked in the station I noticed that there was also a 500pm train. I crossed my fingers that if I got really lucky, one of the two would be the OTHER baby bullet set. To my delight, the 500pm train was the other set. I walked down the platform with a big smile on my face and stepped aboard the first coach. About 2 minutes prior to departure I heard the bell of another Cal Train pulling into the station. I looked out the window to see the same bullet set I had traveled on earlier that day pulling in on the adjacent track. I knew we were about to leave, but I also knew that there was a high probablility I could get a photo of the two P36's side by side. I got the shot I had hoped for the whole trip about 1 minute before 500pm that day......







Overall I really like the new bullet cars. I was curious if anyone else had ridden the bullets yet and would like to tell me what they thought?


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## Steve4031 (Jul 23, 2003)

The trains look interesting. How do the interiors compare to other commuter trains?


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## AMTRAK-P42 (Jul 23, 2003)

They are almost the exact same layout as the metrolink cars. When you enter the car, there are about 20 or so seats on that first level. Then you walk up about 5 stairs to a level with about 12 seats and the door to the next car. Then 5 Final stairs take you to the top where the most seats are. It is a very comfortable feeling enviorment inside.


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## battalion51 (Jul 23, 2003)

The Baby Bullet sets are comprised of those new locomotives from Boise if I'm not mistaken and a few of the Bombardier Bi-Level coaches. I'd have to guess they would be fairly comperable to the interior of any of the recent cars from Bombardier.


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## AMTRAK-P42 (Jul 23, 2003)

Something interesting about the P36's are that they are very quiet. I expected them to be louder then Caltrain's F40's but they were not.


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## Steve4031 (Jul 23, 2003)

So there kind of like the GO transit cars in Toronto. Thanks.


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## battalion51 (Jul 23, 2003)

Precisely, except the cab cars are "wide cabs" with three windows across compared to the two that most GO cab cars have. Notice the difference:

Standard Cab






Wide Cab


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