# First trip(s) on NCTD Sprinter, May 15, 2008 ...



## chuljin (Jun 16, 2008)

_update: mention one interesting Sprinter safety feature; resolve ambiguous antecedents in the Metrolink 269 paragraph ('Why did I give my seatmate a ticket? Why did the conductor not know why the train was slow?' _  _)_

I apologize in advance for the monolithic enormous long paragraphs. 

I would not usually write a trip report for a trip of this brevity, but it was significant in two ways:


It included (finally) my first trip(s) on the Sprinter;

Four of the six trains I was on wound up affording me accidental opportunities to proselytise about rail travel of all types and/or impress people with my knowledge of the trains we were on  LD-dining-style gregarity on corridor and commuter trains, imagine it.  


The (admittedly rather few) pictures I took on this trip are here.

I reserved my southbound ticket on 768 from LAX (by which I mean LAUPT wherever it appears) to OSD; I was originally going to combine it with one of the stack of unreserved GDL->LAX tickets from my point-running days, and then just move to Business at LAX; in the event I woke up early enough that I took Metrolink 260 instead, so that I'd have more time (approximately an hour) at LAX.

After getting my tickets from the Metrolink TVM (because I'd told amtrak.com that's where I wanted to...I will never again buy tickets 'from scratch' from a Metrolink TVM, due to the AGR 'WELCOME/ABOARD' hassle, but they're good for picking up prepaid tickets at stations [like GDL] with no Quik-Trak machines), I went over to have a look at the Coast Starlight sleeper passenger lounge at the Traxx Bar. I'll not yet call it a Metropolitan Lounge because it does not yet fulfill the definition (see next sentence). I had my AGRS+ card with me, and the brochure from the AGRS+ welcome kit mentioning lounge access as one of the benefits, and showed them both to the lounge dragon, who said it is for CS sleeper pax only. Disappointing but not devastating. She looked familiar and I couldn't figure out why, until I finally remembered she was the one selling CS swag on National Train Day. After therefore hanging out elsewhere for a while, I boarded:

*Amtrak 768, LAX to OSD*

_Consist_

_454 F59PHI_

_*6800 Surfliner Business __**Seat 55*_

_6305 Surfliner Cafe_

_6452 Surfliner Coach 'Mission Beach'_

_31047 Superliner I Coach_

_6952 Surfliner Coach/Cabbage 'Point Vicente'_

Shortly after leaving LAX, I went and got my famous cheese and crackers, a mildly uncomfortable walk because: There are two four-seaters with tables at the end of the upper level of the cafe car at the business car end. It is usually here where the conductors count, sort, etc. the tickets. On this train, these seats were separated from the rest of the car by one of those red canvas ribbons usually used to keep people away from the cab when the train is in push mode. I guess it was to keep people away from the 'counting tables' or to keep coach out of business, but it also separated people in business from the cafe. I hesitated at first but then respectfully and without saying anything undid it, passed through, and did it back up each way. It was at first a typical quiet, uneventful Surfliner trip except for the number of cell phone calls I heard made or received, delivering father's day wishes, and, enjoyable, the Singing Cafe Attendant. For those who've never had the pleasure: shortly after leaving LAX, the cafe attendant will come on the intercom that the cafe has opened after stocking (or, for 700-series through trains, reopened after restocking). For most attendants, this amounts to 'we're open. come buy stuff.' This particular attendant (who is also the attendant on my daily 785 from time to time) announces the openness, enumerates nearly the whole menu, then sings a short song whose lyrics start 'It's a beautiful day for a train ride ...' I was on the train long enough this time to hear him sing a second song, after leaving SNA I think, this time the California state song. At SNA (IIRC) a lady got on and settled into 54 (?...at a four-seater) with a book. As we approached IRV, the couple in 57/58 (?...right behind book lady) got ready to exit the train, and as part of this, put up their footrests. They of course snapped into the up position with the usual thud, and book lady turned around and said 'Would you kindly lay off?' The Surfliner tray tables and footrests don't really seem designed to change position without disturbing the person in front to whose seat they're attached (and I've often considered asking the person behind me 'OK, you've tried both positions of both the tray table and footrest several times, please choose one.' [but never have]), but I found her reaction at least strange, if not unnecessarily confrontational. At IRV, a large family boarded, a young couple, the parents of one of them, and their two sons, one a toddler, the other an infant in a carrier, which his father placed on the seat next to book lady. 'Oh, this will get ugly,' I thought, but babies turn anyone around, and she suddenly became warm, gregarious, and chatty. The family mentioned that this was their first time on Amtrak, and asked me if I ride often.  So I told them I actually was in a position to use it to commute, and so ride it every day, but that I also enjoy the occasional day trip like the one I was on. They introduced a theme that would come up a lot during the day: gas prices. I told them about S294 and HR6003, and they were actually excited and encouraged about it (I've actually yet to encounter anyone who cries 'taxpayer!'.) They mentioned how they wished more of them could sit on the ocean side, so the conductor suggested they move to my seat after I got off (and set it aside for them by putting their seat check over my seat after removing mine at IRV, my penultimate station). I said that I'd seen it all before and would be happy to switch with them now, and they thanked me profusely but they could just wait. I would liked to have chatted about trains with them more, but we'd reached OSD, so I wished them a pleasant trip (they were going down to San Diego for the day) and detrained.

On weekends, Sprinter trains leave from either end of the line at :33 after every hour. Amtrak 768 gets to OSD, in theory, at 11:33, making a connection impossible. So I had exactly an hour to kill. Fortunately, this was part of my plans for the day, so I had lunch at the Burger King there in the station, and hung/looked around a bit (I'd already taken several pictures of OSD on my previous trip to OSD [which was also my first-ever trip on Amtrak]). One thing that was different about OSD as compared either to OSD the first time I visited, or to LAX now (where the unarmed guards enforce only parking restrictions, abandoning the station and the area in front to aggressive panhandlers and those recently released from the county jail 2 blocks away) was the large number of _armed_ private security guards. As the bottom of the hour approached, I went to the Sprinter TVM and got my day pass (I was only going to take two segments, but the Sprinter day pass is precisely two one-ways' cost), then onto the platform, standing at what would be the front of the train so I could sit near the cab. As the train approached, the first thing I noticed was that it sounded like no train I'd ever heard...in fact, the sound was remarkably bus-like. I'd soon find out why.

_Background aside: a few years ago, when it had been 8 years since my only ride on Metrolink, and 2 years before I'd ride Amtrak the first time, but when I'd already started taking the Metro Gold and Red Lines to downtown every weekend, and knew roughly how EMUs worked, I was wondering out loud, with a mechanically-inclined coworker, how power in diesel locomotives is transmitted from the engine to the wheels. I had convinced myself that it was purely mechanical, with a transmission, much larger but otherwise similar to a car's. I was surprised when he told me about 'diesel electric', but then saw the benefits. As a result of this conversation, my later better-though-not-perfect familiarity with trains, and my lack of research about Sprinter equipment, I was convinced that DMUs like Sprinter were also diesel-electric. I was wrong. _ 

So returning to the report, I boarded:

*NCTD Sprinter **unnumbered**, Oceanside to Escondido*

_Consist_

_Two Siemens Desiro DMUs_

Just as I'd hoped, I was able to sit in the raised area, right behind the cab. In contrast to the cab doors on VTA Light Rail vehicles, which seem designed to say 'go away', the cab doors on these cars are floor-to-ceiling solid glass; add to that a floor-to-ceiling window about half as wide as the door on other side of it, and the unobstructed view from passenger cabin to cab is 7' high and about 6' wide. Next to this door was one of those pointy metal hammers and an invitation (to be accepted only in an emergency, of course) to use it to break the door and exit through the cab windows, an exit route I've never heard of. Also noteworthy (though not surprising considering that they've been in revenue service three short months) is that it still had that 'new train smell'. Shortly after all passengers boarded, we were followed by the driver and his student, one of the said armed guards, a fare-enforcement agent, and a 'Sprinter Ambassador'. Before we set off, I fired up the GPS in my phone so I could follow the route, collect a track, and see what our maximum speed would be. We left on time at 12:33 and the fare-enforcement agent asked to see my ticket soon after. Just as I thought it sounded very bus-like as it approached, it felt very bus-like as I rode it. So now I wondered, and I used the itty browser in my phone to look up technical details on this equipment. Sure enough, they use precisely the same technology as I years ago mistakenly thought diesel locomotives used: the engine's power is transmitted to the wheels through a (thoughtfully, automatic) transmission. So the reason it sounded and felt to me like a bus is that it _is_ essentially a bus, albeit an extremely long articulated one, running on rails. Of the stations visited, it seemed only the Oceanside, Vista, and Escondido Transit Centers, Palomar College, and CSU San Marcos were anywhere near civilization; the rest seemed to be infill stations built only because another station was 1.5 miles away. Hopefully transit will drive development, because the opposite seems not to have happened.  Another interesting thing is that at most stations (perhaps all, I didn't look that carefully) is that the platforms are all high-level, but don't go all the way to the side of the train; instead there are short (~1 foot) 'bridges' between the platform and train, with which the train's doors align with the help of the 'SPOT CAB' signs. This was one point I noticed the driver making to his student. Our maximum speed was around 53mph; we arrived at Escondido on time at 1:26. That same train was going to go back to Oceanside 7 minutes later, but I'd planned to stay 1:07 instead of just :07.

I went to a Barnes and Noble just around the corner and got a drink from the miniStarbucks, then called my uncle in IN to wish him happy father's day. I then went back and explored and photographed the Escondido Transit Center (I like transit centers). It's somewhat similar to IRV in that it's a complex of little buildings with restrooms and a few concessions. I lingered a little too long at the Escondido Transit Center, so I was one of the last people to board:

*NCTD Sprinter **unnumbered**, Escondido to Oceanside*

_Consist_

_Two Siemens Desiro DMUs_

As a result, there was no free seat next to cab, nor anywhere in the raised area. So I sat in an arbitrary seat elsewhere, to instead just look out the window. Shortly after we set off, I heard a lady ask the fare-enforcement agent 'how fast does this go?' Conveniently, I'd just collected that information (53mph, though on the way back we achieved 55), so I told her. She said 'oh, you must ride this a lot.' I said 'No, only my second trip, and my first one was only 2 hours ago.' I then explained the reason for my trip. It turned out to be her first trip, too: she and her teenage son live in Escondido (she pointed out her house as we passed by) and were going to the beach for the afternoon. She kept thinking I'd come to Oceanside on the Coaster; I had to explain a few times that it only goes as far north as Oceanside, and that to get there from LA, one had to take Metrolink or Amtrak. I was surprised that, even though she lived in Escondido, this was her first ride on Sprinter, and that, even though she lived in San Diego County, she'd never taken the trolley, and Coaster only once. However, surprisingly, she'd been on the London Underground and the Washington Metro. I suggested that another day trip she might try, but that she'd have to start earlier in the day and do on a Saturday, is Sprinter to Oceanside, Coaster to San Diego, and trolleys around. She said that she already had tentative plans to take Sprinter/Coaster to a Padres game 'when my parents have time to look after my other son (he's disabled)'. I said that every system I'd mentioned was designed to be accessible, but she said that it was not a mobility limitation, and that such a trip would be emotionally overwhelming, poor kid.  She asked me how I got into trains, and I told her about my dad, but that our tastes differed (he was a steam fan), and it turns out her father was also a steam fan. She suggested that I someday visit the museum in Campo, but I said that might be unlikely, as it's (ironically) inaccessible by rail. I then got a perfect opportunity to evangelize: she told me how cool she'd heard 'the bullet train' is, and wondered why we didn't have something like that here. So naturally I told her about the California High-Speed Rail project. She said 'Why not Vegas? I bet that would be yet more popular.' So I told her that unlike the pie-in-the-sky Vegas plan, the CHSRA plan was very far along, having tentatively chosen routes, stations, equipment, etc., and essentially just needed money. I told her about the ballot measure, and she said 'And anyone can vote on that?' 'Yes, it's on the November ballot.' 'Well, I'll certainly have to look into that!' The last thing we discussed: She asked what kinds of snacks are available at OSD, so I told her about the Burger King. We got to OSD on time at 3:26, and I took a few more pictures of the train before it headed back to Escondido, got a soda, and relaxed while waiting to board:

*Amtrak 583, OSD to LAX*

_Consist_

_6908 Surfliner Coach/Cabbage_

_31046 Superliner I Coach_

_64xx Surfliner Coach_

_63xx Surfliner Cafe_

_*68xx Surfliner Business_

_464 F59PHI_

Unfortunately, the famous (and if she's not, I'm just not trying hard enough) Gloria B, who is usually the Business Attendant on this train, was not present today. Her stand-in, however, was just as nice. I boarded on the door at the cafe (on this train, front) end of the car, and when I got upstairs, even business was quite full; I went back to the loco (on this train, rear) end of the car, and found two two-seaters, one in front of the other, each with one occupant. I asked the first if I could sit, and I'm not sure if he didn't hear me or only so pretended, but there was no answer. The lady in the other pair (almost a dead ringer for Janet Reno, btw) welcomed me to sit next to her. She mentioned how extraordinarily busy it was, and I agreed (they kept announcing that 'this train will be standing room only'). The attendant brought the usual snack pack and drink (white wine here, Alan  ), and I intensified my agreement with her earlier statement when I looked into the next car and noticed that when 'busy' the overflow is still small enough that they fit into the vestibules downstairs, but on this train they were also in the aisle upstairs. I figured I might as well get on with my usual ritual on >1.5-hour surfliner business trips: get cheese and crackers and soda from the cafe, then have the cheese and crackers with the wine in the first half of the trip, setting aside the Delyse snack pack to have with the soda in the second half. So I squeezed and excused myself past them both ways. When my seatmate saw my cheese and crackers, she said 'Well! It looks like you know what to eat on the train!'  This broke the ice, and we started chatting. She was on her way to LAX, where she'd connect to the Southwest Chief that evening to return to ABQ, having visited her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren in San Diego. She was originally going to fly, but was 'grounded by an ear infection' and took the train instead. I was surprised when she told me she'd paid around $900 total for a roomette; I said that I'd priced LAX->CHI and it was only a little over $400. I mentioned I'd been pricing months out, and how Amtrak, like airlines, had yield management, and the buckets, and so on, and that is probably why her ticket was so pricey. (Idiot me, another reason I realized well after the trip is that her price was round trip, mine was one way, but still...twice as far for slightly less!) She said that someday she wanted them to take the train to visit her in ABQ, but that $3600 would be outrageous. So she was happy to learn from me about the existence of the Family Bedroom, and that, along with other kinds of rooms, its price was per room, not per person, and that if she booked a couple months ahead of time, it would only be around $1700 round-trip. She said that was way more reasonable and she'd look into it. Soon she decided to get up and have a walk (and I suggested it was also a good opportunity to get the cheese and crackers she'd been admiring). She started to walk away in her stocking feet, and I said 'you'd better wear shoes' and that moving around the train without shoes was not just not recommended, but not allowed, because of the whole intercar diaphragm toe-avulsing issue.  So she put on her shoes, which were very cool, if a little too high-tech (Z-Coils, whose inventor is a friend of hers). She soon came back with cheese and crackers, and had a hell of a time trying to spread the BabyBel onto the water crackers. I told her that's why I never bothered, and just eat all the crackers in the package, followed by all the cheese in the package. She asked how I was so well-informed (compared to her, of course, not my fellow AUers  ), so, like the large family on the way down, I told her about my commute and my occasional day-trips, my future planned and just-fantasy trips, and my enthusiasm for Amtrak and other trains. I also told her about Metrolink, and we talked a little about Rail Runner (Albuquerque's [currently single-line] commuter rail system). She mentioned that she'd been on it a couple times for leisure, and enjoyed it, which was a shame because her commute is one for which it was not useful (she recently retired from Sandia, east-southeast of downtown). I said (and she agreed) that medium-sized but quickly-growing cities in the desert southwest like Albuquerque (and Phoenix, and Las Vegas) are missing an opportunity to create or expand commuter rail systems while empty land is still plentiful and cheap. The last thing we talked about on getting to LAX was (again) HR6003, about which she, too, was happy.

This was not a through train, so I got on Metrolink 269 for the last little hop home to GDL. There's no opportunity, in terms of time or conversation partner, to talk about trains on a 6-mile, 10-minute trip, right? So I thought. The train was quite busy, so I saw a lady alone in a four-seater and after asking permission, sat catty-corner [sp?] from her. Soon after, unusually, the conductor came asking for tickets. I gave her (the conductor) one of my extra LAX-GDL unreserved Surfliner tickets (invoking Rail2Rail), and she chuckled and said 'one of those tickets, eh?' and tore it, giving me the stub. As we were crawling through the switches leaving LAX, she (my seatmate) said 'it doesn't go very fast, does it?' and I told her that after we'd gotten to the mainline (and I'm not sure I'm even using that term correctly) we'd be doing closer to 60. She also said 'I was at Burbank airport the other day, and I noticed a train station there, does this train go there?' and I said it doesn't, explaining the distinction between the Ventura County and Antelope Valley lines, and how they share LAX, GDL, and Downtown Burbank, but then they diverge and Antelope Valley (which we were on) then just misses the airport. I then told her about Rail2Rail and how, at least for that particular short segment, Amtrak tickets are at least 20% cheaper than Metrolink tickets and, with few exceptions, are completely interchangeable therewith. I actually got so engrossed in the conversation that (unusually for me) I failed to notice we were pulling into GDL and had to sprint downstairs to detrain.

So there it is. On such a trip, I might otherwise have sat quietly reading or pecking away at my laptop for all 6 trains, not because I'm anti-social or anything, but because I'd talk about things no one else wants to, but on this particular trip, the stars (read: my fellow passengers) aligned, and I was able to talk about/talk up trains until my throat wore out.  I quite enjoyed it.


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## jackal (Jun 16, 2008)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Great report! I love that you got to spread the love to complete strangers! As gas prices rise, maybe we all will seem less and less nerdy to those outsiders...


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## p&sr (Jun 17, 2008)

Thanks for the great Trip Report! We had hoped to ride the Sprinter last week on our way from San Diego to LAX. We were ticketed to allow for the stop-over in Oceanside. This was arranged months ago before the Sprinter was even running, so we didn't know what their June schedule might actually turn out to be. As it happened, to ride the Sprinter this trip we would have had to sacrifice both the Gold Line to Pasadena (on the historic Santa Fe route LAX to Chicago, which we were just about to do on the SWC) AND our scenic walk through Downtown LA (including the Angels Flight funicular). So we had to postpone the Sprinter for some other trip.



chuljin said:


> As we approached IRV, the couple right behind book lady got ready to exit the train, and as part of this, put up their footrests. They of course snapped into the up position with the usual thud, and book lady turned around and said 'Would you kindly lay off?'


My usual response after I provoke some such single-incident annoyance is, Yes of course, I just DID lay off. (so there!)



chuljin said:


> Also noteworthy (though not surprising considering that they've been in revenue service three short months) is that it still had that 'new train smell'.
> Just as I thought it sounded very bus-like as it approached, it felt very bus-like as I rode it.


Great to catch the new Train so early in its history!

Would you consider the Sprinter to be an example of "Light Rail" because of its general construction (lighter than the Coaster or Metrolink), or more "Commuter Rail" because of Diesel operation and running between towns more than within a single built-up area? Or something else altogether?



chuljin said:


> Hopefully transit will drive development, because the opposite seems not to have happened.


In San Diego this seems to be working, noticing both the Shopping Malls and the attractive Residential Complexes that have grown up along the new Green Line there.



chuljin said:


> I suggested that another day trip she might try, but that she'd have to start earlier in the day and do on a Saturday, is Sprinter to Oceanside, Coaster to San Diego, and trolleys around.


That does sound like a good trip. Sometime when we're visiting family in LA we hope to do the Sprinter in combination with a Train from LAX to Oceanside (Amtrak or Metrolink) plus the LA Metro-Rail system... we start out near the other LAX (Airport), and can get downtown via Green Line -- Blue Line -- Red Line. On the return, taking the Blue Line all the way to Long Beach (crossing the new Alameda Rail Corridor) is always appealing.



chuljin said:


> She started to walk away in her stocking feet, and I said 'you'd better wear shoes' and that moving around the train without shoes was not just not recommended, but not allowed, because of the whole intercar diaphragm toe-avulsing issue.


Yes, it's quite shocking how primitive these American Trains are. In Europe I travelled in civilized comfort wearing sandals on all trains. Nobody cares. The only time my sandals even came to attention was when I met a group of German Alpinists in full gear hiking up on the base of the Matterhorn (a couple of miles up from the last Gondola station). I explained in my best German that these were my "California Shoes". They nodded, with some concern, and figured that that is just what such people as myself would naturally do, not knowing any better. But on the Trains, no problem!


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## chuljin (Jun 17, 2008)

p&sr said:


> Great to catch the new Train so early in its history!


I have a habit of that.  I managed to ride on opening day of:


The Red Line extension to Hollywood;

The Red Line extension to _North_ Hollywood;

The Gold Line

After much hemming, hawing, and procrastinating, Mr. chuljin and I will finally move to Dallas or Austin (likely the former) about this time next year, with a view towards finally owning a house (unachieveable here in SoCal on our mere mortals' salaries). If I play my cards right, I will be able to be _here_ for opening day of the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension shortly before moving, and _there_ for opening day of the first phase of the DART Green Line shortly after. 



p&sr said:


> Would you consider the Sprinter to be an example of "Light Rail" because of its general construction (lighter than the Coaster or Metrolink), or more "Commuter Rail" because of Diesel operation and running between towns more than within a single built-up area? Or something else altogether?


To please everyone, perhaps Commuter Light Rail?  I'm leaning more towards Light Rail, though, because:


In contrast to most commuter rail, it shares its right-of-way with no other passenger or freight traffic;

Despite there being almost nothing in between, it runs between two cities much smaller than LA (Oceanside) and only slightly larger than Pasadena (Escondido), yet no one would argue that the Gold Line is anything but Light Rail.


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## AlanB (Jun 17, 2008)

Just for the record, Sprinter is considered light rail, just like NJT's RiverLine. This despite the fact that both are diesel powered, unlike the more common catenary powered light rail. But it is nonetheless a light rail vehicle in the FRA's eyes.


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## gswager (Jun 18, 2008)

chuljin said:


> After much hemming, hawing, and procrastinating, Mr. chuljin and I will finally move to Dallas or Austin (likely the former) about this time next year, with a view towards finally owning a house (unachieveable here in SoCal on our mere mortals' salaries). If I play my cards right, I will be able to be _here_ for opening day of the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension shortly before moving, and _there_ for opening day of the first phase of the DART Green Line shortly after.


It may be a little too late for you to ride on grand opening of Austin light rail which is scheduled to open this fall. It was featured on "Trains" magazine in June edition.


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