Santa Fe 3751 is a 4-8-4 type steam locomotive
built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1927.
It is the oldest surviving 4-8-4 type locomotive
in existence. The 3751 was in service for
the Santa Fe railroad until 1953, making its
last trip on a northbound run of the San Diegan
between San Diego and Los Angeles, California
in August of that year. In 1957, the locomotive
was officially retired and a year later, it
was donated by the railroad to the city of
San Bernardino, California. Moving ahead to
the 1980s, a non profit group known as the
San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society
was formed and purchased the locomotive from
the city for one dollar. The locomotive was
steamed up for the first time after restoration
in 1991 and began a long second career of
pulling mainline excursion trips for the public.
Over the last several decades, the locomotive
has made several excursion trips to various
parts of the Southwestern United States, including
three trips from Los Angeles to San Diego,
retracing the route of its last trip in regular
service all those years ago. 3751 is currently
out of service while it undergoes a 15 year,
federally required, boiler inspection. Since
the locomotive’s last excursion to San Diego
was 10 years ago on the weekend of May 1st
and 2nd, 2010, I thought it would be neat
to take a look back at that excursion since
I never posted a full video covering the trip.
So let’s go back in time to the year 2010
as we follow Santa Fe 3751 to San Diego.
We begin our weekend trip to San Diego on
the morning of May 1st, 2010. This was day
1 of the 2 day San Diego steam special, organized
by the Central Coast Railroad Club. We are
at the Passons Boulevard Grade Crossing in
Pico Rivera, California. This stretch of track
is part of BNSF Railway’s San Bernardino
Subdivision, the railroad’s major freight
rail line into Los Angeles. The crossing here,
as well as several others in the area, has
now been grade separated in order to improve
safety along the rail corridor.
First, we see Amtrak train number 3, the westbound
Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Two P42DC locomotives pull the train as it
rolls through Pico Rivera.
In just 20 short minutes, this train will
be making an on time arrival into Los Angeles
Union Station.
Not long afterward, Pacific Surfliner train
number 564 rolls through on its journey to
San Diego. The train’s next stop will be
in Fullerton.
With the Surfliner out of the way, a BNSF
trailer on flatcar “z train” passes by
pulled by 4 ES44 series “Gevo” locomotives
built by General Electric. At the time this
was filmed, the GEVO was still a relatively
new locomotive. The oldest units in the fleet
were just 7 years in age.
A little while later, another BNSF freight
approaches the crossing, this one with tank
cars full of ethanol from the midwest.
In 2010, GEVO locomotives were just starting
to take over as the dominant motive power
for freight trains in North America. It’s
a little strange to think about now, 10 years
later as the time before these locomotives
ruled the rails seems more and more like a
distant memory.
Right on the heels of the freight train, Amtrak
train 763 passes by with an F59PHI pushing
the train north.
Another BNSF freight approaches with 4 GEVOS
leading the way.
Amtrak 566 heads for San Diego with another
F59 on
the point.
Northbound Amtrak train 565 passes by with
a specially wrapped car celebrating National
Train Day 2010. Pushing the train is a very
unusual P32-BWH “Dash 8” locomotive, number
505.
For a brief period from 2009 through 2016,
Dash-8 locomotives could be seen on rare occasion
filling in on Surfliner trains for the standard
F59s. Today, Dash-8s are almost exclusively
used in yard switching service.
Southbound Amtrak train 768 passes by the
crossing. It won’t be long now until the
special arrives.
After a near on time departure at 9:55 AM,
3751 has the special rolling along at a good
clip as the train passes through Pico Rivera.
The train has just made a brief stop in Fullerton
for more passengers and is under way again,
thundering along through Anaheim. Just a year
after this excursion, most of the railroad
crossings in Orange County, California were
upgraded with more gates, fences and barriers
and are now quiet zones where trains no longer
regularly sound their horns or whistles.
Moving on to San Juan Capistrano, the train
passes by the Avenida Aeropuerto crossing.
In San Onofre, we get a brief and very shaky
pacing view of the locomotive as it parallels
Interstate 5.
We have moved on to the San Dieguito Lagoon
in front of the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The special
has stopped at the Carlsbad Poinsettia Station
for water, servicing, and to make a photo
run by for the passengers. While we wait,
several Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and San Diego
Coaster passenger trains roll by.
In Downtown San Diego, we make one last stop
at the Palm Street Crossing. A San Diego Trolley
rolls into the station before the arrival
of the special.
The San Diego Steam Special meets a northbound
coaster train as it passes by, rolling out
the last few miles into San Diego. Arrival
time will be a little over a half hour late,
pulling in just after 3:30 PM.
We move up to the Washington Street Crossing
as Amtrak 785 heads out of San Diego.
With all passengers now off the train, Amtrak
F59PHI number 456 leads the entire consist
north. The train is being pulled just over
10 miles back north to Miramar where it will
be turned on the wye located there for the
return trip to Los Angeles the next day. Just
after the special clears the crossing, a Coaster
train heads south for San Diego.
The next morning, we return to Downtown San
Diego to see the return trip of the steam
special to Los Angeles. Large crowds have
gathered around the big steam locomotive as
it simmers away in the station. Today’s
scheduled departure time is 10:40 AM.
A northbound Surfliner departs San Diego with
the National Train Day car in the consist.
Another Surfliner passes by headed for San
Diego
Locomotive 456 rolls south after being turned
on the Washington Street Wye. Starting in
2009, Amtrak typically stores an extra locomotive
in San Diego for switching moves and to rescue
trains that have broken down.
As the 456 swings around the last curve into
San Diego, we catch a glimpse of one of the
many local whale murals painted by famed artist
Wyland. Today, this mural is completely obscured
by new building construction in the downtown
area.
With two loud blasts of the whistle, the special
highballs San Diego. Let’s listen to that
awesome sound as the whistle reverberates
off all the tall buildings.
Up on top of the coastal bluffs in Del Mar,
we have a beautiful view of the tracks and
the Pacific Ocean below. A southbound Coaster
makes its way to San Diego and will meet the
steam excursion in Sorrento Valley.
As it approaches the Cassidy Street crossing
and enters the city of Oceanside, 3751 climbs
a slight grade. The train has just made a
stop for a photo run by at Carlsbad Poinsettia.
From a rest stop along Interstate 5 in Camp
Pendleton, we see a southbound Pacific Surfliner.
3751 appears with its train. Since we last
saw the train, it has made two additional
stops. Once briefly at the Oceanside station
and then an additional time at the Stuart
Mesa commuter facility for servicing.
We see the train one final time as it rolls
through the city of Orange. In short order,
the train will be making one final intermediate
stop in Fullerton to drop off passengers before
finally arriving back at Los Angeles Union
Station.
Thanks for joining me for this look back at
3751’s special excursion to San Diego in
2010. For more information on the 3751, please
visit sbrhs.org. If you want to learn more
about excursions put on by the Central Coast
Railroad Club, check out goldenstaterails.com.
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That’s it for now. Until next time, I’m
Mike Armstrong. I’ll see you down the line!
Thanks for watching.
