I made it to the grand opening ceremony today, and shot the first scheduled arrival at the new Bakersfield Station. The train is #702, the Sacramento-Bakersfield San Joaquin scheduled for 11:45 A.M. arrival at Bakersfield. Hundreds of people turned out for the festivities which included walk thru tours of the train set and other side entertainment. The photo is also my new "Photo of the Month" on my website. ------------------ Kevin Stevens www.trainweb.org/KernJunction
Looks like a very nice station, can't help but notice that it may have turned into a safety issue with all those poeople on the platform. Is that a Dash 8 on the front??? Back to the station, what is it like inside. Is it a step up from a room with chairs and vending machines? Thanks Happy Railroading!! Dane N. ------------------ BC Rail King TAMR2860@Canada.com for TAMR info. BCRailKing@Canada.com
Yes, they did have safety concerns, but all went well. The railroad police and uniformed Amtrak employees were stern but courteous (the same can't be said for one non-uniformed/non-badged individual who claimed to be an Amtrak employee) <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Is that a Dash 8 on the front???<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, it is a GE B32-8WH (I think that's right?!?). I believe there are two of them in Amtrak California colors, 2051 and 2052. Also, I believe they were originally AMTK 500 and 501, and wore the "Pepsi-Can" scheme. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Back to the station, what is it like inside. Is it a step up from a room with chairs and vending machines?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, it's a chair and vending machine world. I don't expect to see any new stations be much more than that. To put it in perspective, it replaces a station that consisted of a doulbe-wide trailer with no waiting room or vending machines and a parking lot that would fit inside the new station. The new station has a spacious sky-lit lobby and waiting room, vending machines and an ATM machine (fast becoming a necessity in these times). It also has ample bus transfer staging to handle the many connecting busses for Bakersfield train service (there is only train service North of Bakersfield, and busses are used in the other three directions). Hope that answers your questions. Let me know if you have any others. ------------------ Kevin Stevens www.trainweb.org/KernJunction
The new station certainly looks rather better than the old one! I will have a look next time over ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
Couldn't make the grand opening as I was working. Went to the station Thursday & was thoroughly impressed. A 100% improvement over the old trailer. Reggie ------------------
One thing I noticed at the new station was the lack of cars being banged together as the old station was right at the throat of the yard. The quiet was deafening