To The Trains!

Welcome, railroaded reader, as this week we're going to talk a bit about local railways, or indeed railroads as they tend to be known in these parts. Contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of railways round about these parts, but many of them are abandoned, and the ones that are still running feel like they're a little frozen in time.

This week, Helen went to an in-person singing rehearsal for the first time in 18 months, appropriately masked and socially distanced in the garden of one of the other choir members. That choir member's house is close to the former route of the Vasona Branch of the Southern Pacific, which got me into doing a little bit of research about the area's railways.

The Vasona Branch was ripped up in the early 1960s, and replaced, in true American fashion, by a road. One of the big differences between American roads and European ones is size: American roads are big, wide things with multiple lanes, even in the middle of towns where you'd think space was at a premium. By contrast, the idea of doubling or even quadrupling the track of the railways just doesn't seem to have made it across the pond: the Vasona Branch was only ever single track, as are many other railways here.

Which brings me neatly to our most obvious still-operating railway in the region, the mighty CalTrain. CalTrain is a commuter railway which runs from San Jose to San Francisco, up the backbone of the peninsula. It's mostly double-track, but I can't help feeling that in the UK this would have been quadrupled at some point. The rolling stock consists of big, shiny, somewhat unloved double-deck carriages, propelled by noisy diesel locomotives with the clanking bells and unceasing horns that characterise railways over here. I have a soft-spot for the CalTrain, because it's a really convenient way of getting between towns on the peninsula, and most of the downtown areas are walking distance from a station.

CalTrain is attempting to bring itself into the 20th Century by running an electrification project, which will see the diesel trains replaced by modern electric multiple units, but this project is well behind schedule: it was originally forecast to take about 4 years and be completed in 2021, but we're now looking at completion in 2024. The electrification is a key part of integration with California's High Speed Rail project, itself subject to a lot of delay and uncertainty. It's no exaggeration to say this is a bit of a mess. Anyway, we're full of great public transport ideas which never quite happen over here, including reopening the Dumbarton rail bridge, which frankly you'd think was a bit of a no-brainer, but there we are. You can't help feeling that if California is serious about its environmental credentials, public transport needs to improve significantly, but the fragmented nature of local politics (doing anything like these projects requires the agreements of multiple counties and often founders as a result) makes this very difficult.

Last weekend saw the Friends of Palo Alto Library run their first full book sale since the start of the pandemic. Helen did some volunteering for that, and we met up afterwards (yes, I got the CalTrain from Palo Alto to San Antonio and back again) for a spot of lunch. So, apropos of basically nothing, here's a picture of a burrito and a rice bowl which are both definitely too big for a single person to eat; this is me mid-way through burrito bisection using only a fork:

You'll be pleased to know that the rice bowl in particular was delicious!