Another Rail Fan

[Ray Way]

Hello, my name is Ray Way. I live in Rio Vista, CA.
I worked for Municipal Railway in San Francisco for 10 years as a transit operator. That means I have experienced what it is like to drive a bus, operate Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) and some experience as a conductor on the famous cable cars.
I am a fan of AMTRAK dispite it's shortcomings which are mainly due to not enough funding. I use AMTRAK whenever I can. I have ridden the Coast Starlight to Seattle
and South to Los Angeles; the Southwest Chief to San Antonio from LA; the Empire Builder to Glacier National Park; the California Zephyr to Reno. And I use the local Capitol Corridor
train for short runs. I love it!

 

[pennyk]

Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited

 

[George Harris]

I don't think there is anyplace that beats San Francisco for variety of services. In Market Street alone you have
1. Diesel Bus
2. Electric Trolley Bus
under the street you have
3. Light Rail
4. Heavy Rail (BART), to add flavor is not standard gauge track.
Then you have in the city
1. Cable Car
2. Old style streetcars
3. Commuter Rail, now diesel but soon to be electrified
4. High Speed Rail in the future, although the final approach into the city and station is in one word, pathetic.
Then you have the transbay bus services and the northern peninsula bus services across the Golden Gate Bridge
and the transbay services across the Bay Bridge into Oakland, etc.
And speaking of Oakland, you have, well OK it is Emeryville, long distance Amtrak and Sacramento and down the valley train services.
To further enhance the flavor, you have several ferry services, plus you can go south on the peninsula and ride city bus services all the way from San Francisco to San Jose.
But, to drive you nuts, there is little in the way of through ticketing between these services.
What have I missed?

 

[Willbridge]

Hello, my name is Ray Way. I live in Rio Vista, CA.
I worked for Municipal Railway in San Francisco for 10 years as a transit operator. That means I have experienced what it is like to drive a bus, operate Light Rail Vehicles (LRV) and some experience as a conductor on the famous cable cars.
I am a fan of AMTRAK dispite it's shortcomings which are mainly due to not enough funding. I use AMTRAK whenever I can. I have ridden the Coast Starlight to Seattle
and South to Los Angeles; the Southwest Chief to San Antonio from LA; the Empire Builder to Glacier National Park; the California Zephyr to Reno. And I use the local Capitol Corridor
train for short runs. I love it!

Are you active in the Rio Vista Jct. traction museum? I've never had the chance to visit it.

 

[Ray Way]

I think you are talking about the Western Railway Museum, between Rio Vista and Fairfield. I'm not active there
however, I have visited there several times and had a ball riding one of their old trolly cars. And it's great for the kids
to experience. Especially when they have special events at Halloween and Christmas time.
In regard to riding transit in the Bay Area, the "clipper card" does the trick (with the exception of the cable cars).