Presidents Day results in transit systems following different schedules and my research found weekend service on CalTrain with a few more Baby Bullet Express trains but full weekday service on VTA Light Rail in San Jose. I unfortunately did not get myself up early enough at the youth hostel for the one morning Baby Bullet train at 7:59 so I am stuck on another long local ride 9:15 train down to San Jose. I decide to get off at Santa Clara to get my photo essay there and at the rarely stopped at College Park stop which turns into a time waster and it is just before noon before I get to the Civic Center Light rail stop and buy my day pass. I have one of those railfanning days where I just feel unproductive only getting the two southern Light Rail branches down to Santa Teresa and Winchester, plus the shuttle down to Almaden. The day ends with a free hostel dinner.
Tuesday is my one day with the goal of getting more East Bay Amtrak Stations. I had gotten all of BART on previous trips but the Capital Corridor I hadn’t. My searching made me find no real cheep way up to Susian so I decide to save it, instead focusing on a $10 multi-stop between Stockton and San Francisco (including the bus, no extra fare!) via Antioch and Martinez. It is also a departure day for the Reno Snow Train so I first take BART up to North Berkeley and walk down to the Berkeley Station, there I wait a little after its scheduled departure time and I decide to start walking south towards Emeryville (the stations are less than two miles apart) through Aquadic Park. I get to the Ashby Avenue grade crossing and see the train and realize its about to pull out from Emeryville led by not one but two Heritage Locomotives and mostly Amfleets with a few private cars and #11031 the Ocean View and a Horizons car bringing up the rear of the train with fans in the windows to allow smoking in that car. I then take the Emeryville-go-round free shuttle to MacArthur. From there I take a Fremont train to Bayfare and transfer to the Dublin/Plesanton Train where after a photo stop at the new West Dublin/Plesanton Station I get off at Dublin/Plesanton and just make the 12:10 Commuter Express Bus out to Stockton for $7. There is one other passenger on a non-stop ride over the Altamont Pass (I am saving ACE for a future visit in summer since a lot of its stops are only served at night). There I get off and do my photo essay of the spectacular ACE station (also used by San Juaquin trains to Sacramento although they seem to lack a platform, guess passengers are led off in the middle of a grade crossing?) before walking over to the Amtrak Station arriving at 1:50 for Train #713 at 2:20. I get there and see delayed on the LED sign. The train has hit a trespasser walking along the tracks obliviously listening to her earphones near Fresno who survived the incident (Teen Hit By Train lives to Tell About It, KMPH FOX 26, Link). There is a bus back to Dublin/Pleasanton but I decide to wait it out wanting to get Antioch Station at least. The train finally comes in at 4:30 and I get on for a half-hour ride where my ticket doesn’t get collected (normally I would try and find the conductor wanting my AGR points but at this point I am thinking refund if I just take the bus back to BART). The train gets me to Antioch around 5:00 and I look at the schedule and realize that the next bus to BART is at 6:00 and the next train, running on time is at 6:02 so train it is! I have a wonderful hour seeing sunset along the delta getting my photos before taking Train #715 down to Emeryville for my AmBus (another random white charter bus, I’ve yet to get a Amtrak branded one) across the Bay Bridge back to San Francisco where I walk over to the Green Tourtise for my final night. There I go out at a hostel event for cheep Thai Food and beer for dinner with some Australians and three old grade school friends from Ronkonkoma, Long Island.