The Coast Starlight

I decided I wanted to see the northbound Amtrak Coast Starlight Monday evening as it approached Salinas. It was due into Salinas at 18:36, and the Amtrak web site said it was 20 minutes late, so I left Monterey at 18:00, figuring I had lots of time. I ended up here just to the southwest of Salinas at 18:30. I set up the tripod and waited...



I checked the Amtrak web site with my phone a few more times. The delay had lengthened to just over an hour, then 1 hour 46 minutes! The sun was setting quickly and I figured I was going to run out of light before the stupid train showed up. I hopped in the van and headed south down the 101 to try to catch it sooner.

Without a scanner, I didn't want to overshoot, so I stopped here, just south of Gonzalez. The sun finally dipped below a hill, and less than 5 minutes later the Coast Starlight showed up with AMTK 115 and another engine leading 12 cars.


You can see there was some light, but not enough:


I was a little annoyed that the sun went down. If it was just a few minutes earlier the light would have been beautiful. Oh well. At least I saw the train. :)