From: Baird_David@Tandem.com (David G. Baird)
Subject: Re: Request: Viewing sites (Bay Area)
Followup-To: rec.models.railroad
Organization: Tandem Computers (Cupertino, CA)
Distribution: ba
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 21:07:20 GMT

In article <1icimeINNgmd@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM>, maral@repare.EBay.Sun.COM
(Mark Maral) wrote:
> 
> Can anyone tell me where  is the best area to observe train activity in
> the Bay Area?
> 
> Also, where are HO layouts in the Bay Area that are open to the public?
> I heard quite awhile back that there is a really nice one in Concord but
> that is all I know about it.  
> 
> Thanks in advance

Real Trains :

Oakland is my favorite. You get UP and SP going to the shipping yards.
There
is an overpass on Adeline Street that goes over the SP tracks. You get a 
good view of the yard. From there you can see a BART line near the West
Oakland station, and towards the bay, you see the APL shipping cranes.
I have seen many UP double stack trains coming and going from this area.

Since you're at Sun, you should be near either the peninsula SP tracks,
with Caltrain service, or on the Milpitas side there are tracks for both
SP and UP. In Fremont there is the Niles Canyon area, which is how UP
gets into the Bay Area.

If you're near Cupertino/Sunnyvale, there are SP tracks up to the Kaiser
Permanente cement plant at the end of Stevens Creek Blvd. Trains go up
and back on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday late afternoon/early evening.
The Caltrain/Amtrak station at Cahill St. in downtown San Jose is nice for
seeing passenger trains.

In Richmond, there is a Santa Fe yard. I haven't found a good observation
point. You get a good view from the 580 freeway, but there aren't regular
overpasses. You can drive around the tracks, but most of the sides have
fences with bushes.

Get AAA maps of Bay Area cities. Most have the tracks on them, and you
can see how to drive to the places I've mentioned.

Model Railroads :

Walnut Creek is probably the one you've heard of. It's on Buena Vista, in
Larkey Park. They have big shows at Thanksgiving and in April, and they're
open one Friday evening each month, 8-10PM. Not sure which week. This is
my favorite layout. Lots of mountain scenery, a nice ferry scene of
Mallard,
narrow gauge logging, a trolley car run, and a big yard.

The Golden State Model Railroad is new, and they're in Richmond. It's all
under construction now. All scales are represented. HO has the most track
down, followed by N. O scale doesn't have much track at all yet. It's in
a huge warehouse. Bring warm clothes. They're open every Friday evening. 
I've wandered in a few times. It will be a while before the scenery is in,
but they have had an open house, probably two or more by now. You go 
through the tunnel toward the bay, it'll be on the left side about a mile
after the tunnel.

In Santa Clara, at the Caltrain station there lives the South Bay Rail 
Historical Society. They've got HO and N scale, under construction.

In San Jose along the SP tracks near Agnew there is an old station that
now houses the Central California club. Nice backdrops of desert scenery.

There used to be, and probably still is, a club at the San Mateo County
Fairgounds. There definitely is one at the Solano County Fairgrounds in
Vallejo, right next to Marine World.

Someone mentioned an NTRAK layout in Crockett, near the C&H plant. That's
right near Vallejo, too. I've never been to this one.

Finally, I can think of the live steam trains at Tilden Park in the hills
above Berkeley. You can ride two different sizes. The big size runs
continuously, the smaller runs whenever there's enough people.

If I find any phone numbers or addresses, I'll post them.

Have fun.
David Baird
Cupertino/San Jose area
Newsgroups: rec.models.railroad