Thanks, HUTCH, for the post. Ahhhh..... memories.....

What I miss:

Crews on SP's commute trains

SP's commute trains with immaculate gallery cars
and Suburbans

The SP's San Francisco Subdivision with few grade
separations and single-side boarding

Walkover seats on SP and early Caltrain commute trains

Conductors on the Peninsula commute trains wearing
proper uniforms, complete with hats

SP scarlet and grey Geeps (GP 9s)

SP SD 45s growling up the grade at Tehachapi

Tehachapi the way it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s

SP SDP-45s in scarlet and grey

Freight cars -- and locomotives -- with NO graffiti

SP's "Broadway Local" with the old crew, and following
them around, and going to beans with them once in a while

My old railfan stomping grounds here in northern California
the way they were in the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially:
SP's West Oakland and Desert Yards
Franklin Canyon (CA 4)
Stockton Tower area
SP's Roseville Yard

Searchlight signals

BART the way it was in the late 1970s

Lots of freights everywhere

Amtrak the way it was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s

Friendly railroaders everywhere, especially visiting my now-
deceased friend at the Santa Fe's Richmond Yard and a guy who
worked for the WP in their West Oakland Yard

Being able to hang out and watch trains anywhere without
someone calling the cops and the cops actually coming out
and demanding ID

We have lost so much........