Trains 3 and 4 stop daily at San Bernardino. San Bernardino is an unstaffed station, meaning no ticket clerks, no checked baggage, due to no Amtrak employees since June of 2004. There is a Metrolink ticket machine which can dispense some tickets for Amtrak, but there have been problems, and there are restrictions on what tickets it can issue. The Metrolink ticket machines are all too frequently bad ordered, awaiting repairs. Best to have the folks at 1-800-USA RAIL mail you your tickets once you have made a reservation on Trains 3 and 4, which are all reserved trains. The next closest open Amtrak ticket offices are in Fullerton and Los Angeles. However San Bernardino History & Railroad Museum volunteers have been opening and closing the San Bernardino Depot's waiting room for the past year and a half, twice a day for Trains 3 and 4.

The Whistle Stop Snack Shop opened last week inside the former ticket office off of the depot waiting room. Tentative hours for the Whistle Stop Snack Shop, subject to change, will be 4am to 9am, and 4pm to 9pm, on weekdays, and 10am to 2pm on Saturdays. The proprietor stated these hours will likely change, depending on business, particularly due to patronage, or lack there of, with the Metrolink passengers, and how the service is used by the Amtrak guests, (particularly those riding the Amtrak Thruway Buses), and local walk-in patronage. A nice Subway Sandwich shop opened across Third Street, and a Chinese restaurant is preparing to open.

Please avoid the pizza place, in the new shopping center, across Third Street. The owner chose to rant and curse in Spanish, when he was politely asked permission to place a single National Train Day flyer in his window, on behalf of the Museum. Not exactly the kind of business owner who is going to help change this part of San Bernardino for the better. All other business owners/managers asked to do so, gladly displayed multiple posters and flyers. Some of these establishments were very enthusiastic even encouraging their employees and neighbors to attend, the free event.

The City of San Bernardino is working toward turning the historic area around the Santa Fe San Bernardino Depot into a better part of town, with the Depot as the centerpiece. Just like what has happened at Fullerton. Change is going to take time, but changes for the better are happening. It is amazing how many people from the old neighborhoods both north and south of the Depot are descendents, relatives and retirees who worked for the Santa Fe, mostly in the San Bernardino Shops, but various other crafts are well represented. Some really great old time railroaders drop by the Museum from time to time, some even from those blighted neighborhoods. It is amazing how many children and grandchildren of Santa Fe retirees, who at first glance look a little scary, turn out to be really great people, and have great pride in that the Santa Fe and, now BNSF, has employed family members for decades.

Glen Icanberry
Redlands, CA