Any interesting Amtrak San Jaoquin Train experiences? Known history about the route?
Author: David Jansson
Date: 01-14-2008 - 13:57
It's been pretty well documented that when Amtrak started up they wanted the San Wackys to run over the SP as those tracks ran smack dab through the center of every major town in the Valley. (Well, DUH - they were BUILT around the SP back in the 1870s! The San Joaquin Valley RR came into the picture as competition for the SP and was bought by the Santa Fe a bit later.)
That said, when Amtrak asked the SP about using their tracks, "The Friendly" handed them a list of "improvements" that would be needed to do it. Don't know the numbers but I'll bet the cost was through the roof. So Amtrak asked Santa Fe and the answer as "we can do that" and the rest is history.