Took the entirety of Signed County Route J7 on the way home from Stockton to Merced today. Suffice to say the section of J7 along Santa Fe Avenue offered one hell of a rail fans delight in terms of freight trains. I stopped at the Castle Air Museum, I wasn't aware they had an SR 71 Blackbird on display. Definitely a cool route as an alternate to CA 99:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmviX9ET
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 15, 2018, 11:28:18 PM
Took the entirety of Signed County Route J7 on the way home from Stockton to Merced today. Suffice to say the section of J7 along Santa Fe Avenue offered one hell of a rail fans delight in terms of freight trains. I stopped at the Castle Air Museum, I wasn't aware they had an SR 71 Blackbird on display. Definitely a cool route as an alternate to CA 99:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmviX9ET
Glad to see that my appreciation of that particular route is shared! Maybe not a "classic" in terms of scenery -- but one
does get a substantial cross-section of Valley topography and activity along the route -- without having to constantly dodge semis along the way! And the BNSF proximity certainly doesn't hurt! The only thing missing -- and has been since 1995 -- are the old Santa Fe locomotives in their silver & red livery -- a sight to behold at speed!
Quote from: sparker on December 19, 2018, 01:42:28 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 15, 2018, 11:28:18 PM
Took the entirety of Signed County Route J7 on the way home from Stockton to Merced today. Suffice to say the section of J7 along Santa Fe Avenue offered one hell of a rail fans delight in terms of freight trains. I stopped at the Castle Air Museum, I wasn't aware they had an SR 71 Blackbird on display. Definitely a cool route as an alternate to CA 99:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmviX9ET
Glad to see that my appreciation of that particular route is shared! Maybe not a "classic" in terms of scenery -- but one does get a substantial cross-section of Valley topography and activity along the route -- without having to constantly dodge semis along the way! And the BNSF proximity certainly doesn't hurt! The only thing missing -- and has been since 1995 -- are the old Santa Fe locomotives in their silver & red livery -- a sight to behold at speed!
Definitely more interesting than repeating 99 for the millionth time. What really surprised me was how traffic J7 has as an overall Route. I would think the section of Santa Fe Avenue from Empire to Atwater probably warrants four lanes given how much traffic was present. Pretty cool to have large freight trains blow by at over 60 MPH traveling southbound with me. The SR 71 was a nice surprised and the third one I've seen in person.
Had some unexpected time to finish up my blog post on J7. I found following the BNSF line and the Castle Air Museum made J7 somewhat unique compared to other Signed County Routes:
https://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2018/12/planes-trains-and-automobiles-on-signed.html