Last week I took a trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and I definitely set a record for the most transit systems I have ridden in a week.
Los Angeles
In Los Angeles I only rode one system: the Los Angeles Metro (both rail and bus). If you count the Angels Flight as a transit system, I suppose you could say I rode two. I’ve been on the LA Metro plenty of times before, and nothing new other than Aviation/Century has opened since the last time I was there.
Angels Flight in Los Angeles
Wilshire/Western on the LA Metro
San Francisco
Meanwhile in San Francisco, I rode a lot of different systems. The main one on my mind was electric Caltrain, but I rode a whole bunch of others too. Surprisingly, I only spent a bit of time on Muni, but took the other systems for a lot longer since most of my travel was outside of San Francisco proper.
Muni at Embarcadero
In one day, I made a full circle around the Bay, starting in Oakland, then taking BART to Milpitas, VTA to downtown San Jose, Caltrain back to San Francisco, and finally BART back to Oakland.
BART at Lake Merritt
BART at Milpitas
VTA at St. James
Caltrain at 4th and King
I also took a day trip up to Santa Rosa, taking BART into San Francisco, the Golden Gate Ferry to Larkspur, then SMART to Santa Rosa.
Ferry at Larkspur
SMART at Larkspur
Finally, I rented a car at the Oakland Airport and drove out to the Western Railway Museum, and after that went to Antioch to check out eBART.
Key System bridge car at the Western Railway Museum
Key System East Bay car at the Western Railway Museum
eBART at Pittsburg/Bay Point transfer platform
This means I have now taken every rail system in the Bay Area other than the Amtrak lines and ACE. Certainly was a fun journey, and I got to see a lot of cool places along the way.
I have been following the Los Angeles Metro since about 2014. In 2014 they had a bunch of different construction projects queued up, and I was eagerly following them to the extent I could from the other side of the country. The first project to come to fruition since I started following them was the Expo Line (now E Line) Santa Monica Extension, which I got to ride only a few months after it opened.
Downtown Santa Monica, terminus of the Expo Line extension
One project that I was really excited about was the Regional Connector, a tunnel downtown which would bridge a gap in the light rail system. Prior to the Regional Connector, to get from a station on the Blue or Expo Line to the Gold Line, you had to take the Red or Purple Line, meaning that a trip from the Westside to Pasadena would require three trains. This obviously wasn’t an ideal situation and was never intended to be a permanent solution, but was the status quo for roughly two decades. However, that gap has now been bridged by the Regional Connector, which breaks the former Gold Line into two pieces and joins each piece with one of the lines coming out of 7th Street/Metro Center. Now we have the A Line from Long Beach to Azusa and the E Line from Santa Monica to East LA.
I immediately noticed the difference going from the Westside to Chinatown. Instead of a transfer at 7th Street/Metro Center and then another transfer that involves a long escalator and a lot of walking at Union Station, I could just change trains in the tunnel, saving me a lot of time and walking.
In addition to making getting around easier for people going across Los Angeles, this project also improves connectivity downtown by opening two new stations. The stations are, in my opinion at least, pretty impressive.
Platform at Little Tokyo
Entrance at Little Tokyo
Platform at Grand Ave Arts/Bunker Hill
Entrance at Grand Ave Arts/Bunker Hill
Platform at Historic Broadway
Entrance at Historic Broadway
In all, I’ve been waiting years for this to happen and am glad to see it come to life. A lot more is coming to the Los Angeles Metro in the coming years and I am excited to see it.
I traveled to San Francisco last week to meet up with some friends, and of course in the process took some photos of the new Muni Central Subway.
Formerly the T Third Street line after passing 4th and King continued along the Embarcadero and descended into a portal near Howard Street, continuing along the Market Street Subway and switching over to the K Ingleside. After the opening of the Central Subway, it now instead continues along 4th Street and descends into a tunnel at Bryant Street, continuing under 4th Street until crossing Market Street, then bends slightly north and continues under Stockton Street until reaching Washington Street and terminating there. Four new stations were built, one above-ground and three underground, with one station being a transfer to the Market Street Subway (both the other Muni Metro lines and BART) at Powell Street.
Actually getting these photos was an adventure since it was raining on and off the whole time, but I was able to get enough gaps in the rain at times I was able to get out with my camera to get the pictures I wanted. It also helped that a lot of the platforms were underground.
4th/Brannan looked pretty similar to the other above-ground stations on the T Third line with a high-level island platform in the street median with a ramp up at one end.
Platform at 4th/Brannan
The underground stations were all very deep, starting with Yerba Buena/Moscone.
Entrance at Yerba Buena/Moscone
Platform at Yerba Buena/Moscone
The line then interchanged with the Market Street Subway (including the other Muni Metro lines and BART) at Union Square (known as Powell on the other lines). They added some new entrances since this added a new (roughly) north-south platform in addition to the northeast-southwest one already there. The photo of the entrance was one of the only moments of sunlight I got on this trip.
New entrance in Union Square
Mezzanine above the Central Subway platform at Union Square (the Market Street Subway is at the end behind where I’m standing)
Central Subway platform at Union Square
It’s also worth noting how long the escalator ride down is, since it has to tunnel under both the Muni Metro and BART tracks:
Escalator down to the platform at Union Square
Finally the line continued a few more blocks under Stockton Street, ending at Chinatown – Rose Pak.
Entrance at Chinatown – Rose Pak
Platform at Chinatown – Rose Pak
Ridership on the new extension has apparently not been great, largely due to the fact that it isn’t that well connected with other bus and rail lines and it doesn’t actually go all that far. However, there are a number of proposals to extend the line further into the northwest part of San Francisco which currently doesn’t have any rail service. There were once proposals to run BART along Geary, but unfortunately none of those came to fruition. This subway could be the first step towards filling that gap and bringing rail to northeast San Francisco.
The architecture of the underground stations is pretty nice in my opinion. It’s definitely a lot more modern and impressive than a lot of the older systems, like what we have back in Chicago. I like that the stations are more open and pretty brightly lit, and the platforms are shiny compared to the dull concrete we have in Chicago. I hope that in the years to come they are well maintained and keep this appearance. Some of the older BART stations, like Embarcadero shown below, still maintain the bright and shiny appearance, so I have hope.
Platform at Embarcadero (taken in 2018)
In addition to the Central Subway project, the other big rail project in San Francisco right now is the electrification of Caltrain, the peninsula commuter rail line. I was able to take some photos of the new catenary system at San Bruno:
New overhead catenary at San Bruno
From their website, it looks like they hope to have electrification complete by the second half of this year, and electric passenger service starting second half of next year. This is exciting, and I hope that other commuter rail systems in the US consider electrifying as well.
I also got a bunch of other photos, but want to focus on one other. In 2017/2018 (the week around New Years), I was on the J Church and passed Mission Dolores Park. I noticed that there was a really good view of the skyline from that station, so I hopped off and got a picture:
San Francisco skyline from Mission Dolores Park in 2018
I liked how that picture came out, so I returned that evening for a nighttime picture:
San Francisco nighttime skyline from Mission Dolores Park in 2018
I was a little less satisfied with that picture. Due to a combination of a camera that wasn’t great for long distance night shots and my lack of skill with it, it didn’t come out as well as I wanted it to. When we decided we were going to San Francisco, I made plans to get a redo of that shot, and as luck would have it the first night we had enough of a break in the rain to make it happen:
San Francisco nighttime skyline from Mission Dolores Park in 2023
All things considered, I’m pretty satisfied with how that one turned out. It only took five years to get a chance to redo that shot, but I came back better than ever with a better camera and more knowledge on how to use it properly.
Another less dramatic change was the introduction of the new BART fleet. While the old trains are pretty worn out after their decades of service, the new ones are super sleek.
Old train on the left with a new train on the right
New train
New train interior
The new trains have a much more modern look to them, and they were quieter than the old ones too as an added bonus.
It was of course great reconnecting with friends, and it was great to see San Francisco again. I’m sure I’ll find myself there again someday.
I first got my feet wet with regards to photography in about eleventh grade. My first time going out by myself with a camera was on the Los Angeles Metro. I was meeting some family at LACMA while coming from Beverly Hills, so I arranged that I would get dropped off at Culver City, take the Expo Line (now alternately known as the E line) to 7th Street/Metro Center, then transfer to the Purple Line (now also known as the D line), take that out to Wilshire/Western, then meet everyone else there, and we’d drive the rest of way to LACMA, at Wilshire/Fairfax (which will be on the line in a few years, but definitely not in 2013).
Along the trip, I just took pictures of basically anything and everything, not really bothering to pay attention to my subject matter or the quality of the photos. I knew nothing about photography other than you point the camera at something and hit the button. I didn’t even have a camera of my own, I borrowed someone else’s. Here is a sampling of a few photos I took:
The interior of my trainThe station sign (through the open door of my train)The platform at Culver CityMy train after ending its run at 7th Street/Metro CenterAn out-of-service train waiting on the relay tracks at 7th Street/Metro Center (the tracks end at a wall behind that train, though this will change with the Regional Connector project)My Purple Line train relaying at Wilshire/Western, which I later posted on Wikipedia as the headline photo for the article about that station since no platform photos were there at the time, and as of the time I write this post, it still isThe mezzanine level looking towards the escalatorMe (in the black fleece and shorts) posing in front of the station sign pylon
That was my first foray into photography. Obviously, those weren’t exactly the world’s best photos, but that’s what got me started.
Cleveland and Chicago, Round 1
Later on, in February 2015, I toured colleges in the Midwestern United States, specifically Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve (which I ended up attending), and Northwestern. This was my second opportunity to try a bit of railroad photography. In Cleveland, I wanted to explore a new transit system, so I took the Red Line from Cedar/University to Tower City to grab lunch there. I forgot to ask to borrow a camera for this one, so I got my pictures with a cell phone. I got some pictures along the way there too:
Red Line train relaying on the stub track at Tower CityEastbound track at Tower City
Later on, after my tour of Northwestern, I ran from there to Millennium Station (about 13 miles) for my long run that week, and then then took the South Shore Line back to South Bend (where I was staying). Once I got to Millennium Station, I took some more pictures while waiting for my train:
Part of the station concourseTwo South Shore Line trainsA waiting Metra train
Travels in 2016
I traveled some along the way (still using borrowed cameras), to places like Boston…
Then, as I graduated high school, I got my own camera, a Canon Powershot G9X, about the size of a deck of cards. I definitely got familiar with that camera over the next few years. Back in Los Angeles in the summer of 2016, I had my first real rodeo with that camera:
The entrance to 7th Street/Metro Center
Platform at Westwood/Rancho Park, which had opened since my last trip to Los Angeles
Then, after that summer was over, I started college at CWRU. I immediately set out to get pictures of all the train station around Cleveland. Here are some of my preliminary efforts:
A train at East 105th-Quincy, showing how the platform is too short for the full length of the train (this has been fixed in the meantime)
Speaking of Tower City, I revisited that station. They were performing maintenance on one of the tracks, so they opened a station on one of the non-revenue tracks:
A somewhat-better picture of the Red Line platform at Tower City
Temporary platform at Tower City
Temporary turnstiles at Tower City
Definitely some progress was made in the meantime. I was able to better choose subject matter and get it in the frame. The quality was also better, with the pictures being clearer and better focused. However, the alignment was still pretty haphazard, with a lot of the pictures not level at all. I also didn’t really appreciate the importance of lighting just yet.
My next big breakthrough was in alignment, when I went out to Lee-Van Aken. I realized I could line up the camera with reference lines in the picture (in this case I used the power poles), and as a result my pictures were actually consistently level.
Around this time, I also got interested in taking pictures of buildings in addition to transit systems.
Downtown Los Angeles skyline
Lower Manhattan skyline
With that, I felt much more confident in my photography skills. I had definitely seen some improvement, my pictures were clearer and more level. Still, I was missing some things.
The start to 2018: Lighting
The next big improvement in my photography was lighting. Before I didn’t really even think about sunny or cloudy, or where the light sources were indoors. As a result, the colors often didn’t look quite like I wanted or the wrong objects were emphasized. With a renewed emphasis on lighting, I continued my work. In the winter of 2017-2018, I went to San Francisco, with my first vacation that had a really high emphasis on photography:
The improvements definitely showed themselves in San Francisco. Having a photography-oriented trip also was a good opportunity to see for myself what worked and what didn’t. With that, I felt much more confident going forwards. I continued my photography along Cleveland and other places I went. I did my first internship at TransEnterix that following summer as well. Since I didn’t want to take any time off work, my travel opportunities were somewhat limited, just going back to Charlotte for a day (this time trying to aim for a sunnier day) and taking an afternoon trip to Raleigh. However, I had a few days between my last day at the internship and when I had to get back to school, so I took advantage of that to take a quick trip to Washington, DC.
Capitol Building (I went to DC, I had to get this one)
After DC, I felt pretty solid in my abilities. I definitely had the alignment thing down, and I was getting a lot better at lighting.
Richmond and Philadelphia
My next big photo adventure was a day trip to Richmond, Virginia in late 2018. I picked a day with perfectly clear skies, and basically spent all day walking around the city with my camera taking pictures of anything and everything that interested me:
Richmond skyline during the day
Richmond skyline at night
With those two pictures, I began to feel that the limiting factor in my pictures was my camera and no longer the user. In particular, for the nighttime shot, I was having trouble getting the focus where I needed (my camera didn’t have any options beyond five meters other than “infinite distance”) as well as the lighting settings. I also was starting to use manual mode, which was really cumbersome on that camera. I took a mental note that a new camera was in order. Still, I continued on with what I had, and later on went to Philadelphia:
I really gained an appreciation for lighting after this trip. I only had one sunny day, the first one (and I got there late in the day, so I was only really able to get that one skyline photo). I also learned that SEPTA, in contrast to many other subway systems, is very well lit. This made photography much easier and let me get higher quality pictures.
Chicago, Round 2
Over spring break that year, I traveled to Chicago. I returned to Millennium Station, and my new photos were definitely an improvement:
That ended up being my last major expedition with my Canon. I had a few minor ones later on, including a brief trip back to Charlotte, a quick trip to Downtown Durham, as well as a trip to Greensboro, which turned out to be my last expedition with that camera:
Greensboro skyline
Transition to a new camera, Atlanta, and beyond
Then, I got a new, more powerful camera: an Olympus E-M10. To take it out for a test drive, I took some pictures around Durham:
The two tallest buildings in Downtown Durham
The camera felt way more powerful than my previous one. It took me a while to get used to all its features and how to use them, but I knew this was a major step forwards. In the middle of the summer, I took a solo trip to Atlanta, and that is still to date my most successful photography expedition:
I definitely was still getting the hang of the whole exposure/ISO/F-stop thing, as evidenced by the lighting in some of these photos. Still, these photos were clearer than anything I had done before, and I felt much more in control. It was also awesome traveling solo for photography, which gave me a ton of practice.
For my final fall break I decided to travel to Pittsburgh with a friend. It was only for a few days, but I still had plenty of opportunities for photography:
So, since I took up photography, my skills have improved dramatically. It wasn’t a sudden shift, but something that happened over time. I’m moving to Chicago soon, and that will give me a whole new city to explore. I look forward to what I find there, and hope my skills continue to improve. The future holds exciting things, and I can’t wait to see (and photograph) what they are.
For my final winter break of college, I went to visit family in Los Angeles and also traveled to San Diego. The family visits were pretty standard and not exactly the kind of thing I post here, but I also got some amazing photographs.
Getty Center
After getting over the jet lag (to some degree), we traveled to the Getty Center on the first full day in Los Angeles. I am personally not one for art museums, but the Getty Center has both interesting architecture and amazing views. While the rest of my family looked at the artwork, I went around photographing the buildings and the views. The museum is also at the top of a mountain, which is traversed by a tram, affording me an opportunity to photograph a unique rail system.
I-405 Sepulveda Pass
Upper tram station
Fountain in the garden
Wilshire Boulevard and Century City
I have pictures of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline from previous trips, but Los Angeles does not have a single high-density urban core the way that most cities I travel to do. So, I set my sights on Wilshire Boulevard. After a bunch of scouting out locations on Google Earth (which was no easy task when all I had was my cell phone), I concluded that the parking garage at the Westfield Mall in Century City would be the best vantage point. The view did not disappoint. While the first time I tried was a cloudy day, the weather forecast revealed that the next day would be sunny. And sunny it was:
Wilshire Boulevard skyline from Westfield Century City
However, that was to be outdone later that day. Thanks to some help from my family, I was able to get access to the roof of one of those buildings on Wilshire and photograph Century City. Los Angeles requires helipads be on the top of tall buildings, and that is exactly where I was standing. This gave me a nice 360 degree view of the Westside of Los Angeles.
Century City skyline from the roof of a Wilshire building
That was a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity. It’s not every day that you can access the top of a skyscraper in the middle of Los Angeles, and I am extremely grateful for my family and the property management for letting me up there.
Exploring the Metro (a bit)
I had a free afternoon and nobody had any specific plans, so I figured I would take the opportunity to explore the Metro some more. I have always been a fan of the Los Angeles Metro since it’s such a new system and serves a metropolitan area vastly different than most other rapid transit systems. Nothing new had been opened since I was there last (though a whole lot is coming very soon), so I didn’t have any obvious candidates to explore. I thought about it, and decided maybe I should go to Boyle Heights since it has the only two underground light rail stations outside of Downtown (until the Crenshaw/LAX Line opens in a few months). After a long trip in from Westwood on the Expo Line, followed by short trips on the Purple Line and Gold Line (once the Regional Connector project finishes, this entire trip will be a one-seat ride), I got off in Boyle Heights at Soto. The design of the platform was pretty standard in keeping with the heavy rail stations on the Red and Purple Lines, but the entrance design was unique and well-incorporated into the local community.
Soto entrance
Soto mezzanine
Soto platform
I then traveled back towards Downtown, not sure what to do next. I remembered along the way that the Little Tokyo/Arts District station will be demolished and replaced with an underground station as part of the Regional Connector project, so I decided to get off there and grab some pictures since I had no idea when I would be back next and I may never get a chance to photograph that station again.
Little Tokyo station with all the construction activity behind it
Little Tokyo station north entrance
From there, I took the Gold Line back to Union Station, then the Purple Line to Wilshire/Western, and the 720 bus back to Westwood.
Traveling to San Diego
After a nice time in Los Angeles, I headed down to San Diego. I traveled on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, getting on at Los Angeles Union Station:
The Siemens Charger locomotive for my train
The coach-cab car back of my train
The station entrance (taken several years earlier on another trip)
The train trip itself was pretty uneventful. Everything went smoothly, and we arrived at San Diego Old Town station right on time. The view from the train was somewhat varied. The leg from Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano was just industrial backlots, going through pretty gritty areas. However, from there on to San Diego was absolutely beautiful, going right by the ocean.
My train at San Diego Old Town
The station house
Maritime Museum
After getting off the train and meeting everyone else at the station, we drove downtown and spent a few hours at the Maritime Museum. The museum was pretty cool, containing a bunch of old boats and two submarines. We started off on the Star of India:
Star of India from the coast
While I normally get a lot of skyline pictures when I visit cities, the prospects weren’t all that promising in San Diego with the time and resources I had available, so my only ones were taken from the Maritime Museum:
San Diego skyline from the Maritime Museum
We also visited a few of the other boats and submarines:
USS Dolphin
Former Soviet submarine
San Diego Trolley
I had the opportunity to explore the San Diego Trolley system on the second day there, so I made sure to do that. I had done no planning whatsoever, so I just figured I’d go around randomly and see where it took me. I started at Santa Fe Depot and figured I’d head inbound.
Green Line train at Santa Fe Depot
So, I caught the train and took it to 12th and Imperial where I had the chance to transfer to the other lines. To my surprise, the Green Line ended as a single track and reversed from there, rather than the double track setup common at most termini.
My train after turning around
I then headed over to the other lines:
Blue and Orange Line platforms
Without any real idea where I wanted to go, I figured I’d hop on a Blue Line train. I rode it inbound to the end of the route at America Plaza, which at first I didn’t realize put me right back at Santa Fe Depot where I started.
America Plaza Station
I then walked back to Santa Fe Depot and hopped on an outbound train to see what the line was like further out from downtown. I wondered if all the stops were fairly close together like they were downtown, or if they were much further apart like I experienced in Charlotte (which, by the way, operates the same type of vehicle). It turned out it was the latter, with my phone informing me we hit speeds of up to 50 MPH. I was on the lookout for any particularly notable stations, and ended up deciding Stadium fit the bill. It was a rather bizarre station, having both an island platform and side platforms and being designed to look like the stadium it serves.
The station is designed to look like the stadium
The platform setup
The mezzanine level between the entrance and platform
After leaving Stadium, I was planning on heading out to Grossmont and transferring to a train back to downtown. However, I was much surprised to find ourselves going underground, nowhere near downtown. An underground station on an otherwise above-ground system is too interesting to pass up, so I jumped ship at San Diego State University.
SDSU underground platforms
SDSU Entrance Plaza
I then continued on my way to Grossmont and turned around there. Turns out I just missed the inbound train, so I had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. Oh well. I busied myself with photography in the meantime:
Outbound train at Grossmont
Entrance to the station from street level
Benches at Grossmont
Eventually, my train came and I headed back inbound. For whatever reason, 32nd and Commercial really caught my attention, so got off to get some more pictures:
Platform at 32nd and Commercial
I then continued on my way back into Downtown, with dusk approaching. Once I got back Downtown, I took pictures of a bunch of the stations there:
Civic Center
Park and Market
Gaslamp Quarter
Fifth Avenue
Trolley at Gaslamp Quarter
The trolley really interests me since it’s an old streetcar, but also has a pantograph and LED destination sign. Interesting renovations.
After that, I met with everyone for dinner.
The Coaster
The next day, it was time to return to Los Angeles. I decided to take the Coaster up to Oceanside while everyone else drove in order to give me another photography opportunity. It went well except for one tactical error: it was Saturday. I lost track of the days and thought it was during the week, where the Coaster leaves Santa Fe Depot at 9:18am. The clock hit 9:18, and no train. To make sure I got it right, I looked at a posted schedule and then checked my watch to make sure I got the day right. Turns out I got the day wrong. Oooooops…
Empty track. Dude, where’s my train?
Amtrak Charger locomotive lying out of service
Anyway, the weekend train left at 9:35, so it wasn’t that bad of a delay. The train arrived as expected and I boarded.
My train waiting at San Diego Santa Fe Depot
The train ride went fine. I got another beautiful view of the coast heading back north to Oceanside. The train arrived in Oceanside, then I got off and met up with everyone else, and we drove the rest of the way back to Los Angeles.
The back of my train at Oceanside
A Metrolink train to Los Angeles waiting at Oceanside
Sprinter light rail platform
The station house at Oceanside
With that, we returned to Los Angeles, and the next day we flew back home.
All in all, this was a pretty nice trip. I spent some time with family but also got plenty of time to explore and photograph on my own.
