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| Newhall Station |
Back home in SoCal after a few months in Europe we were flush with the joys of public transport . We had enjoyed the public transportation services in Ireland, Netherlands, Germany and Austria. They were all cheap efficient comfortable and clean.
Newhall to Union Station again.
So when our long time friends from Canada were visiting and we wanted to show them
Olvera Street ,
Union Station and
Grand Central Market we opted to travel by
train from Newhall to Union Station.
It was Sunday so we were not inconveniencing commuters.
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| Union Station LA |
The selection of trains on a Sunday is somewhat limited but the noon train suited our needs.
The ladies were shoe shopping that morning at
The Walking Company in
Valencia Town Center.
Therefore we anticipated a rush to catch the 12:17 train and cleverly went down to the station earlier to buy tickets.
Four Senior returns to Newhall.
There are two
Ticket Machines at Newhall.
I think they are designed to accommodate people of different height. One machine assumes everyone is 5 ft. something tall and the other assumes everyone is 4 ft. something.
I'm 6'3" on my best day. So neither dispenser really suits me but the taller one is best. So that's where I went.
Now as I have explained in the past buying a ticket from these machines requires that you know the official name of your destination station. An unreasonable expectation if you are one of the following:
- A new commuter unfamiliar with such things.
- A tourist visiting the city.
- An infrequent user of the system.
- A non English speaker.
Being the intrepid blogging train user that I am I had brought along my copy of the schedule so I wouldn't be caught out. I still think of Union Station as Grand Central Station and so of course I searched incorrectly initially.
The selection arrows don't actually align with the computer screen so you have to restart several times while you figure this out.
Finally I get to pay for my tickets. I rush through three credit cards before I find one that the reader can read. I click pay and breath a sigh of relief.
Too soon it turns out.
After a few moments the screen displays a very abrupt message "We cannot print your tickets at this time. A refund has been issued".
No apology and more importantly no instructions on what to do to rectify this problem. So I go to the vertically challenged machine, hunker down on ancient knees and start the process again, successfully this time.
What would a commuter do if both machines refused to print out a ticket ? Risk boarding without a ticket and be fined by the heavily armed security service ticket inspectors ? Or miss the train and possibly lose their job as a result?
LA's Metrolink commuters are, in the main, people who are one transmission break down away from economic catastrophe, in my opinion. They cannot afford these types of technological issues at train stations.
And so it started:
I explained to our guests that they would see a very diverse slice of life on the Antelope Valley Metrolink line.
They were eager to experience it since it couldn't be that dissimilar to a trip on the
TTC . Could it ?
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| Toronto's TTC Map |
We had a wee bit of a rush to get to the Newhall station but we got there.
It's a tiny unmanned station. Two tracks.
Every other time I have been here southbound trains used Track 1. So I wondered why there were so many people on Track 2. I glanced at the ticket in case the track would be defined there. Silly me of course it's not.
The electronic scrolling message display system on Track 1, is blank of course.
I cross the tracks just to check the other scrolling message system. There is a not encouraging piece of text on the scroll thingy on Track 2.
It says boldly that the date is August 27 2019 and the time is like 5:30pm. (it's actually September and it's just noon ish!)
But wait a moment there might be more .... the southbound train is leaving from Track 2. I wave to my sidekicks and we join the 15 or 20 other passengers on Track 2.
Train arrives, we board and depart pretty much on time.
We admire the Oak Groves along side the old Newhall Refinery area.
We get a peep inside the wonderful movie prop junk/storage yard. Which we actually re-visited the next day. This yard is locked but you can see in through the wire fencing. It's worth a look.
Next we head into
San Fernando Tunnel which as we have reported before in an earlier blog "
The tunnel, more than a mile long, is still doing yeoman duty more than 140 years after its completion in 1876 by more than 1,500 workers, mostly Chinese immigrant laborers."
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| Newhall / San Fernando Tunnel |
I noticed as we exited the tunnel that we had slowed to a crawl. Hmmmmm.
Sure enough before we reach Sylmar / San Fernando the train stops on the tracks. An announcer tells us there has been an "incident" on the track ahead and we would be stopped here for a short while until investigators concluded their work.
We waited for 10 minutes and then slowly pulled into the station.
Once in the station we wrongly thought we would be soon rushing onward. Silly us.
Another announcement told us the investigation was ongoing and we could either remain on the train for an unknown amount of time or exit and board the waiting bus which would take us to downtown.
I asked where downtown and was told
Union Station.
We are retired and our motto is "We have no place to be and no time to be there" so what the heck we board the bus.
Of course the bus was not big enough to provide a seat for everyone but 3 out of the 4 of us got a seat. And anyway Dave likes standing, doesn't he ?
Everyone on the bus was pleasant and good natured, despite the heat. We assume a prompt departure.
You know what they say about assumptions, it took us almost 15 minutes to leave the station. There was a wheel chair passenger and it looked like the driver had never before secured a wheelchair inside the bus. It took him for ever.
Eventually we get going. Using surface streets to the next station.
No worries it was smooth enough.
The views of the garbage and homeless dwellings along San Fernando were "edgy".
We were headed to Burbank Airport train station. But the driver had obviously never been to this newer station before and he turned right instead of left when he got off the 5.
We only noticed this when he proceeded to do a three point turn in his loaded bus right across a four lane street. Scary and hilarious.
Two very good natured ladies in the seat next to mine thought my reaction was very funny, I was the one hollering and cheering, and they began to holler and cheer too.
When we finally reached and stopped at Burbank Airport station my two co-hollerers started a new chant .... "Keep on Pushing" to the driver as soon as it was obvious no one wanted to get off.
When the bus got on Hwy 5 South we thought oh this is good we will be there in no time now. An older lady next to us called her friends who were waiting at Grand Central Station to let them know she would be there in 15 minutes. Ooops. Optimistic.
The next station was Glendale. I realize it's out of sequence but what can I say.
I had forgotten about Glendale station and it is miles from Hwy 5.
The bus had to fight traffic to get to it. Once there another driver gets on board and he was greeted with boos. He had another bus though and invited standing passengers to take a seat on his bus. Several did. He should have suggested we get off the bus altogether and jump on out train which pulled into the station just as we were leaving. And the train proceeded to pass us as we fought our way back to he 5 in the reverse to downtown.
At last we arrived at Union Station, entering it from a direction I have not seen before. The ladies head to the bathroom, only to return shortly announcing we needed to find another bathroom. So we head down the tunnel of platforms, to the Grand part of Union Station. Unfortunately the aroma's within the tunnel were not at all pleasant, and upon entering the main foyer our visitors were simply relieved that the smell was gone.
After a few moments though they did appreciate the grandeur of
Union Station and it is indeed Grand.
The train trip down had taken us almost 3 hours. It's supposed to take 58 minutes. Which is about the same as driving.
It was now 3 pm and our train home was scheduled for 5:30 or else 8:30. We aimed for 5:30 which actually worked out fine.
Olvera Street was having a festival it was wonderful as usual.
Grand Central Market was delicious and I was unburdened of several $'s but got loaded up with cheese (from DTLA Cheese) and half price fresh baked bread (from Clark Street Bread). In the last hour before they close all their breads are half price.
We ate delicious falafel and Pita sandwiches at
Kismet Falafel .
Grand Central Market is a real LA treasure. It's less well known in my opinion than
The Farmers Market but somehow more fun.
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| An LA Treasure |
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| Always a great vibe here |
And the
Lyft back to Union Station got us back on time. Thank you to the young Texan driver.
Next challenge get back to Newhall by train.
So we walked through platform tunnel again at Union Station. A floor sweeping machine was going through and so the odor was better.
I had carefully checked the platform number of our train on the screen in the foyer. It was 3B. Before we climbed the stairs to 3B I checked again and sure enough it confirmed that the Antelope Valley train was departing from 3B.
When we reached the train at 5:05 there were a large number of people standing by the train waiting to board. It was hot and a little stuffy. Why don't Metrolink open the train and enjoy the AC ? But no we waited and then a young woman runs from the crowd over to platform 4B. Then she is quickly followed by lots of others.
There was no change announced but the smart, frequent commuters had noticed the destination displayed on the electronic display on the train now read Antelope Valley. So off we rushed and climbed aboard.
We got settled in an upstairs seat and relaxed.
Guess what at 5:25 there was an announcement that we must all get off and return to the train we were originally waiting alongside at platform 3B. Duhhhhh. At least there was an announcement this time.
We were about 5 minutes late departing. No big deal generally but with today's earlier experience we were a little jumpy.
When the Metrolink departs Union station it briefly runs alongside a Metro platform. On this Metro platform there were quite a few waiting passengers. I noticed Linden, our other Canadian visitor, grimace and turn away from the Metro platform and make a kind of face.
She said "Sorry, but did you see that?"
"What ? " says I,
"That guy on the platform was leaning his head on the wall and his pants were down around his ankles"
"Oh really " Says my wife "I hope he had underwear on, hahaha"
"No " says Linden " That's what was so horrific."
Just another slice of LA life on the Metrolink I guess.
The rest of the ride home was smooth, transportation wise.
The human drama segment:
I was entertained by the usual slices of human drama on the train.
One slice was from a young 20'ish couple.
He's handsome, she is a plain Jane.
She has long mousy brown hair, cracked nail polish, and carrying an unattractive extra 20 pounds wearing a pink hoodie. He is wearing an unbranded hip colored baseball cap, bill to the back. Black shorts and T. Thick steel necklace around his neck.
I noticed them when he thumped his fist loudly into the table they were sitting at, his face red with what I assumed was rage.
He surges out of his seat, grabs a phone and storms down stairs.
She sits quietly fiddling with the string of her hoodie (That's when I noticed her cracked nail polish).
He returns shortly, still red in the face and sits back down opposite her.
He returns the phone to her and then proceeds with a diatribe of moderate length. Ending with him cupping his face in his hands.
She is invited to sit next to him where she starts with the sniffles, the weepy kind not the allergy kind.
After a bit he starts giving her little cheek and lip pecks, not kisses but pecks. And then he wipes the rim of her nose with his finger then licks the finger. Modern romance ?
She smiles at this gesture and stops sniffling.
His head return to his hands. Now it's his turn to start leaking tears, which she gently mops up with the corner of a napkin.
Love blossoms again and the reconciliation is celebrated by the enthusiastic consumption of the contents of a
Carl's Jnr. carry out sack.
She ate as much or more than him.
So was all this drama a strategy on her part to get a bigger share of the Carl's goodies? Am I too cynical asking that question ?
Epilogue:
Each evening we have our guests do a blind drawing from a bowl of 15 or 20 suggested touristy things to do tomorrow.
Today was visit Santa Monica.
Now you can actually get to Santa Monica using a combination of Metrolink and Metro.
My suggestion that we use public transport to get there was greeted with howls of laughter, from our Canadian guests and a "not on your life" look from my wife.
I will try again when
Little Tokyo is selected in the drawing.
