ABOVE: A Union Pacific train passes beneath the First Street bridge on the east side of the Los Angeles River. RIGHT: Heading for the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, a BNSF train passes beneath 25th Street in the indus- trial city of Vernon, just outside the city of L.A. The train is entering the Alameda Corridor trench. Union Pacific’s J Yard is directly adja- cent to this location.
end of this bridge is directly over Amtrak’s Eighth Street maintenance facility where the Surfliners, Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief and Sunset Limited call home (in fact, all the bridges from Seventh Street north to Cesar Chavez see deadhead moves of the long-distance Amtrak trains to LAUPT).
The next two bridges south provide a good look at the busy freight lines to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and are located just outside the city limits in Vernon. First is Washing- ton Avenue, which parallels a concrete deck bridge used by Union Pacific trains. I did not get a chance to shoot here, as the shot is fairly non-descript. The next bridge south is 26th Street and it parallels two different railroads on two different levels. At street level is BNSF Railway heading from the Ho- bart Tower area (off to your right) to
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the ports (off to your left via the Alame- da Corridor trench). Above BNSF is the passenger flyover used by Amtrak and Metrolink. Two of the city’s surviving interlocking towers are in this area, as well. Redondo Tower is almost impossi- ble to shoot, but is located just north of Washington Avenue on the west side of the river. Hobart Tower is very easy to shoot and following 26th Street east will take you right to it.
While we’re in the area, let’s check out one more bridge that is not over the Los Angeles River. Take 26th Street west from the previous shot; it does a bit of a curve as it crosses Santa Fe Av- enue and puts you on 25th Street. At the grade crossing is Union Pacific’s J Yard, and just beyond that is a bridge over the Alameda Corridor trench. A good shot can be had here (there is one spot you can shoot through the fence)
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