with the old Sears warehouse off in the distance.
And since we’re in the area, let’s head back east on 25th Street, go across San- ta Fe Avenue which puts us on 26th Street, and we’ll follow it until we see Hobart Tower. It is located at the throat of a very busy BNSF intermodal facility, and Amtrak and Metrolink al- so frequent the multi-track main line in front of the tower.
For the railfan with an auto, getting to the bridges is fairly simple but park- ing can be a problem. None of the bridges from Cesar Chavez south to Olympic have shoulders, but side roads at the east end of most bridges will pro- vide fairly close access. The 25th Street bridge over the Alameda Corridor trench has a shoulder for parking, but it is in a very busy industrial area and parking is at a premium. Also, the
25th Street shot is only shootable by one person at a time; the bridge has a short concrete wall topped by a tall chain link fence and there is only one spot where a person can hop up onto the concrete wall and shoot through the one gap in the chain link.
Railfans without a car can still read- ily shoot at Cesar Chavez Avenue (it passes under LAUPT’s platforms) or First Street by taking the Gold Line. Cesar Chavez Avenue is a handy place to watch trains if you have a layover at the station. Also of note in the area is Phillippe’s, home of the French Dip Sandwich and a favorite railfan eatery. While it seems like I really know my way around Los Angeles, the truth is I visited all these places (except Hobart Tower) for the first time in March 2014. I owe a huge thank you to Charles Freericks who gave me a primer on how to get around Los Angeles. Now I can’t wait for my next visit.
LEFT: The Olympic Avenue bridge passes directly over Amtrak’s Eight Street engine fa- cility where power for Surfliners and long dis- tance trains is maintained. BELOW: A Metrolink train passes beneath Cesar Chavez Avenue. Mission Tower is in the background.
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