Railfanning Goleta - 7/2/18

Following off from my railfanning at Ventura just earlier in the day, I raced on over to the Goleta Amtrak Station to beat Amtrak 769 there, where some interesting train activity would then follow suit. The Goleta Station serves as one of the terminus and originating stations for Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains in accommodation of trains not necessitating to continue further northward towards San Luis Obispo; in addition to serving through Surfliner trains continuing to SLO. What makes this station interesting in particular is the fact that there is a storage track and facility for Surfliner trainsets for either temporary or overnight layovers. Additionally, this facility location also features a train wash, where the trainsets run through water nozzles and spinning brushes, as featured in the video. Very interesting to see a train wash for the first time ! Due to the fact that the facility is literally adjacent to the station, some interesting and head on shots are easily accessible when trainsets are brought in for servicing. Amenity wise, the Goleta Station also features a nice amount of amenities, including accessible restrooms, ample waiting areas, and station architecture reflecting the local railroad history in the area. All in all, the Goleta Station is certainly a great place to see some train activity, particularly during the Surfliner trainset layovers, in addition to other through Amtrak trains, and additionally including the Coast Starlight passing through at speed !
Train 1 : Amtrak 769 with F59PHI #459 & CabCar #6901. After racing this train to Goleta, 769 surprisingly arrived into Goleta minutes ahead of schedule ! With Amtrak 769 only running to Goleta from San Diego, this trainset will terminate here and back into the storage track for scheduled maintenance and cleaning until its next run south as Amtrak 792, only an hour later. The Amtrak personnel will work to get the train ready while the crew takes a modest break before returning back to work, where they will run Amtrak 792 south.
Train 2 : Amtrak 792 with CabCar #6901 & F59PHI #459. With the trainset replenished and cleaned for its run south, the crew backs the train onto the main, where they will then proceed toward the platform and begin boarding passengers. Nice crew on 792.
Train 3 : Amtrak 777 with P42DC #14 & CabCar #6951. Great crew on Amtrak 777 with both a friendly engineer and conductor !
Train 4 : Amtrak 11 with P42DC #60 & #82. This train sure was hauling ! I initially definitely did not expect it to be going at track speed ! Nice crew on #60.
Train 5 : Amtrak 796 with CabCar #6905 & F59PHI #451. Interesting camera angle with the sun setting for the day. With the last southbound Amtrak for the evening off to San Diego, I concluded my stay at Goleta and headed towards Santa Barbara for the night.
Thanks for Watching !