Bart to Fruitvale, Newark and Fremont

I will be coming out west later this month and would like to know if I can take Bart to these three locations Fruitvale, Newark and Fremont for railfanning. Are they worth going to ? I see these locations in past photos and they look like great spots but what are they like now ? Thanks. PS Back east Newark, NJ is pronounced " newrk" while Newark Delaware is pronounced as two distinct syllables, New Ark. How is it said in California ?

According to the map, BART does serve a Fremont station. Newark (pronounced new-werk) is just before Fremont on the line headed down that way, even though it doesn't show a station for it specifically. There is a station in Union City, though. Fruitvale also has a station.

http://www.bart.gov/stations/map/systemMap.asp

I spent a few weeks working in and around Fremont a couple of years ago. Honestly, I didn't see much that was very exciting in the way of rail ops. UP is very much there, with stacks in/out of Oakland. The Toyota plant in Fremont didn't seem to have much going on rail-wise.

The Newark/Fremont area is not my idea of a nice place to hang around, but everyone likes something different. The freeway traffic through there is unbelievably bad just about every day. Generally, though, I like the Bay area a lot.

I don't think Newark (pronounced like it is in Jersey) is all that bad of an area Fremont is a city of about 200,000 now and very safe as far as cities of that size go. The problem is the area you wuld probably want to be railfanning in is Newark Junction and is a fair hike away from the Fremont Bart station and closer to the Fremont-Centerville Amtrak California/ACE station. I believe you can catch an AC Transit bus that would go closer to the Junction at Union City BART.

Depending upon where you wish to go fanning in Fremont in the area of Niles Junction that is just to the East of the Fremont-Centerville Station so you might wish to consider taking the Capitol Corridor. You can reach the Amtrak Station from Fremont BART but it involves two busses (unless you are alright with an approx 1 mile walk down Mowry Ave to Fremont Blvd to catch the 210 to get to the station.


Fruitvale is accessible by BART and the area can be dicey, especially after dark so if you go there just use due care. Good luck.

Give us a heads up when you are coming - some of us might meet you and give you a hand, and a few tips.

:D Thanks, guys.

Well I just got back from my annual visit to my daughters in the Bay Area. I went to Fruitvale by Bart but it did not look anything like it does in any of the books I have on the SP but I did find some great pictures at a place called Crockett on the Carquinez Strait with good shots of the UP and Amtrak going by the California and Hawaii Sugar Refinerey. I decided to concentrate on that area this time out. I spent time at Martinez, Port Costa and this year spent a lot of time phtographing the BNSF from Martinez Alhambra Viaduct through Franklin Canyon to Pinole. I also found out how to get good shots the Suisun Bridge by parking near the toll booths. I didn't run into any railfans at all this time but I do appreciate the help I got here. By the way I was disappointed to see the fence put up by somebody at the dead end of the Appian Way in Pinole. It blocks access to what was a very good vantage point. Anyone know who put it up and why ?