According to the timetable posted by the sponsoring club the train was expected to leave L.A. at 7:45, Irvine at 8:37, and should have passed my planned camera location (about a mile south of my house) at about 8:45. I got there about 8:15 to stake out a good spot and begin the wait.
Other cameramen began showing up, all jealous of my location but bowing to my superior planning, and began taking up positions near me. Cars began stopping and asking what was going on and before long we were building up a pretty good entourage. Even the manager of the Jack-in-the-Box across the street was asking me what was going on.
One problem, however...no train. We waited, and waited, and waited. There was no way to find out if the train was still coming or if they had cancelled. One of the guys who showed with me finally gave up at about 9:45. I decided to hang in there until 10:00. (The other guy got lucky and came back about a minute before the train got there.)
Right before 10:00 a cameraman came running up the street toward me. He told me he had just seen the train in Irvine and it should be coming along soon. I had already filmed one southbound Amtrak and a southbound Metrolink, but at least we finally had hope. Yet another Amtrak and Metrolink would pass us before the big steamer finally came into view.
I'll have YouTube video footage up later, but my son (bless his heart) got up early and stood by with my still camera. If you want out of my garage and go about 30 feet to the right you come to the edge of the gully where the main L.A. to San Diego tracks run, and I had positioned him there to try and catch a still photo as it passed. He did great! Here's what he saw from his perch on the hill:
It kind of looks like a model, doesn't it? Those 8 big drive wheels are 80" tall - that's one big teakettle.
And here's a closer view of the big steam engine as it roared past:
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