Big Steam in San Clemente

As I mentioned yesterday, my Sunday morning was going to be dedicated to train watching, and I headed out early to get some video footage of Santa Fe Steam Locomotive 3751 pulling a special private car excursion to San Diego. The last time I tried this the train was almost 90 minutes late, but this time they hit their mark in San Clemente almost to the minute. I found a great spot on a 100' cliff overlooking North San Clemente Beach. I snapped a cellphone shot of my clifftop perch:
About four feet to the left of my chair was a 100' sheer drop. I had to get close to be able to film the track below. It may not have been the smartest thing I ever did, especially after yesterday's fall.

The view from that spot is quite spectacular. You can see along the coast all the way from Capistrano Beach down to the San Clemente Pier. As I waited I watched a church service that was going on down on the beach.
Their service was interrupted a couple of times by passing Amtrak trains, but they're probably pretty used to that. The service had just ended when Santa Fe 3751 came into view, so as they were carrying their beach chairs and stuff across the tracks, they found themselves facing an oncoming fire-breathing giant. The consist included the big steam engine, three Amtrak engines (to provide electrical power and backup locomation in case something happened to 3751, and 26 privately owned rail cars. Here's the video I shot while I was up on the hill.

The train will be coming back through South County around 7:00 and I may have to run down to the Laguna Niguel station and watch it on the return run. It may be too dark to video tape, but the noise and power should be pretty interesting.

UPDATE: Return trip delayed by fatal accident in Laguna Niguel involving an Amtrak train.

UPDATE 2: The train was delayed about 2 hours, but I shot video of it as it passed through the Laguna Niguel station at about 9:10 pm. A new video is now available here.