San Diego, CA - Silver Line

Ah finally!

Made it San Diego on a day the Silver Line was actually running.  I went down last December hoping to cross it off the list but, incredibly, it had rained the previous day and there was electrical damage, so the PCC was a no go.

I made sure this time.

@vintagetrolleys Yes, the Vintage Trolley will be operating its regular Saturday/Sunday hours this weekend. Thanks for checking!
— San Diego MTS (@sdmts) May 19, 2014

So the Silver Line is a loop through downtown utilizing existing tracks which the regular MTS service uses. To ride the full loop it's best to start at the 12th and Imperial Transfer Center (bottom right on the map below).

We arrived at the station which, if you haven't been, is a zoo as it is THE station in San Diego. People & trains everywhere. Luckily we had a clue as to where to wait for our more unique train.

The excitement mounts. Will we finally catch a ride on the elusive San Diego Silver Line?

It pulls up about 5 minutes later and takes a breather as I try to buy tickets with my partially demagnetized debit card. But alas, success.

I'll let the pics do the talking from here until the conclusion...

Hey man, quit chatting...trying to get a picture here.

Not quite as clean as the Kenosha panorama. The driver was about to hit the road so it was kind of rushed.

They don't make 'em like they used to. Builders.

The guy on the left is also impressed with this majestic machine.

Anyway, I was happy to finally finish the California trifecta of San Francisco (although I will probably ride the Market Street line every time I go back), San Pedro, and finally San Diego.

In honor of this completion, I also made the San Diego Silver Line t-shirt if you want to check it out. Most other cities that had PCCs at one time are in the shop as well.  Feel free to check them all out! And if you have ideas for a new design, or want a certain combo of trains on a shirt, let me know in the comments, Twitter, or Instagram (@vintagetrolleys)

Shirts available at http://skreened.com/vintagetrolleys  Also, there is a $5.00 discount at checkout with this code although it expires on 6/6/14 : FIVEOFF4TH

The brand new San Diego Silver Line PCC shirt! 

Where to next? I hear Toronto has been rolling out their PCCs and older models lately. Maybe there?