Exploring Drawbridge

tisun

My commute by train during weekdays takes me through Drawbridge, a ghost town north of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Jose</st1:place></st1:city>. I have peered through the train window for a few years now looking for trails that would eventually take me to this place. Encouraged by dadwtwins' recent visit (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=107687), I decided to explore the town during the day to know my way around before attempting any sunset shoot. I plotted a route to Drawbridge from Alviso, uploaded waypoints to my Garmin Forerunner, and enlisted a friend to bike to Drawbridge.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
We started out at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Alviso</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Marina</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">County</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> just before noon. The park closes at sunset and the gate to the parking lot is locked after hours. Do not park the car in the parking lot if you want to stay after sunset.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
It's a lot faster to go by bicycles than to walk. There are hard packed trails that get to within a mile of the town. We biked on a trail beside the train track.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Along the way, we saw what looked like a floodgate.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
When the trail ran across the track, we left our bikes behind and went along the track on foot. There is no other direct way to get to Drawbridge.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
After half a mile, we reached a bridge across Coyote Creek. Drawbridge is on the other side of this bridge. The bridge is narrow so we made sure no train was about to share the bridge at the same time.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
According to the ACE and Amtrak schedules I printed, an ACE train was expected to come soon. In fact, after we crossed the bridge, we saw the headlights of an oncoming train. I snapped a couple housing structures while waiting for the train to pass. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
The train passed by… fast!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>


More later...

summerz

Nice pics, thanks for the tour.
Looking forward to seeing more.

mountainhouse

Nice! I've always wanted to ride further down, but never get past Pleasanton.

Dee

Fascinating. I love the shot of the train! Looking forward to seeing more.

tisun

Thanks, summerz, mountainhouse and Dee.

After the ACE train left, we had a 15-minute window to shoot before an Amtrak train came through. Then another 15-minute window before another Amtrak train passed.

I brought only my 70-200 lens, so I could get closeup shots without wandering off the track. This lens would become too long when I walked close to a dilapidated structure. My goal for this trip was just to scout the location without spending too much time setting up for the shots.











However, as the train came, we had to get off the track by taking a path toward one of those dilapidated structures. You can see the path on the right side of the photo below, taken with my P&S:



The grass was tall. For this shot of the train, I had to reach up.



Since we were now close to a structure, a few closeup shots.

Water heater:


Circuit box:




Thanks for viewing.

Dee

Looks like those structures won't be around much longer. I liked the details you posted. There's a group from soocool.com who have made a couple of trips out to Drawbridge. I see the graffiti guys have gone there too. Geesh!

Too much walking for me, so I enjoy seeing the photos.

tisun

Dee,

It's interesting that you mentioned graffiti. I definitely saw graffiti. Apparently, the town is not isolated enough. On the way down to the South Bay by train that morning, I snapped this photo of a graffiti on a trailer through the train window.




Later, I saw this graffiti at Drawbridge.




Must be the same artist.

Dee

Well at least that's "interesting" graffiti, so much of it is just random squiggles just meant to deface and annoy (or whatever drives graffiti spray painters).

dadwtwins

tisun wrote:

The train passed by… fast!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>


More later...

This is a great composition. Thanks for posting.<img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/thumb.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" > From your post, biking most of the way there is the way to go. I will try that next time I make it out there.

tisun

Dan,

Thanks. Biking will have you a lot of time. Bring a U lock, just in case. Oh, don't forget to bring a decent flash light.

dadwtwins

tisun wrote:

Dan,

Thanks. Biking will have you a lot of time. Bring a U lock, just in case. Oh, don't forget to bring a decent flash light.

U lock is a great idea. You never know when that old lady ghost may take our bikes

I am going to try to make it out there before winter really starts to flood the area. Thanks again for the great info

tisun

dadwtwins wrote:

U lock is a great idea. You never know when that old lady ghost may take our bikes

I am going to try to make it out there before winter really starts to flood the area. Thanks again for the great info

That old lady seems to make a lasting impression on you.

dadwtwins

tisun wrote:

That old lady seems to make a lasting impression on you.

It was just too weird of a situation. The way she was dressed, the condition of the bike she was on, the way she acted towards us and the fact she just popped out freaked the heck out of us. Obviously, I watched way too many horror movies late night on Creature Features when I was a kid