Sunday, April 14, 2002. For rail fans in the Los Angeles South Bay, this was the day we had all been dreading for several years. The new Alameda Corridor high capacity freight rail route from Downtown to the Harbor was complete, and at midnight all through traffic would cease to run on several local branch lines. Both the character of the cities along their routes, and the opertunities to watch trains from good trackside locations, was about to change forever.