Turlock-Denair — Local services in Turlock

I’m a frequent rider on Amtrak San Joaquins and have traveled to and from the Turlock station at least a dozen times.

First off, the station sits in the small rural town of Denair just east of the Turlock city limit. It’s unstaffed which is why I don’t give it 5 stars. The platform is smaller than all the other stations so only the trains middle cars are able to open their doors. Parking lot is small but the waiting area of 2 benches is covered to protect from rain. Generally it’s not a busy station.

Although there is a sun-beaten Amtrak quick-trak machine to print tickets purchased online, it’s become an obsolete service since you receive an E-ticket with QR barcode sent to your email and available on the Amtrak App for train conductors to scan off your phone. You can always still print the PDF ticket from your email at home if you want to be old-school.

Uber and Lyft are not always available in the area, especially at night. I’ve had to wait 15+ minutes on two occasions for an available driver to ping. Most of the time I had no issues during the day. Consider getting off at the Modesto station just 12 minutes north if you don’t see any available cars (check the apps about 5-10 minutes before you are scheduled to get off the train).

Lastly, safety has never been an issue for me there but considering it’s a rural area be alert and wait with your friend/family until the train arrives if you’re dropping them off. There is a QuickStop mart and gas station 1 block down once you...

Station is great, I live a block away from the station and everything is easy but I had forgotten my luggage on the train when I came back from San Francisco and I reported it as stolen and they emailed me saying it would take 30 days for them to find my stuff but they never found it and I’ve been waiting for more than a month and they still haven’t found it even though I left a very detailed description of where my stuff was. I kept having hope but it seemed like they didn’t even try to help find my stuff. So I recommend to not forget your stuff and NEVER put your stuff on the floor next...

It is very small station, only 2 benches & a parking lot that has like 7 spots which the parking lot butts right up to the tracks.. Not a single restroom. So do not plan on arriving early or if you do make sure not to bring a whole lot of luggage because there is at least a 10 minute walk into town just to turn around and walk back, I'm pretty sure nobody wants to struggle thru all that.. I do have to say that there is 2 amazing little taco trucks just across the street from the Turlock-Denair Amtrak Station... That would have to be the ONLY THING I like about this particular...