RIDING THE RAILS: Amtrak foreman Phil Nerkowski...

RIDING THE RAILS: Amtrak foreman Phil Nerkowski likes to think of freight trains as semi-trucks and Metrolink trains as sleek Ferraris. The passenger trains stop quicker, handle like a dream and speed down the tracks at 79 m.p.h. . . . But Wednesday, two of the trains moved at barely 25 m.p.h. carrying Simi Valley police officers and county sheriff’s deputies looking for scofflaws at rail crossings (B4). The cops issued tickets or warnings to 14 motorists and a pedestrian.

COLBERN DIARY: Federal authorities still have no evidence linking Oxnard High grad Steven Colbern to the Oklahoma City bombing. But they say they have discovered his diary recounting meetings with “Terry Tuttle,” one of the names that suspect Timothy J. McVeigh used as an alias (A5). . . . The diary also details Colbern’s discomfort with his dwelling: a cave in Arizona. “He’s being looked at as an intermediary who can help identify others,” one source said.

VERY BERRY: The annual California Strawberry Festival is opening Saturday, but local growers don’t have much to celebrate. . . . “There will be enough [berries] for the Strawberry Festival, but they’re some 20% to 30% behind” in crop production, says Rex Laird of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. The rains this winter soaked the fields and confused the plants, he explains. That won’t stop local groups from creating their specialties--from strawberry pizza to strawberry shortcake--for the two-day festival in Oxnard (Ventura County Life, Page 8).

SWALLOWED UP: They flew in weeks ago: swarms of swallows buzzing at the heads of passersby, building nests at the Colony at Harbortown in Ventura. . . . Hotel officials were initially alarmed at the avian invasion, commonplace in San Juan Capistrano. But now, with specialists flocking to see the birds, the employees are sort of proud of their guests. “It’s great. We feel like they got a better rate here in Ventura,” says sales and marketing director Paula Saunders.