by Joe Thompson
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by Joe Thompson unless otherwise credited. All rights reserved.
California State Railroad Museum - 2001-2002
19" Pacific steam locomotive 1915 sits in the lobby of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The locomotive never operated, but it was built by Louis MacDermot of Oakland, CA for the Overfair Railway at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. The line was not a success because of poor location, rubber-tired competition, and a steep 10-cent fare. 1915, along with fellow Pacifics 1912-1914 and 0-6-0T 1500 and all the other rolling stock, went into storage on the grounds of MacDermot's Oakland home. 1913 ran at the Oakland Zoo for a short time in 1941, but soon went back to storage. When MacDermot died in 1948, the famous Billy Jones bought the locomotives for his Wildcat Railroad. He regauged his line from 18 to 19", but the Pacifics were too long for the curves on the line, so Jones only operated 1500. The locomotives passed through various hands. 1912-1914 and 1500 wound up at Al Smith's Swanton Pacific Railroad, where they are still operated by the students of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Smith donated 1915 to the California State Railroad Museum, where it has been on display since 1981. Visit the Museum of the City of San Francisco's excellent web site to read "From Panama to Poly; The Saga of the Overfair Railway Pacifics" by Walter Rice Ph.D. and Karl Hovanitz. We visited the museum in August, 2001. I couldn't get a good angle to take a shot of 1915. I managed to take a couple of shots in August, 2002. They were preparing to install a new exhibit about Walt Disney's backyard railroad, the Carolwood Pacific.
Go to top of page. 2007
After a pleasant stop at the Nut Tree, we continued up 80 to Sacramento. When we took the exit in West Sacramento, I was sad to learn that the Tower Bridge was closed for work. We took a long detour that led to 5. Eventually we got to the California State Railroad Museum. We found that the exhibits had been rearranged and augmented quite a bit since we had last visited. I liked the way the sleeping car and the diner had been moved together. Visitors enter at one end of the sleeping car, then cross a platform at the other end to the diner.
We went under the freeway to the K Street Mall for a late lunch, then went to the depot, where I was able to take photos and videos of the Sacramento Southern's Granite Rock locomotive number 10 taking water, switching, and leaving with the three o'clock train.
Go to top of page. 2008
In November, 2008 we visited Old Sacramento and the California State Railroad Museum. On the way up, traffic was light except around Vacaville. It was cloudy all the way. There was not a big crowd at the museum. There was a nice exhibit of photographs taken around the Nevada Northern. The museum people appear to have finished the latest round of rearranging the exhibits.
We went under the freeway and had lunch at Panda Express in the mall. Then the family went shopping. It started to rain lightly. After, we went back to Old Sacramento and walked around a bit. Traffic was light on the way back except around Berkeley.
Go to top of page. 2009
In July, 2009 we visited Sacramento. The California State Museum hosted the Library of Congress' exhibit "With Malice Towards None." It had many Lincoln-related items, some from the Union Pacific collection. My heart felt funny when I saw the draft of the Gettysburg Address. There were many documents I have read about, like the unsent letter to General Meade after Gettysburg. They had the contents of Lincoln's pockets when he was shot, and the family doctor's notes, spattered with Lincoln's blood. I had only two issues with the show. One was probably due to the space: it was hard to follow the exhibits in sequence. There were little arrows all over the floor. The other was that, to protect the documents, the lights were very low. An older lady told me it was killing her eyes to try to read anything. I was having a similar problem. I enjoyed seeing the Bible used for Lincoln's first inauguration and for President Obama's.
After lunch at the mall, we went to the Railroad Museum to see "The Rail Splitter and the Railroads: Lincoln, the Union and the Golden State." The title tells all about it. It started with his interest in internal improvements, especially railroads, went on to his railroad-related legal cases, especially the bridge case, and the trains he rode on, including the funeral train.
Go to top of page. 2010
We took a drive up to Sacramento. Traffic was bad in several places, including the Yolo Causeway. We visited the California State Railroad Museum. Downstairs there was a nice exhibit of toy trains. There was also an exhibit called "The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers." It was moving.
Go to top of page. 2012
In July, 2012 we took a drive up to Sacramento to visit the California State Railroad Museum.
Go to top of page. 2013
Because we had to cut short our Disneyland trip, we decided to spend two nights in Sacramento. Traffic was good on the drive up.
We walked through Old Sacramento and had lunch at Johnny Rockets in the K Street Mall. Then we went to the state railroad museum. The upstairs gallery had "Building America: Abraham Lincoln, California, and the Union Pacific Railroad," a touring exhibit in honor of UP's 150th anniversary. It included documents, artifacts, histories of some of UP's acquisitions, and many advertising posters. We watched an Amtrack locomotive get pulled out the roundhouse doors.
The next day we had planned to go to the state fair, but it was too hot. We drove to Folsom and visited the outlets, then back to Sacramento and went to the California Museum. My wife thinks it would be a great place to take a field trip. We had not visited since the Lincoln Bicentennial. There was a small exhibit on the missions and one on Charles and Ray Eames. Many visitors headed straight for the Eames. My wife didn't remember them till she saw the chairs. The exhibit on Japanese-American relocation made me tear up.
My wife's phone rang as we were about to enter the Museum, so I took some photos of Sacramento Regional Transit District light rail trains as they passed along transit-only O Street.
Then we visited the K Street Mall. The next day we drove home, with a stop at the Nut Tree. Traffic was clear till we got to the Berkley city limits. Go to top of page. 2016
Traffic was good on the drive up to Sacramento. At the Sacramento Southern ticket office, we picked up tickets for a first class train ride. Then we went to the museum.
One of the features was a mockup of a High Speed Rail trainset.
After visiting the museum, we had a little lunch and then rode in observation car El Dorado on the Sacramento Southern. It was a nice ride. The stewards served cookies, pretzels or peanuts, and soft drinks.
Go to top of page. 2017
Traffic was light going up. The weather in Sacramento was pleasant, not too hot. The California State Railroad Museum had an exhibit of autos from the California Automobile Museum, which used to be the Towe Ford Museum. I wanted to visit that place, but it is closed on Tuesdays. In the lobby there was an exhibit of images showing Southern Pacific employee sports teams, including baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball and bowling. I didn't get any photos.
We walked under the freeway to the K Street Mall to get lunch. The K Street Mall was closed. They are redeveloping it. We were hungry, so it was fortunate that Macy's had a cafe on the ground floor. We had a nice lunch there. We walked through Old Sacramento and back to the car. We stopped at the Nut Tree to have sundaes at Fenton's. Traffic going home was pretty light, except around Emeryville. Go to top of page. |
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Copyright 2002-2017 by Joe Thompson. All rights reserved.
Last updated 31-August-2017