California Finale

This last day was unique in a couple of ways for this trip. We would spend two consecutive nights in the same motel (Rocklin HoJo) and not drive too far, at least by the standard set to that point.

We spent the morning checking out Roseville again. The Fiddler missed this on the first day and the place was worth visiting again. We had the prior trip to lean on for directions and the Amtrak lot had one slot left for us. The yards were active, trains were moving and we encountered the eastbound California Zephyr. The lighting was different from the last trip but still not ideal. Oh well. Without the telephoto I was limited anyway. The video guys were happy because movement was everywhere. We saw a couple of trains come in from the east and went back to the motel to get our airline boarding passes.

Next was the California State Railroad Museum in "Old Town" Sacramento. This was worth the visit. We had until closing time at 5pm to roam and that turned out to be just right. The collection is excellent and geared toward the public as well as railroad buffs. Lots of emphasis on California history, which I particularly enjoyed. The exhibits were all top notch, including many artifacts and equipment from the earliest days. Fiddler was taken with the "Cab Forward", which was huge.

I enjoyed wandering through the passenger cars. The volunteers in those cars were very helpful and truly enjoyed sharing their knowledge. The guy in the sleeper car turned out to be a Maine native from New Sweden. He knew where Hebron Academy was and was still familiar with most of the state he left in the 1940's. He was also Swedish and Lutheran so when in the course of the conversation I said I went to school in Kansas he immediately asked if I went to Lindsborg (Bethany College)! Cool! He nailed that one. He was very busy with others passing through so I bid him good bye. I noticed that the car was set up to give you the sensation of motion and the windows had lights and sounds passing by. I could have conked out on one of those sleeper beds. What a neat encounter!

The Videoman was setting up a visit with his grandson for dinner so he had my phone. Fiddler and I wandered around the rest of the museum and then headed outside (into the dry heat) to see the tourist line. We also hoped to find Videoman. We found our way around the Sacramento Southern tourist line facilities and the river boardwalk. From there we could see Amtrak California cross the tracks to the depot next to the museum. We walked a wide loop, trying to stay in the shade. No sign of Videoman but we did see some interesting stuff. At 5pm we split up and I went to the front of the museum while Fiddler went to the depot. I quickly found Videoman by the front door and called Fiddler, but it was too noisy on his end. We walked over to the depot to get him and then on to the car to head west for dinner.

We met Videoman's grandson and the other Grandfather at Chevy's Restaurant in Fairfield. Great Mexican food there! The other Grandfather brought photos from a trip on the White Pass and Yukon, plus a railroad book from the Yosemite area. What a fun time. This wasn't Taco Bell (even though there has been a corporate connection). Typical classy joint with all the staff constantly refilling chips or water glasses. They had the employees do the "happy birthday" routine too (3 times) but luckily none of us qualified.

When we left, the Fiddler got to work navigating to a point where we might see some Amtrak California as well as any freight in the area. We eventually got to the busy, modern and clean station at Davis. This was a well lit station on a wye. The platforms curved away from the depot and old tower. As we arrived we couldn't even see the mainline tracks through all the shrubs and other park like fixtures. Signals faced us in both directions and schedules were posted. We had trains within reasonable waiting times. It was too dark for stills but the tripods were set up for video under the plentiful lighting. The SD's to the left are similar to those once used to power the trains through here after the FM's were retired. (Photo from the WPRM on the previous day) That must have been noisy!

Once again the Wheelman's luck entered the picture. We got the Amtrak California trains we expected, but we also saw a 3 car UP inspection train sneak through behind a westbound. The depot was open late but we had our fill and called it a day. Other than getting misdirected down US50 for a while, getting back to Rocklin was okay and the day was over. Late as usual. The UP car at left is from the CSRM earlier in the day.

We made a quick run by Rocklin station in the morning but Davis was our last rail adventure in California. Off to "Sac Int'l" for the return voyage.

This adventure was navigated with good old paper maps courtesy of the state, along with brochures, booklets and magazine articles, but no DeLorme Atlas (too big to pack) and definitely no GPS unit! Yes we saw some "extra" sights as a result but there were no casualties and the car full of navigators got along just fine without arguing with a computer box on the dash. Besides, for most of the trip we had the Wheelman! He could have taught Henry the Navigator a thing or two.

To say this was quite an awesome trip would be an understatement! Many Thanks to the Wheelman for setting this up! The three of us were still pinching ourselves when we got home.

This will be hard for us to top!


BC