On the drive home from a quick visit to Donner Lake, we stopped in at the California State Railroad Museum. What a nicely-done place. Comfortable, well-staffed, and a great collection of steamers (and those other things). http://www.csrmf.org/ Walk through a few of the cars, climb on some of the locos, knowledgeable docents. I am sure most of those in California have been there, but this was a first for me. Worth a detour. The Governor Stanford:
The Southern Pacific cab forward is most impressive.
John, you are right. A massive, jaw-dropping hunk of iron!
I would like to go there someday. Don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance, though.
Ray! The train runs right there! Just ride it! oh wait. 12 hour ride. Well, it’s a train!
Michael et all, I dropped by the museum about a month ago to measure and photograph the Pacific Coast Railway side-door caboose, which I am hankering to build. The folks there were great, letting me in before the place opened so I could climb inside and do my stuff. They also let me look at historical data, photos, etc that came along with the car, which once belonged to Ward Kimball, a Disney artist who had a real railroad in his yard and inspired Walt to get into trains and add them to Disneyland. Kimball, BTW, was part of a Dixieland music group called The Firehouse Five Plus Two.