One of the items on my Bucket List was to take a ride on the California Zephyr; so when we moved to California in 1993, I had my chance to cross another item off of the List.
Looking at the train schedule I discovered that the Zephyr stopped in Martinez, which was only about 10 miles from our house. So with great anticipation, one Saturday morning we drove down to the Train Station and rode the Zephyr over to Sacramento. We were not disappointed with the ride. I could get accustomed to this type of train travel because passengers were seated on the upper level in large recliners and the ride was very smooth. Various services were available on the train to make the trip even more enjoyable.
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| Linda standing by the passenger car |
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| Ronnie reading the paper in the Martinez terminal while waiting on the Zephyr |
In Sacramento, the Central Pacific Passenger Station is located in the historic area of town near the California State Railroad Museum. We spent most of the afternoon wandering around the large museum looking at the extensive displays of trains and railroad equipment. Since digital cameras were not yet available for public use, I only took a few pictures with my film camera.
In the evening we walked over to Old Sacramento State Historic Park, which is near the Railroad Museum, and had a really nice dinner. After dinner we were window shopping on one of the boardwalks in front of a store and ran into an old friend from Arizona that we had not seen in several years. It's a small world.
We finally caught the last train of the evening back to Martinez - The Capital Express. After riding on the Zephyr, it was all down hill - old hard seats and you felt every jolt in the railroad tracks. Anyway, it was a great trip that I would do again.
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| Old Sacramento State Historic Park |
About a year after our Zephyr trip, our two Mothers were visiting us at the same time. As part of a RonnieAdventure we drove over to Jamestown (California), which is home of Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. Jamestown is a census designated place in Tuolumne County that was once a famous California Gold Rush town, but now it is know for the location of the Sierra Railway that operates various steam passenger trains for tourist. The operational roundhouse is still used for rebuilding steam engines. We paid the State Park fee and had a nice docent-led tour of the facilities.
Steam Engine Sierra No. 3, a ten-wheeler 4-6-0, is recognized by most people because it has appeared in more TV programs and movies than any other locomotive in the world. Outdoor scenes from Petticoat Junction, The Wild Wild West, Green Acres, and parts of Little House on the Prairie were filmed here. The list of western movies is extensive. Sierra No. 3 has also been used in more recent movies. In Back to the Future Part III, Marty added some of Doc's special energy boosting fire logs to the engine's fire pit while pushing the Time Machine. The fire logs were so powerful that they blew off the top part of the locomotive's exhaust stack and the train accelerated to 88 miles/hour before crashing into Eastwood Ravine. Parts of damaged exhaust stack were still laying by the side of the train tracks when we visited the area in 1994. Fortunately, Doc was somehow able to rescue the locomotive and it appeared again at the end of the movie.
BONUS PICTURES
Our house at 4425 Sunlight Court, Concord, California.
This is so cool! Thanks for sharing!
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