Nostalgia & History > Western Railway Museum VAD

This could go into the Passenger or Nostalgia boards. Western Railway Museum operates passenger service using historic equipment. On 16 May 2015 was a Volunteer Appreciation Day to recognize the folks that keep this great operating museum operating. Located midway between Suisun City and Rio Vista, California, it is an absolute "must see" for any and all interested in railroads and history, particularly traction.

The place has come a long way over the years. A team of regular volunteers work in the shop, maintain track, deal with the overhead lines, and operate equipment while telling talking history to the thousands of visitors. Archive volunteers digitize thousands of photos, catalog timetables, maps, papers and other assorted ephemera. A library is open to all who are interested in learning more about rail history, particularly San Francisco Bay Area electric railways. Regular PowerPoint shows focus on Muni, Sacramento Northern, Key System, and other subjects.

Herewith, some photos snapped on that recent date.

1. The museum grounds with the special train.
2. A buffet dinner to recognize volunteers.
3. Two retiring volunteers.

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More photos.

4. Kevin Sheridan takes superb photos and also has a sense of fashion.

5. Rare mileage! Most museum movements work westward from Rio Vista Junction to a station near Birds Landing Road. For this event, the special ran ran eastward about three miles to Creed.

6. The tail end of the special train at Creed. This was at one time a high speed interurban route with service from San Francisco to Sacramento and far beyond to Chico.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/15 23:55 by stash.

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Thank you , John, you got a picture of my wife.  Don't know where I was, maybe the bar....??

Don and Jean---Napa

More work on 4001 today....

Walt and Jerry go way back but are still looking good.

Thanks for the coverage.

Regards, Jim Evans

Lot of red there in #6, John!

mapboy

Good to see Visalia Electric 502 out and about--I had heard that it was on the "disabled list" for a while.  I remember seeing it at the SP Bakersfield roundhouse back in 1967 or 68.  Pacific Electric used similar units on the Monrovia-Glendora Line in the mid 1940s, but they were soon replaced by Baldwin and EMD switchers.  They were equipped with dummy trolley poles to activate grade crossing signals, leading me (probably 8 or 9 years old at the time) to believe they were a new kind of electric locomotive.  Many years later, I learned the truth about the trolley poles, and also that they were probably working to the outer limits of their capacity in both speed and pulling power on the Azusa gravel train.