Steam & Excursion > This Sure Is Not The Usual Destination For An Excursion Train!

When we look through photo of steam excursion trains from the 1930's through the 1950's they often had interesting destinations that included rail yards, towns, mills and other typical places the excursion riders would want to see.  The train we see here had a most unusual stop on it's excursion trip.

In October 1953 one of the railfan groups put on what was known as "A Day Around San Francisco" trip.  This included stops at some interesting spots in and near the City By The Bay.  One of the most unusual stops south of San Francisco was at the Cypress Lawn Cemetery.

SP #2375 was the power on this sunny fall day when the train came to a stop at the entrance to Cypress Lawn.  Quite the unusual photo stop to say the least.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/17 03:30 by LoggerHogger.

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See also:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3364255
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4021261

The cypress, lawn, and cemetery are all still there, but the tracks are gone:

https://goo.gl/maps/FKJD5RUqFuT2

The flyer from the Western Railway Museum Archives is below.  NorCal did a "re-run" of this trip on July 21, 1956 using 4-6-0 #2345.

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Last stop

The leading wide-window Harriman 60' coach.... is it S.P. 1949?  (I can't be sure about the car number, perhaps the original photo has more detail visible.)  S.P. 1949 is a stalwart of the Niles Canyon Railway fleet.  Built in 1911.  We made all new white oak window sash for this car several years ago.

Thanks! - Doug Debs

You couldn't ask for quieter neighbors.

Tony,
But, you know there will be a NIMBY among them.


Nudge

Still a popular place.  Folks are just dying to get in.

Very interesting photo.While not familiar with the area,is this old  ROW the current(approx) BART route.
Regards,dK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/17 15:48 by DKay.

spnudge Wrote:
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> Tony,
> But, you know there will be a NIMBY among them.
>
>
> Nudge


Good one!

The track into Cypress Lawn may be the one built to carry funeral streetcars up into the 1920s (although that would have branched off the Market St. Ry. 40 line). There was a connection between SP and MSRy near the cemetery area.