Steam & Excursion > 80 Years Ago Yesterday Western Railfaning Began With This Trip!

It was exactly 80 years ago yesterday that the very first Railfan excursion took place in the West. With this single trip the era of railfan excursions began.

It was on May 20, 1937 that a trainload of early railfans left Sacramento, California on a special Southern Pacific train bound for Colfax, California. Waiting for them at the depot in Colfax was Nevada County Narrow Gauge 2-8-0 #9 and her string of old wooden narrow gauge passenger cars.

The railfans climbed in the cars and soon were found on the roofs of the cars and on the tender of the engine itself for most of the trip. Stops were made along the way at Bear River Bridge, Chicago Park and finally at Grass Valley where the NCNG shops were open and all available steam power was spotted outside for photos.

In this W. Sievers photo taken on the glorious day we see the railfans watching #9 being turned on the Armstrong wooden turntable at Grass Valley in preparation for her return to Colfax. The informality of the trip is quite evident in this fine photo.

80 years has passed by so fast in this hobby. It all started with this wonderful trip on that beautiful Spring day.

Martin



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/17 05:09 by LoggerHogger.

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Sadly, roof, tender, and loco riding would never be allowed today! I wonder if any of those early railfans suffered any sorts of injuries? Highly doubt it. Personal responsibility is sadly a thing of the past.

Here is what the trip ridership looked like.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/17 06:35 by LoggerHogger.

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I'm surprised someone didn't yell at those people for ruining everyone's old timey photos. At least they didn't use a diesel in the consist. ;-)

It was about the fun and comraderie back then, not egos and thinking you own the entire scene.

Dave

And the sun always shone, no one ever ran out of film, the train was always on time, nothing ever broke down...yeah, right...

If you go back and read the club newsletters from the 1940's, you'll find many editorials and guest editorials telling fans to shape up, quit pretending like they owned the railroad, and in general stop making themselves unwelcome on railroad property. Oh, and also how the hobby is doomed because all the interesting stuff is gone, or folks aren't enjoying excursions "the right way," etc. Turns out it was all crap then, too.

Love the woman in high heels on the running board

I still remember the Trains article on the Sierra trips where the charter hosts had tape sheets of paper
over the locomotive drivers to ruin non-paying people's shots. Yup, wasn't quite all as bucolic as the
pictures might indicate.

Out

Martin:

Thanks for posting the great photos. The NCNG was an interesting line running through some pretty landscapes. The connection it made with the SP in Colfax was also nice. The comparison of those NCNG tea kettles next to some massive SP locos sort of put things into perspective. Coincidentally, my uncle was Fred Hawke Jr. His dad was an engineer on the NCNG and Fred Jr. inherited a old NCNG speeder which he kept out behind his garage. We'd go visit in the summer when school was out and I (unfortunately) never paid much attention to the speeder. I was very young back then and was more pre-occupied by watching those big AC's dragging freights up the hill and literally shaking things up in Colfax!

Maybe as kids we just appreciated the moment and the experience at the time. Enjoy the moment, smell the smoke and listen to the exhaust fade in the distance.

Here is an old shot of the Colfax Depot where the NCNG and SP met.

Martin

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Men in suits, women in dresses, people climbing over everything-what country was this taken in?

Tom

Looks like if you stepped in the wrong place on the combine's roof, you might end up inside of it!

-John

Martin:

Thanks for the nice photo that illustrates the point perfectly regarding the scale of the two railroads side-by-side.

I'm beginning to think that if I asked about a CP hand car with a tiny snow plow attached heading up Donner Pass, you'd post a photo!

John

sixbit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Martin:
>
> Thanks for the nice photo that illustrates the
> point perfectly regarding the scale of the two
> railroads side-by-side.
>
> I'm beginning to think that if I asked about a CP
> hand car with a tiny snow plow attached heading up
> Donner Pass, you'd post a photo!
>
> John

John,

I could, do you want a photo with just one man on the car or one with a man and his dog?

Martin

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And the sun always shone, no one ever ran out of
> film, the train was always on time, nothing ever
> broke down...yeah, right...
>
> If you go back and read the club newsletters from
> the 1940's, you'll find many editorials and guest
> editorials telling fans to shape up, quit
> pretending like they owned the railroad, and in
> general stop making themselves unwelcome on
> railroad property. Oh, and also how the hobby is
> doomed because all the interesting stuff is gone,
> or folks aren't enjoying excursions "the right
> way," etc. Turns out it was all crap then, too.

It is my esteemed opinion that our hobby would fall apart if we had nothing to complain about.

EO

LOL!!

I just KNEW you had one!

John

I've seen photos of this excursion before, but what I can't understand is just why you'd want to ride on the roof of the coach or the running board of the 9. Why? One thing - you'd sure get filthy! It is really amazing that NCNG allowed it, not for liability reasons, but so their equipment wouldn't get damaged, like putting a foot through the roof of the coach. Amazing times.

Lee Hower - Sacramento

According to Pacific Railroad Society's 25th anniversary publication, the first railfan excursion in the West took place on February 14, 1937 when 19 members of Railroad Boosters (predecessor of the PRS) rode from LA to San Bernardino and back on Santa Fe trains 10 and 9.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/17 17:37 by johnsweetser.

LoggerHogger wrote of the third photo:

> Here is an old shot of the Colfax Depot where the NCNG and SP met.

Actually, the Colfax passenger depot is out of the frame to the left. The building in the center (between the SP tracks and the NCNG tracks) is the Railway Express building while the building to its right is identified as a "Lunch Counter" on the Colfax map on pgs. 90-91 of Signor' Donner Pass book.

The building in the right background with the three windows on the end with awnings is the Colfax freight depot (built in 1882, I believe). It was moved to the west side of the SP main line (as seen in this photo) sometime after 1915, so LoggerHogger's photo was taken sometime after 1915.

Both the Colfax passenger depot and the Colfax freight depot still survive.

On Saturday May 20,2017,the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society redid this trip by bus from Sacramento,Colfax to Nevada City with 45 members with a BBQ at the NCNG museum follow by a tour and a railbus ride on the narrow gauge.....