Steam & Excursion > In The Days Of Steam, These Photos Were All Part Of The Ritual!

The steam excursion train was something started by railfans in the West in the late 1930's.  By 1947, when this photo of Southern Pacific #1707 was snapped, they had become quite popular.  One of the rituals for such trips was to have the crew of the train pose for a photo during photo stops.  In this case the conductor was more than happy to oblige during the water stop.

In a few minutes, he will give the "all aboard" and the railfans will board the train and continue on to the next photo stop.  It was all part of the ritual of the railfan excursion.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/19 03:59 by LoggerHogger.

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Lots of details in this wonderful photo Martin; but that sign above the section house door has me stumped; "No Accident Cans". I haven't seen anything like that before.
Do you have any more info about location?

Charlie

Charlie,

I read the sign to say; "No Accident Gang".   Here is the proof.


Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/19 03:51 by LoggerHogger.

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LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Charlie,
>
> I read the sign to say; "No Accident Gang".  I
> might be wrong.  I will check the original when I
> get home.

Now that's better!, as I put my books away. Thanks.

Charlie

 

This was the June 15, 1947 Napa Valley Branch excursion from Oakland to Calistoga put on by the California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society.  There were 320 passengers. Fare was $4.65 according to this old post from TonyJ: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2333354,2333354

# 3310 was added to the train as a helper over Jameson Canyon Hill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/19 14:22 by johnsweetser.

My magnifying glass reads cans.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Yup...cans

Chris

Could an Accident Can be a First-Aid Kit?

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

Thanks johnsweetser and TonyJ for the information and the links.

Doing a little more research regarding the location of this photo and using a 1945 SP employee timetable (courtesy Ed Gibson's wx4.org website),
I find that there was no wye available at Calistoga to turn the train but there was a turn-table which explains why the 1707 is coupled
to the platform end of the heavyweight observation car and it appears the train was backing toward Oakland after running to the end of the Napa Branch.
Also, once they had left Suisun-Fairfield on the outbound leg the only engine water available was at Cordelia, Napa Jct., (and this timetable has a note
about not taking water there if practicable), and Napa. There was no water at Calistoga so that seems to narrow down the options to Napa if indeed
they stopped there for water instead of merely taking a picture of the conductor, which I highly doubt.  I vote for Napa. Thanks again, Martin.

Charlie


 
 

I posted the enlargement of the sign above.  It reads as I first stated, "No Accident Gang".

Martin

An earlier form of safety record recognition. Very nice!
Thanks for this.

Charlie