Nostalgia & History > "Circle the Wagons" & The Stripped Car...

When Friday, July 1st, 1994 dawned bright and beautiful for the famous UPRR trip from FREMONT, CA to Portola, "Hal Lewis" of the Pacific Limited Group gave everybody strict instructions NOT to park their car in the UPRR Yard or risk having it towed away.. I believe this warning was also on the flyers distributed to the Public..
UP passengers were to ride the "shuttle bus" between the Fremont Headquarters Hotel site and the UPRR Yard where our journey to Portola would begin...

When KRK and others were in the Baggage Car waiting our 0830 departure, a man and woman suddenly drove up on the ballast, near the train side, and right by a switch stand and being late, made a dash for the train...
I personally stopped them and said if they left their car parked there, UPRR would have it towed.
In a fit of wild excitement, the driver wanted to know where the hell he could park his car at such short notice..
I told him not to park outside the UPRR property on the public street as the local residents might think it was abandoned.

"Where then, Man" ? was his loud remark. "The train is leaving"... I thought for a quick second and told him to park under the "large tree" just inside the gate to UPRR property. He would then be parked "far enough" away from UPRR operations and tracks that they probably wouldn't even notice, until after he returned early Monday evening from the trip...

He did as I said and they made the train departure by the skin of their teeth, as Steve Lee opened the throttle and away we went for a four day adventure..
This same couple decided while in Portola, to join the Pac Limited folks and go to RENO for "that adventure" ...

When the UP train returned to FREMONT on Monday evening, July 4th at about 7:00 PM, everybody went their separate ways and said goodbyes and rode the "shuttle bus" to the hotel..
The "Couple" left the train and walked the distance to where he parked his car on the previous Friday...

Are you guys ready for the punchline to this Story ??

OK--
The couple's CAR was "totally stripped" to a BARE METAL SHELL !!! No carpets, wiring, parts, or anything !!
GONE !!!!
The couple was LIVID and marched back to the train and angrily confronted "Hal Lewis" and others from the NRHS...
I had a "bad feeling" about what he might do to ME so I stayed onboard and rode down the Milpitas leg of the WYE to turn the train around. When I returned on the train about an hour later, most folks, including the couple, were long gone. I then departed for home by hitching a ride from a friend who picked me up...
Thence ends still another saga in the tale of the "Circle the Wagons" UPRR extravaganza... (grin)...

"Key Route Ken"...