Welcome back to our 2023 road trip to the Pacific Northwest! After Barstow, we continued west to Bakersfield where we spent the night and caught the Amtrak San Joaquins the next morning as it departed for Stockton. The San Joaquins is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Six daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento and Oakland.
One of the things I was really looking forward to on the trip was visiting the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The museum has numerous exhibits and historic rolling stock.
Near the entrance are exhibits about what it was like to engineer and build the first railroad in California. Everything had to be brought in by rail up to the end of the existing line. Before that could happen, surveyors had to plot a course through the terrain to avoid steep grades and tight curves. This meant camping in the wilderness.
There is also a life size display of a snow shed being built.
Georgia Northern Gold Coast
The Gold Coast was the first private railcar of Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. They purchased the car in 1948. With the help of friend and Hollywood set designer, Robert Hanley, they transformed the car with all the amenities they would need for luxurious rail travel, including a fireplace. We couldn’t go inside the car, but looking through the windows gives hints to what it’s like.
Farm to Fork
Refrigerator cars, or “reefers,” had an enormous impact on California’s agricultural history. Before refrigerator cars were perfected, most of California’s perishable produce could only be sold locally, thereby limiting the state’s agricultural potential. Experiments with refrigerator cars began in the 1860s and by 1872 meat was being shipped successfully within the Eastern states. By 1887 wholesale meat shipping was reliable enough to allow Midwestern cities such as Chicago and Kansas City to become national meat packing centers.
Great Northern Sleeper
The railroad sleeping car once offered the ultimate in long-distance travel comfort. The St. Hyacinthe is typical of all-steel Pullman type sleeping cars of the heavyweight era, the period between 1907 and the mid-1930s. Canadian National Railways Sleeping Car No. 1683 was delivered in 1929 by Canadian Car & Foundry Company of Montreal.
Cochiti Diner
The 36-seat Cochiti was ordered by Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in April 1936, one in a set of eight cars for a new streamlined stainless steel train - the once a week first class Super Chief running between Chicago and Los Angeles. A fine meal in the Cochiti was a gourmet experience.
Great Northern RPO 42
Great Northern Railway Post Office car No. 42 is one of six streamlined baggage-mail cars built for the Great Northern Railway by American Car & Foundry Company in 1950.
SP 4294
Southern Pacific 4294 is a class "AC-12" 4-8-8-2 Cab forward steam locomotive that was owned and operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1944 and was used hauling SP's trains over the Sierra Nevada, often working on Donner Pass in California.
AMTK 281
The 281 was built in 1978 and spent most of its career with Amtrak based out of Chicago. Toward the end of its days with Amtrak, it was also leased out for freight service. In late 2001, the 281 was acquired by the California State Railroad Museum as an example of second generation passenger diesel power in the United States.
AT&SF 347C
Santa Fe had visions of a company museum, and was wise enough to hang onto a variety of locomotives with that in mind. It never happened, of course, and the collection was donated to the museum. Interestingly, the 347C never wore the Warbonnet colors with that number, as it was repainted into the Yellow Warbonnet scheme when renumbered from its second number - 306C. It was originally ATSF 39C.
SP 2467
Southern Pacific Railroad 2467 is a preserved 4-6-2 “Pacific” type steam locomotive. Built by Baldwin in 1921, it was used by the Southern Pacific Railroad to pull passenger trains until it was retired from service in 1956.
Stanford
Gov. Stanford is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive originally built in 1862 by Norris Locomotive Works. It was used in the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in North America by Central Pacific Railroad bearing road number 1. It was Central Pacific's first locomotive and it is named in honor of the road's first president and ex-California governor, Leland Stanford.
Dayton
The Dayton, a 4-4-0 "American", was built in 1873 by the Central Pacific Railroad, in Sacramento, California, and was based on the design of the CP's 173 engine.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of the California Railroad Museum and we look forward to bringing you more railroad videos from our trip! Please like this video and subscribe to our channel!
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