Monday, April 1, 2013

Trains and Rails! I love them!

Train Barn Sacramento California
There isn't much that I enjoy more than trains. 
My Grandfather was an employee of the Santa Fe for 35 years. Trains are in my blood! 

First Engine to cross the Sierra Pass on the Trans Atlantic Railroad. It was destined to become scrap during the second World War, but was hidden. It was re-located in 1998 and restored, then placed here in the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

This is one of the smaller engines, it probably served on a railway between Truckee Ca. and Virginia City, Nevada. 

See that ghostly little face? It's Jr. 

This is one of the very largest engines ever built. Weighs something like 35 tons. It is  now one of eight still  'living', the other have been scrapped for the WWII metal drives.


Inside the Mail Car.


I live in Martinez. Over eighty trains a day come through here, some going East, some West, Some South. This is the Union or Southern Pacific tracks- now run by Amtrak  There is a Santa Fe rail about five miles closer to my house that carries only freight trains. It has a spectacular trestle over the road, which I haven't photographed yet, and a long tunnel. I'll try to get some photos of those before the challenge is over.