This year was Winterail's 30th Anniversary and it was decided to do something different Friday night instead of the usual Railfan and Railroad Magazine Pizza Party and Slide Show. I contacted Vic Neves, the producer of Winterail, and he asked if it would be funny, which is what I planned. However, with no speaker time limits, not all presentations were shown. This happened one other year at the Railfan slide show so I was not all that upset. Instead, I decided to write the program and put in the slides of what I would have shown.
Let us get this show going!
Here I am at Lavic, California in 1981 and I wondered why anyone in their right mind would go to Stockton, California for something called Winterail when we all had so many other choices.
I could take one of my local train trips such as going to Solana Beach, 66.6 rail miles from home.
I could go to Cajon Pass to see Santa Fe trains.
Union Pacific trains.
And Southern Pacific trains all in Cajon Pass.
Just down the road, I could be at Beaumont Hill.
The Tehachapi Loop is only three hours from my house in Santa Ana.
Donner Pass is eight hours away.
Another hour north is the Feather River Canyon with the Keddie Wye.
Out in Central Nevada is a favourite of mine, the Nevada Northern.
Out east, one can have plenty of steam at the Western Maryland Scenic Railway.
Another great one is the East Broad Top.
Or the Cass Scenic Railroad.
Or you can participate in some of Bart Jennings' rare mileage trips like this one on the Idaho, Northern and Pacific.
Or on the Central Montana Rail.
Or on the Georgia Southwestern.
One could take a Joe Harper photo charter like this one on the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad.
I could have been up at the Izaak Walton Inn and photographing the Empire Builder on the east side of Marias Pass.
Or, I could be on a train trip like at Minot, North Dakota, really experiencing Winterail at 20 below!
I could be at Princeton Junction photographing the Northeast Corridor after detraining from an Amtrak train.
Or riding Via Rail as in this scene at Jasper, Alberta.
At sunrise at Churchill, Manitoba, a minus 25 degree scene.
Want a warmer climate? How about a train in the Altar Desert in Mexico?
In Mexico, you never knew what you might see!
You could be on a famous mainline excursion such as this one by Southern Pacific 4449. With all these things to do, why would anyone go to Stockton, California. You heard of Winterail, but how would you get there?
You could drive there and railfan along the way, catching the Modesto, Empire and Traction in Modesto.
Or take Amtrak 715 north to Stockton while others flew. But once at Stockton, what would we find?
We found the California Central Traction.
As well as the Stockton Terminal and Eastern.
Or the old Western Pacific that even washed their locomotives for you when you visited their yard. But there would be one thing in Stockton that would draw us all there, Stockton Tower.
Southern Pacific 3764 East passed the mighty Stockton Tower.
Santa Fe 5634 East early one morning.
Amtrak 713 passed Stockton Tower on March 19th, 1999.
Union Pacific 9041 East passed the tower that same day. One year it rained and washed out all the rail lines except for the Santa Fe down the valley.
North of Lodi, on the Central California Traction, a former CCT box car was found.
Amtrak San Joaquin was being put away in Santa Fe's Mormon Yard.
Missouri Pacific locomotives on a rock train on the old Western Pacific at Stockton Tower.
Chicago and North Western caboose 1122 brought up the rear of that train.
Union Pacific 3663 makes its way to the Santa Fe, detouring over their railroad to Daggett before returning to home rails there.
Altamont Commuter Express became a new way for some to get to Stockton for Winterail. We all fell in love with Stockton because of Winterail and all the trains here. But what to do on the way home?
The Sierra Railroad started running railfan specials the day after Winterail.
Or we could always stop by the Tehachapi Loop.
This brings us to the end of our story.
