My plan for this year's events at LAUPT and Fullerton first meant someone would have to host Let's Talk Trains for me as I always hosted the first Saturday of the month, and Elizabeth gladly did that. With that taken care of I needed a plan. Why not take Pacific Surfliner 763 to LAUPT and if we arrived on time, I would have at least 45 minutes to take my pictures and then take Pacific Surfliner 768 back to Fullerton to cover things there? I purchased my Amtrak tickets in advance then that morning drove down to the Santa Ana station and met Robin Bowers who watched my bag as I went to get my weekend pass for after Fullerton. We talked until I heard the horn and set up for my first pictures of the day.
Pacific Surfliner 763 arrived in Santa Ana. Robin and I sat in the cab car with almost all of it roped off for a group. The train stopped in Anaheim and Fullerton before making made its final sprint into Los Angeles. We detrained at LAUPT and started walking over to the railroad displays.
National Train Day 75th Anniversary of LAUPT 5/3/2014
The Southwest Chief train 3 brought Tom Anderson home to Los Angeles so he could help with the LA Rail booth at this event.
The Amtrak Exhibit Train was here for people to tour.
Amtrak P42 42 built by General Electric in 1996 "Salute to America's Veterans" was on this train.
The Los Angeles Live Steamers had four of their engines at this event.
Travel Town display.
A Railway Express Agency truck.
An old police car.
MTA Bus 5193.
Amtrak non-powered control unit 406 (nee FP40PHR 406 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1988) on the Amtrak Exhibit Train.
Metrolink had a display train here.
Interior of the Metrolink safety car 208.
Pacific Harbor Lines MP20B-3 20 built by Motive Power Industries in 2008 from Denver and Rio Grande Western GP40 3079 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1967) was also on display.
Union Pacific C45AH 8155. Next the line of private cars.
Gulf, Mobile and Ohio business car 50 "Patron Tequila Express" built by American Car and Foundry in 1928. In the early 1990's, this car was owned by Hard Rock Cafe co-founder and House of Blues founder Isaac Tigrett. When he was in New Orleans developing the House of Blues, he usually stayed on this car at New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. Eventually, he decided to keep the car in New Orleans and leased a siding. The location next to the French Quarter made it convenient for him to get to work and for entertaining guests. The car had been regularly used by Tigrett's grandfather Ike when he was president of the Gulf, Mobile and Northern and then the Gulf Mobile and Ohio.
"Tioga Pass" built by Canadian National Railway in 1959. It was part of an order for 12 similar cars designed for railroad executives. Originally numbered 23 and later 93, "Tioga Pass" spent most of its life in Edmonton, Alberta. There it served the Vice President of the Mountain Region
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy dome-coach "Silver Splendor", nee "Silver Buckle" built by Budd in 1957. It was assigned to the Denver Zephyr and later became Amtrak 9457.
Southern Pacific 39 seat club-lounge with barber shop and shower 2981 "Overland Trail" built by Pullman-Standard in 1949. It operated on the San Francisco Overland, a train jointly operated by Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and the Chicago & North Western railroads between Chicago and Oakland. It finished its railroad career as a bar/dance car on the Reno Fun Train before being purchased by Bill and Debbie Hatrick.
Santa Fe lounge car "Acoma" built by Budd in 1936 for the Super Chief. It was retired in 1968 and bought by Franklin Conaway in 1971 who preserved it before it was bought by John Bond and Ronald Ashcraft in 1995 and fully restored it.
Santa Fe 10 roomette-6 double bedroom sleeper 2037 "Palm Leaf", ex. Amtrak 2753, nee Santa Fe 1604. Iwas retired in October 1981 and sold in 1982 to private ownership.
Pacific Railroad Society 6 section-4 double bedroom-6 roomette sleeper "National Forum". In 1955 and 1956, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Wabash Railroad, both of whom partnered to run the City of St. Louis, received some of the last sleepers to be built before the advent of Amtrak. In addition, these cars, named in the National series, were also the last passenger cars built with open sections. Although similar in accommodations to the pre-war American (4-6-6) series of cars built for the UP, the Nationals had numerous improvements and modifications. The most notable changes from the Americans design were the placement and design of the four double bedrooms. In the Americans, the double bedrooms were over one of the trucks and closest to the vestibule. This meant that one of the most expensive accommodations were located in the one of the noisiest areas of a passenger car. In the Nationals, the bedrooms were moved to the quieter center of the car, away from the trucks and vestibule. In addition, unlike the American bedrooms, the toilets in the National bedrooms were enclosed.
The Nationals were assigned to the City of Portland, City of Denver and City of St. Louis trains. Numerous changes in the passenger traffic occurred on the UP during the late 1950's and early 1960's. By June 30th, 1968, due to reduction in passenger traffic on the UP and the discontinuance of the City of St. Louis with the merger of the Wabash into the Norfolk and Western, the Nationals' service was relegated to the secondary service on the Denver to Portland Portland Rose. By December 1969, the Portland Rose was history and the Nationals were idle. During the 1970-71 ski seasons, the UP Los Angeles passenger office operated at least two ski trains to Sun Valley utilizing the idle Nationals. In addition, the Union Pacific used the Nationals in special excursion service until the advent of Amtrak in 1971.
Between 1969 and 1971, the Pacific Railroad Society leased "National Forum" and other National cars for excursion service and subsequently purchased "National Forum" in 1971".
ANSCO buffet lounge "Utah", ex. ANSCO "Iowa", exx. private owner "City of Industry", exxx. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 364 "Duncan", nee Minneapolis and St. Louis 56 seat chair car 53 built by Budd in 1948. It was originally equipped with a self-contained heating system for use with the Peoria Lines motorcars.
Pennsylvania Railroad sleeper-lounge RECC 7149 "Colonial Crafts" built by Pullman in 1949 and entered service as part of PRR train 70 for New York. It was retired in 1971 and purchased from Penn Central by Bob Brown who used it as vacation home at museum in Western Pennsylvania. In 1985, it was purchased by Rod and Ellen Fishburn who restored it.
Milwaukee Road business car "Montana" designed and built by the railroad in 1947 as a Tap Lounge for the streamlined 1947 Olympian Hiawatha. It was retired from regular assignments in 1955 and converted to a business car then transferred to private ownership in the late 1970's, leased to the Wisconsin Central then operated on steam excursions with the Friends of the 261. This was the last private car in the line open to the public today.
On the front of the Amtrak car display was Pacific Surfliner F59PHI 453 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1998.
Pacific Business Class car 6852 "Elysian Park" built by Alstom in 2001.
Amtrak sleeper 32065, the former "Mount Rogers", built by Pullman-Standard in 1981.
Amtrak Pacific Parlor Car 39973 "St. Lucia Highlands", nee Santa Fe high-level buffet-lounge 578 built by Budd in 1956. Amtrak aquired the car in 1971 and is one of five they own which has been completely refurbished and are currently used exclusively on Amtrak's Coast Starlight train between Los Angeles and Seattle as a lounge for sleeping car passengers. The car features lounge seating, couches, a theater and dining tables inside.
Amtrak Sightseer lounge car 33019 built by Pullman-Standard in 1981.
Amtrak diner 38031 built by Pullman-Standard in 1980.
Amtrak coach 34045 built by Pullman-Standard in 1979.
The end of the Amtrak cars which were open today.
Coming Home from World War II. From here Robin and I went for a walk to see all the displays down in the station.
Arnold James, better known AJ, was at the American Rail Passenger Heritage Foundation booth.
The stage in the old ticketing area of the station. It was now time to head to Pacific Surfliner 768 to take me to Fullerton.
They have things here for kids of all ages.
The brand new departure boards.
The brand new arrival boards. Robin and I walked down the tunnel then up to Track 8 and boarded the Superliner coach for our trip south to Fullerton, leaving Los Angeles on time.
At the 8th Street coach yard was Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Car DOTX 221, built by Pullman-Standard in 154 as Canadian National 2 compartment-2 double bedroom sleeper-29 seat buffet lounge 1083 "Cap Brule". It later became VIA "Cap Brule" and they sold the car to the Hartwell-Lowe Corporation (Acme Tonopah) as HLC 1847 "Belle McKee".
Amtrak P42 189 "The Heartland Flyer Big Game" was also at the 8th Street Yard.
A Superliner coach with a new San Francisco cable car wrap at Redondo Jct.
Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 had a rod problem so it was not at either event today. I called Let's Talk Trains then relaxed the rest of the way to Fullerton where we detrained but had one last picture to take.
Pacific Surfliner 768. We walked to the other side via stairs at the Harbor Boulevard BNSF bridge.
Fullerton Railroad Days 5/3/2014Fullerton Railroad Days History
The Fullerton depot's new parking lot and the installation of two sidings by the city provided the perfect site for what would be Fullerton Railway Plaza Association's (FRPA) inaugural Railroad Days weekend event in May 1999. It was a spectacular success, attracting 15,000 adults and children over the two days.
The annual event grew yearly to a record 40,000-plus visitors at its 10th anniversary in May 2008. The response verified FRPA's initial belief that a permanent, rail-related attraction at the depot would be well received by the public.
Meanwhile, in 2005, the City of Fullerton began preliminary planning to redevelop the area near the depot, and FRPA was encouraged by city fathers to present plans for a permanent destination attraction to be considered for inclusion in the project. FRPA hired attractions consultant Barry Howard - design concepts creator of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento - to put the organization's dreams onto paper. His vision of an active, educational, learning-can-be-fun approach to the facility marked a new perspective to the static display concept of the past.
From Mr. Howard’s conceptual design study, FRPA developed a prospectus and a business plan for its newly named Southern California Railroad Experience and presented them to the city to be included in the Transportation Center’s planning process. Unfortunately, in December 2008 the proposal was not accepted by the city and FRPA was left to consider other options.
FRPA immediately refocused its efforts on a more regional basis. New vision, mission and goals were adopted; the organization name was changed to Southern California Railway Plaza Association, Inc. and the association began to search for alternative ideas for holding our events and creating a railcar display venue.
We decided that the best choice for the Railroad Days location should have access to the main line at the Fullerton Train Station lot. After several years of research and consideration, SCRPA has acquired six vintage railcars that are on permanent display and open for tours as the Fullerton Train Museum, at the east end of Fullerton train station.
BNSF 7125 West welcomed me to the event. I picked up a Coca Cola at the Santa Fe Cafe then entered the grounds, checking in at the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation booth and found Winston Walker here in the shade of the tent.
Disneyland Railroad 2-4-0 4 "Ernest S Marsh", built by Baldwin in 1925 as Raritan Sand Company 10 in Nixon, New Jersey. It was sold to a scrap dealer in Newark, New Jersey before being sold to the Pine Creek Railroad in Freehold, New Jersey in 1952. In 1957, it was leased to the Cranberry Creek Railroad before being sold in 1958 to W.E.D. Enterprises.
A hand car was here for all to enjoy.
Children enjoy the Garden Railroads here at Fullerton. Now I walked over to the Track 4 platform for pictures of the BNSF engines on display.
BNSF 3GS21C 1301 built by National Railway Equipment in 2014.
BNSF GP60 170, ex. BNSF 8711, nee Santa Fe 4011 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1988.
BNSF Signal Truck 22618. Now it was time to meet AC Adam.
BNSF 4370 East arrived just as Pacific Surfliner 567 arrived. I called Let's Talk Trains to tell them about Fullerton as I finally caught up to AC Adam inside the grounds. We talked for a few minutes before Winston, Christy and I went over to Track 3 to wait for Metrolink 662 which took us to Oceanside to cool off. We returned north on Metrolink 665 with the two of them getting off at Tustin, and then I detrained at Santa Ana. Tomorrow, back to Fullerton Railroad Days 2014.
Fullerton Railroad Days 5/4/2014This morning I went to Oceanside on Pacific Surfliner 562 and just short of Oceanside we passed Pacific Surfliner 565 with low-level equipment and Amtrak Heritage Unit 145 as power. At Oceanside I switched to Metrolink 661 which I took to Fullerton Railroad Days and met Steve Grande and we had a good conversation. Carl Morrison stopped by, as did Cliff Prather of the Orange County Railroad Historical Society. The booth today had the newest wood carving by Jackie Hadnot.
His Super Chief carving.
A closer look at this carving. Once finished, I took Metrolink 662 back to Santa Ana and knowing that Pacific Surfliner 572 had Amtrak 145 on the point, I headed over to the Chestnut Avenue grade crossing and set up, meeting two local railfans here.
Pacific Surfliner 572 at Chestnut Avenue. After that I headed home for the rest of the day.
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