For once we got here early and I took my program into Evan Werkema to copy onto his computer. I enjoyed a Coca-Cola as everyone else ate pizza and we entered the theater at 6:00 PM. Paul Jansson showed Union Pacific Yuma Sub as a slide show. Bruce Blackadar showed Northern Nevada east of Reno. Greg Molloy showed a short presentation about the NRHS 2014 Convention in Springdale, Arkansas. Steve Barry showed the Alaska NRHS Convention Highlights. Mike Pechnar showed NWP Steam Engine Memories. Elrond Lawrence showed the NRHS Railcamp and his Searchlight Signal program. Drew Jacksich took his longest trip ever and covered a lot of different steam and diesel operations. Matthew Vurek showed a video of the White Pass and Yukon. Steve Crise showed the Union Pacific 4014 move from Pomona Fairgrounds. Chris Guenzler showed "A Year of Trains in the Life of Chris Guenzler 2013". We wrapped up the evening at 9:35 PM and we returned to the Red Roof Inn for the night.
3/8/2014 We met at the car at 7:00 AM and went to the dirt lot across from the ACE Station in Stockton and parked.
The Southern Pacific station in Stockton.
Amtrak's San Joaquin 702 came in to the ACE Station and loaded in the street before he left Stockton.
Union Pacific 4029 South came through Stockton right after Amtrak 702 cleared. We went to Perko's for breakfast and I had French Toast and sausage. After that we drove over to Winterail.
Winterail 2014 3/8/2014Our E Tickets got us into the theater early once we arrived and we got to save our seats before we went to the swap meet. I got the Charlie Smiley DVD "The Hard Coal Roads What went wrong", and a Frisco Employee Timetable Southwestern Division. I called Lets Talk Trains and then had a Coca-Cola in the car. We then went into the theater and at 11:00 AM we had the Pre-show Announcements and then at 11:15 we had our first show "Nevada in 3D" by Howard Goldbaum & Wendall Huffman. The second half of this show we had to wear 3D glasses to see the images and we all returned them after the show. At 12:05 PM we had a short film of "So you want to be a model railroader" from 1955 which made me laugh most of the way through it. During the lunch break we ran over to KFC for me and MacDonald's for Chris Parker. The show started again at 1:00 PM with a two part program by Steve Carter called "Night Tracks" and "From Black to White". At 1:40 PM we had a program by Evan Werkema called "Oakland Terminal: A History and Appreciation". This was a good history lesson on this former railroad. At 2:45 PM Ted Smith-Peterson gave us two programs called "Nocturnal Ascension of Donner Pass" and "Auroral Winter on the Alaska Railroad." Next came the Shorts: "Forty Years Gone - A tribute to the Milwaukee Road" by Ed Lynch and "Rail Dances II" by B. Doug Jensen. That was followed by the "Three Favorites". Next it was the dinner break.
We went to the Sizzler on Hammer Lane and I enjoyed a good steak in a rather quick fashion. We were joined for this meal by Bill Davidson. After dinner we went down to Stockton Crossing where the building on the northwest side had been removed for a future connecting track in that area so the BNSF trains from Richmond will be able to turn onto the old SP and then WP routings north.
Amtrak San Joaquin train 715 crossed the Union Pacific at Stockton.
The ice cream truck stopped by and made a little unexpected profit here today.
Amtrak San Joaquin 703 left the rails of the Union Pacific for those of the BNSF.
Next a Union Pacific light engine move with the UP 717 playing the part. We went over to the main Amtrak station in Stockton when we saw we had an eastbound green signal.
The Stockton Santa Fe Station.
BNSF 5427 East came through the Stockton Santa Fe station. We returned to Winterail.
At 7:00 PM the photo contest winners were announced, Special Awards Presentation were given out and Dale Sanders was the winner of the Winterail Hall of Fame Award. The first of the evening programs was a short program by Steve Crise called "Rails". At 7:45 PM Dale Sanders did a program called "Dale and Kenny's Excellent Adventures". At 8:30 PM we had a program by Tom Taylor called "Negative Memories 1966-1973". At 9:10 PM the final program was by Bob Zenk called "SP 9010: The Last Krauss-Maffei". With that one done we can call it the end of the 36 Winterail programs. We returned to the Red Roof Inn for the night.
3/9/2014 We got up at 6:15 AM and met the Bobs at the car. We drove Bob Riskie over to the ACE Station
and we headed down Escalon and just east of there we found our first train of the day.
BNSF 130 East at Escalon. From here we headed to Riverbank setting up at the bridge over the BNSF mainline.
BNSF 8029 West at Riverbank. Now we waited for train 702 with Bob Riskie aboard to pass beneath us.
Amtrak San Joaquin 702 came into Riverbank. From here we headed south to the Tuolumne River Bridge at set up for pictures.
Amtrak low level San Joaquin 711 came into Empire as it crossed the Tuolumne River Bridge. We followed the tracks to Merced where we stopped at MacDonald's for breakfast with me having Hot Cakes and sausage. We then gassed up the rental car and then headed back over to the BNSF mainline.
Before we got to our road Amtrak San Joaquin 701 for Sacramento came running in front of us. From here we headed to the other wooden bridge at Deadman Creek which I had never photographed a train on.
Amtrak San Joaquin 712 for Bakersfield came through first.
BNSF 7117 West as a light engine move crossed the Deadman Creek trestle. From here we went back to CA 99 and found a southbound Union Pacific train at Irragosa.
Union Pacific 8084 South in the siding at Irrigosa.
Union Pacific 8614 North at Irrigosa.
Union Pacific 8084 South leaving the siding at Irrigosa.
Railfan Chasing Trains as the train crossed the San Joaquin River. We drove into Fresno and found freight cars on the San Joaquin Valley Railroad bridge. We got off the freeway and found a San Joaquin Valley Railroad train switching. We drove into the Belmont Memorial Cemetery to get pictures of it.
San Joaquin Valley Railroad BL-20-2 2122.
The San Joaquin Valley Railroad train from behind the Belmont Memorial Cemetery. We headed back to CA 99 to Selma and took CA 43 back south to the BNSF mainline south of Corcoran.
BNSF 7083 West just south of Allensworth.
Amtrak San Joaquin 716 further south of Allensworth. From here we went to Shafter in search of one last set of pictures south of Shafter on CA 43.
Pacific Electric trolley 466 is part of the Red Wagon Cafe. It was placed here in 1943 and started out as a bar before the current owners turned it into a cafe. Funny thing is I had been by here on many trips and never noticed it until today. From here we drove straight to LA Union Station where I said goodbye to Chris Parker and Bob. Ken Ruben met us to get the stuff we picked up for him at Winterail. I then boarded Pacific Surfliner 784 for home to Santa Ana. I started working on the story for today and got halfway through before we arrived into Santa Ana. I drove home ending yet another excellent Winterail adventure.
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