5/7/1981 I drove myself up to Davis where I would stay with Brad Tarr at his apartment in Davis during my trek to Railfair 1981, Sacramento's inaugural Railfair celebration, a ten-day-long event celebrating California's railroad heritage.
I left at 4:30 AM and drove to Bakersfield where I caught Santa Fe SSB-1200 1237 rebuilt in 1974. I made my way to Davis were Brad and I partied that first night there.
5/8/1981 Brad had to work up in Woodland so I railfanned around Davis seeing both City of San Francisco trains until he returned.
We drove over to Sacramento to the Railfair 1981 site where I photographed Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449 built by Lima in 1941 in the late afternoon sun.
From the Railfair grounds we drove over to Fruitridge where I found California Central Traction RS-1 80 built by the American Locomotive Company in 1949.
Also there was Central California Traction GP9 60 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1954 originally Reading 607. We returned to Davis for another night of partying.
5/9/1981 I went down and picked up Jeff Hartmann off the Spirit of California before Brad and I dropped him off at Railfair for the day. We were then off to visit Brad's sister at Chico.
Along the way at Yuba City, I caught Sacramento Northern GP7 711, nee Western Pacific 711 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1953. After a most wonderful visit at Chico it was all too soon that we had to head back to Sacramento.
In Marysville, I caught Western Pacific 3552 east. We went back via Roseville and found Jeff who had a wonderful day at Railfair 1981 and we returned to Davis for the night.
5/10/81 After saying goodbye to Brad, Jeff and I headed home.
Since it was Sunday morning we stopped by the Railfair grounds which were deserted and I caught National Railroad of Mexico U-23-B 10018 built by General Electric in 1980.
We drove down to where they were refueling the steam engines, finding Union Pacific 4-8-4 8444 built by American Locomotive Company in 1944 leading UP 3985 and SP 1269.
Behind the 8444 was the newly restored Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 3985 built by American Locomotive Company in 1943. I had seen this locomotive in a dead line at Cheyenne, Wyoming with the Union Pacific Gas Turbines in 1971.
The last steamer here was Southern Pacific 0-6-0 1269 built by Lima in December 1914.
We headed home stopping off in Stockton for a few Western Pacific shots. Here is a pair of WP SW9's, 602 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963 and 604 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952. We returned home and from Flimsies Magazine, I learned Southern Pacific 4449 was making a special trip down to Los Angeles.
5/13/1981 Bill Compton and I drove to Los Angeles Union Station finding Southern Pacific 4449 and new Southern Pacific Glasshopper on display. Glasshopper was a joint development project with American Car and Foundry, Cargill and Southern Pacific. It featured four bays, a fiberglass body and 5000 cubic feet capacity.
After viewing the displays, we drove across the Los Angeles River then hiked in to the bridge over the river. Here we were joined by some other fans. Right before Southern Pacific 4449 and train arrived, along came a man with a camera walked across the bridge and set up in front of our photo line.
We managed to get him out of the way before Southern Pacific 4449 steamed out of town.
