California State RR Museum

Prakash Tendulkar June 01, 2008

I have visited California State RR Museum several times in last two decades. Past visitors as my guests are Subbu, Navin Jain and Gopal Ayyar. Add Shri B.M.S. Bisht, ex-GM, NFR and his wife to this list.

We visited CSRM on June 01,2008 and the major change was excursion train was hauled by diesel loco rather than traditional steam. Regular steam loco was going through routine maintenance and should be back in couple of weeks.

Shri and Mrs. Bisht at CSRM.

At the gallery showing trainwomen at work in North America after WWII.

Section of floor as seen from Cab Forward SP #4294. Mrs. Bisht is trying to take picture from foreground. In the back are doors to turntable. Displays are rotated frequently by sung restored locos that are stored at workshop. http://tinyurl.com/2d5uq4

Tender of SP # 4294 in the background.

Mrs. Bisht at Engineer's seat of SP # 4294 with fireman Shri Bisht looking at intruder (i.e. me).

Mr. and Mrs. Bisht in cab of SP # 4294 with ex-SP employee.

#4294 as viewd from 2nd floor gallery. It is impossible to capture entire loco in one frame given her size and physical location at museum. More on # 4294 at http://tinyurl.com/5fnodk

Checking dining car service.

WDM1 look alike although it is B0-B0 and not C0-C0.

Aboard excursion train

At Sacramento Station

Late running Coast Starlight

This loco appears to have been hit by RR crossing accident

Auto Start warning

Coincidence? May be. This loco is exactly 7 years old that day.

Last but not the least. Please do not compare California State RR Museum (CSRM) with NRM in New Delhi.

CSRM foundation was created by die-hard rail fans and not by government.

During tenure of Ronald Reagan as Governor of California, it was decided to assimilate her in California Department of Parks while retaining her freedom of operation.

She has hundreds of volunteers and donors. May I count these numbers for NRM on palm of one hand?

She has corporate sponsors like UPRR and BNSF. Her workshop is partially staffed by these two giant RRs. NRM has to beg to workshops like Jamalpur for help.

Considering the resources NRM has, she has done a great job. I specifically mention Shri Rajesh Aggarwal and Shri Mehra for their contribution to NRM. There are others, too but I am not aware of them. My sincere apology for omitting them due to my ignorance.