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Feather River Express EMY to Portola CA Page 2

Feather River Express Private Varnish Train, Emeryville to Portola CA

August 20, 2010
Photos By Richard Elgenson

"During my Senior year in high school I came up to Portola every chance I could.  Bob invited me onboard for cab rides and introduced me to Guy Hardy who was one of the engineers on the California Zephyr.  Another dream came true when Guy took me from Portola to Oroville and back in the cab of the CZ."

"In 1969, while in my 3rd year of college in San Bernardino I was working the night shift at Mission Tower in Los Angeles for the Santa Fe Railway.  Bob Larson called me just before going off duty at
8:00am.  He told me the trainmaster in Portola was going to hire 10 new employees and he wanted to know if I was interested.   That day I drove up to Portola in time for the last interview at 4pm.  I was hired on the spot.  Soon thereafter I moved to Portola and went to work for the Western Pacific and have lived here since."

   

The Benicia bridge we crossed is barely visible between the highway bridge piers.  Union Pacific autorack yard below our train.









It was soon thereafter that I found myself in Moonlight Dome, the NRHS Promontory Chapter owned car based on the Salt Lake, Garfield and Western Railway in Utah.  The club had a friendly crew of  five mostly retired men.

   

The next car in line was the number 511 full length dome Nenana,  Most of the last 20 years were spent on the Alaska Railroad as a McKinley Explorer car.  Replaced with new ones, the old fleet was surplused to the lower 48.  You can ride this car in southwestern Colorado on the San Luis and Rio Grande Scenic Railway.  Nenana was under the care of Danny Grayson, Jr, from Colorado.

   

At left is a shot aboard the Amtrak Ocean View.  I've been across a good part of the country on this car way back in '06 for the 75th Anniversary Empire Builder.  From what I could tell, it is still in nice shape, though I have heard that it experiences air conditioning problems.  Maybe it should go to Wayne for some work.





Below, on the Tolani, I spotted this passenger with a nice shirt.  As I found out a while later, the person in the backround is the car representative Tom Hazelett.  His shirt made me take a double take after I read "Phil Lesh" on it.  Ok, so this is the second sound media guy aboard.  I spoke with Tom at length at this time and again on the next day.  The interior of the Tolani is impeccablely beautiful.  Riding in a coach like this is the usual in a place like Alaska.  Amtrak, not so much.  She has large windows and plenty of legroom.

   

Next is the Overland Trail, a beloved railcar based in Los Angeles and the first of the LARail cars on the FRX.  This period restored car is a former Southern Pacific lounge barbershop and is out riding the rails often in Southern California as well as across the country.  I've ridden on Overland Trail from San Diego to San Luis Obispo in separate trips and from Oakland to Van Nuys to conclude the FRX trip.  Overland Trail has been to the Port of Los Angeles via the Alameda Corridor for the Educational Outreach Program with the 3751 steamer..  You are assured a comfortable fun time aboard the Overland Trail whether riding locally or across country.  Owner Bill Hatrick feautres themed rides during the year ranging from Pearl Harbor to Memorial Day.  This is a family run private car and their attention to hospitality is tip notch.  A great reason to ride Overland Trail would be on the monthly Santa Barbara Daylight Vino Train.  Another LARail car slated to be part of the FRX, Tioga Pass, was somehow left in Los Angeles due to a mistake.  It would have been quite impressive to have the Tioga Pass as the first car of the train with her open platform at the front of the train.

  


The Pony Express is destined to be a meeting point for many passengers in the next few days.  The WP RR Museum had a table set up with many desireable gifts for sale.  On board handling the cashier duties was Eugene Vicknair  On the return trip, I spent a few minutes racking up a charge which included joining the museum.  "The Pony" as owner Stan Garner calls her, is a former Canadian Pacific horse baggage car.  In fact, large doors on one end are evidence of a prior life for the Pony.  Now, she is filled with modern day conforts and a nice standup bar.  The baggage doors stay open all the way to Portola and are a great vantage point for the photographers.








The Silver Splendor is a car which had been under restoration for about 12 years.  Newly finished and in demand on the rails, she features seats and tables in both levels.  I managed to steal a ride on her to home and the dome is the finest place to be to view Point Conception and Vandenberg Air Force Base.  The story of Silver Splendor being returned to the rails is heartwarming.  Not just another dome car on the FRX, Silver Splendor is a new jewell in the LARail stable.  She is owned and run by John Caestacker.

   

Chris' story continued "In 1982 Norman Holmes started expressing an interest in forming a railroad museum in Portola to preserve the history of the Western Pacific. Several WP employees including myself joined up with Norman to form the Feather River Rail Society and the Portola Railroad Museum in 1983.   Little did we know at the time that we would go down as being the founding fathers of such a well known and popular organization and railroad museum.  I am proud to have been on the first board of directors for the society and formed the museum gift shop in Portola in 1983."

"It was then, that my dream became an obsession.   It was fueled even  more with the 1st Annual Feather River Railroad Days in Portola held  in August of 1983.  In 1984 I got into the rail tour business of which I have been involved in running train and railroad tours all around the world.  Over the next 25 years I was able to run well over 500 charter trains in 47 countries, but still not one in my beloved Feather River Canyon."


Feather River Express continued