5/7/1981 I drove to Davis where I would stay with my former friend Brad Tarr at his apartment 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 then made my way to Davis.
5/8/1981 Brad had to work in Woodland so I railfanned around Davism 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, nee Reading 607, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1954.
5/9/1981 I walked to the Davis station to picked up my long-time friend 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 Kathy in 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 very nice visit in Chico, it was time to return 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.
5/10/1981 After saying goodbye to Brad, Jeff and I drove home.
Since it was Sunday morning, we stopped by the deserted Railfair grounds where I found National Railways of Mexico U23-B 10018, built by General Electric in 1980.
We drove down to where the steam crew were refuelling the steam engines, finding Union Pacific 4-8-4 8444, built by American Locomotive Company in 1944 leading Union Pacific 3985 and Southern Pacific 1269.
Behind 8444 was the newly-restored Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 3985, built by American Locomotive Company in 1943. I had seen this in a dead line with the Union Pacific gas turbine locomotives at Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1971.
The last steamer here was Southern Pacific 0-6-0 1269, built by Lima in December 1914.
We started the journey home, stopping in Stockton for a few Western Pacific pictures. Here is a pair of Western Pacific 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 journey down to Los Angeles.
5/13/1981 My friend Bill Compton and I drove to Los Angeles Union Station to find 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 5,000 cubic feet capacity.
After viewing the displays, we drove across the Los Angeles River then hiked in to the bridge over the river and were joined by some other railfans. Just before the excursion train arrived, along came a man with a camera who 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.
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