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National Railway Historical Society 1992 Convention Excursions 7/21-26/1992

7/21/1992 I spent the night in Sacramento and the next morning, went to the Putah Creek west of Davis and waited for Southern Pacific 4-8-4 4449 and its Daylight trainset on the last day of its three-day excursion from Portland to San Jose for the NRHS convention. It had travelled from Portland to Klamath Falls, then Klamath Falls to Sacramento and finally Sacramento to San Jose.

Some would say that is the "World's Most Beautiful Train."

7/22/1992

I awoke early to drive to San Jose for the convention, travelling over Altamont Pass and set up to photograph Union Pacific 3985 with the Altamont Pass Limited from below Interstate 580 in the narrow canyon. The steam train put on quite a show of smoke climbing the eastward grade on this very cold and windy morning, after which I hiked back to the car and drove over the pass to Midway to set up for Union Pacific 3985 drifting downgrade then drove to the Motel 6 in San Jose and relaxed the rest of the day, watching television.

I was up early and drove to the Tamien light rail station where I boarded a trolley and rode to Convention Center then walked to the Fairmont Hotel where I received my registration materials and waited for the bus to take the conventioneers to Western Pacific's former San Jose Yard. Here I boarded a coach for the excursion to Oakland. We departed on time and were pulled by the same Western Pacific GP35 that had added to the consist at Niles Junction on July 19th. We ran slowly reversed up the line to the yard at Milpitas where the GP35 left our train and Union Pacific 3985 was added to the point.

Once on the move, we crossed Coyote Creek and travelled north through Warm Springs and Newark then when we had reached Niles Junction, we turned to the west and when we were passed the Southern Pacific crossing, I was on new rail mileage. We went through the small yard at Fremont then crossed Niles Creek and paralleled BART, travelling through Union City and its steel plant then went through Hayward and San Leandro before making our way into Oakland, travelling down the middle of 3rd Street through Oakland's produce district.

We stopped short of Broadway where I detrained for to photograph Union Pacific 3985 and train sitting in the middle of 3rd Street.

I walked the two blocks to the Ferry depot and boarded the Emperor Hornblower for the journey across the San Francisco Bay to San Francisco. We left the dock and I was on the upper level as the ship made its way out into the Inner Harbour with the Alameda Naval Base to the south and the former Western Pacific yard to the north. We navigated into San Francisco Bay and under the Bay Bridge, with downtown San Francisco standing before us then arrived at the Ferry Building and I walked to the BART station, boarding the train and riding under the Bay in the Trans Bay Tube to Richmond, which was my first round trip on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.

Returning to the City, I rode a cable car up California Street and had lunch at the Hard Rock Café, which had one of Martin Barre's guitars on display; he was a guitarist for Jethro Tull. After lunch, I rode a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf then had to walk up the hill two blocks to be able to board a cable car back to Market Street due to the large numbers of people at the Wharf. I took the Route 30 bus to the Caltrain station at 4th and Townsend Streets then walked to the south end of the station and watched the commuter action before Southern Pacific 4-6-2 2472, reversed its train into the depot.

This excursion would complete my circling the Bay and new mileage to Santa Clara. This train was the Daylight consist with a few private cars added behind the steam engine and I opted to ride in the round-end observation car so I could enjoy the rear-facing view. We departed on time and proceeded under the maze of freeway bridges out of San Francisco then through the tunnels and down the Caltrain line to the location of the former Southern Pacific Bayshore yard.

Southern Pacific 2472 performing a photo runby here. The convention excursion travelled south down the Peninsular Line through Milbrae, Burlingame, past the Redwood City depot, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Sunnyvale then at Santa Clara, we joined the line the Coast Starlight used and ran on it the rest of the way to San Jose. I returned to the Fairmont Hotel and rode the light rail back to my car where I drove to the Motel 6, ending an exciting day of train riding.

7/24/1992 While there were tours occurring today, I did not participate in them; instead re-locatin to Pinole via Franklin Canyon to put myself in position for tomorrow's photography.

7/25/1992 I awoke late and went down to the bay to wait for The Senator pulled by Southern Pacific 4449, then returned to Motel 6 in San Jose for one last night.

7/26/1992 Returning to near the Tamien station, I wait for the Coast Daylight, pulled by a the double-headed Southern Pacific 2742 and Southern Pacific 4449, which made a beautiful sight as it steamed past. I then drove over Altamont Pass and took Highway 99 south down the San Joaquin Valley as far as Tulare, where I checked into a Motel 6, then woke up early the next morning and drove home.

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