This segment of my travelogue covers our jouney in the Overland Trail private lounge car pulled by the Santa Fe 3751 steam locomotive from Bakersfield to Stockton along the route of the Amtrak San Joaquins on our way to Railfair'99 in Sacramento, California.
Click here to view video clips.
If you have any difficulty with the above links, please send e-mail to me about which link is broken. Since I am uploading all these files from the hotel each night, I do not have the time to review them all. I have selected just the video clips that I thought were worthwhile, but I have not had the time to filter which photos are not worth posting. Thus, for now, I have posted all of the photos that we took.
Format:
YEAR MON DA DAY Actual-Departure-Time (Scheduled-Departure-Time) Time Zone
1999 JUN 15 TUE 06:30 Pacific Time Bakersfield, CA
1999 JUN 15 TUE 08:08 Pacific Time Bakersfield, CA
CH 84 (161.370) Bakersfield Yardmaster
Yard Engine 6764 just hooked up to us and is starting to pull us south. The cars were pulled a few yards down the tracks. A hose was brought up under the car to fill the water tanks.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 08:34 Pacific Time Bakersfield, CA
The Yardmaster started to get a bit impatient. He said: "We've got to get this train going, are you ready?" He didn't seem to happy when the reply came back that the cars were taking on water. The Yardmaster just replied: "We've got to get going. Turn off the water and close it up. They don't need to top off the tanks."
Within a couple of minutes we began to be pulled south again on our way to the main track.
There was a surprisingly small turnout at Bakersfield to see the 3751. Maybe there is too much rail activity in Bakersfield and a steam locomotive just isn't novel enough. By the time that we were ready to leave there were about a dozen or so people scattered about watching the train.
They attached the steam locomotive to the rest of the train and we were all set to head out. The trainset was then moved from Mile Post 887.7 into the Bakersfield Amtrak Station to spot for ice. A couple of our crew members got on at the platform.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 09:05 Pacific Time Bakersfield, CA
The Santa Fe 3751 Steam Locomotive blew its whistle and we are on our way!
The locomotive engineer blew the whistle a few more times as we headed out though the Bakersfield oil fields.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 09:29 Pacific Time MP 0900.0 CH 55 (160.935)
Between Bakersfield and Wasco, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 09:52 Pacific Time MP 0921.0 CH 55 (160.935)
Between Wasco and Corcoran, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 10:09 Pacific Time
The Dispatcher instructed our train to pull into a siding to let 3 freight trains pass. There are quite a few cars chasing us up the road. They have a bit of a difficult time following us when the road heads away from the road, but they do have plenty of opportunity to catch up to us when we make stops like this to await passing freight.
The first freight train to pass us was a bi-level blue and silver one full of passengers: Amtrak San Joaquin 702!
1999 JUN 15 TUE 10:27 Pacific Time - Allensworth (MP 932.3)
The Dispatcher just said: "Steam Engine 3751, blow your whistle freely!"
1999 JUN 15 TUE 11:10 Pacific Time
On the move again!
1999 JUN 15 TUE 11:27 Pacific Time MP 0943.7 CH 55 (160.935)
Between Wasco and Corcoran, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 11:36 Pacific Time Corcoran, CA
1999 JUN 15 TUE 11:53 Pacific Time MP 0962.0 CH 55 (160.935)
Between Corcoran and Hanford, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 12:07 Pacific Time
The Dispatcher instructed us to stop in a sidding to let a "hot freight" go by.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 12:22 Pacific Time
The "hot freight" was a southbound Amtrak San Joaquin 712. The ditch light on the engineer's side was burnt out on the Amtrak train.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 12:29 Pacific Time
A southbound freight passed us while we were in the siding. They asked over the radio: "Where are the ditch lights on that thing?" The response came back: "We're exempt!"
1999 JUN 15 TUE 12:59 Pacific Time MP 0987.0 CH 55 (160.935)
Between Hanford and Fresno, CA.
We pulled forward to Calwa, just short of Fresno, and changed crew.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 13:34 Pacific Time - Fresno, CA CH 55 (160.935)
Three trucks from the Fresno Fire Department pulled up to our railcar and the railcar behind us. Two were smaller type trucks that supervisors use and the third looked like an emergency response vehicle. I didn't think anyone had been injured, but the large truck did not look like a water pump truck. But, I was wrong! It was a water pump truck and they provided water to our two private cars! Not only did they provide water for us, which we greatly appreciated, but they also provided us with a watermelon!
While we were approaching Fresno, I saw Daniel Monroe waving to me from outside. David is a frequent visitor to the TrainWeb site. After we stopped at Fresno, Ray Burns ran into David and Margaret Monroe and took their photograph seen below.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 14:26 Pacific Time Fresno, CA Departure
1999 JUN 15 TUE 14:41 Pacific Time MP 1010.0 CH 36 (160.650)
Between Fresno and Madera, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 15:03 Pacific Time MP 1029.3 CH 36 (160.650)
Between Madera and Merced, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 15:27 Pacific Time MP 1051.1 CH 36 (160.650)
Between Madera and Merced, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 15:59 Pacific Time MP 1076.2 CH 36 (160.650)
Between Merced and Denair, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 17:37 Pacific Time MP 1099.1 CH 36 (160.650)
Between Riverbank and Stockton, CA.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 16:22 Pacific Time CH 36 (160.650)
Over the radio we heard instructions to enter a siding short of the station at Riverbank to wait for two trains to go by.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 16:36 Pacific Time CH 36 (160.650)
One freight went by, then a northbound Amtrak San Joaquin, and then another freight train.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 17:32 Pacific Time
We headed out again!
1999 JUN 15 TUE 17:39 Pacific Time CH 36 (160.650)
Over the radio I heard: "Bill Hatrick, Bill Hatrick". Bill is the owner of the Overland Trail private car. I had no idea what that was all about and nothing further was said on the radio on that topic!
1999 JUN 15 TUE 18:35 Pacific Time Mormon Tower
I don't recall the exact time that we arrived at the Stockton Amtrak Station. We were only at the station for a short while before we headed into the Union Pacific Yard. We passed by where the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) trains are stored as we were placed into one of the sidings in the yard. Our train was kept together with the steam engine in front and our private cars at the rear. The consist was placed way in the back of the yard quite far from the exit from the facility.
Ray and I packed up what we would need at the hotel for the evening and headed out of the private cars. We took a few photos around the tool car and the diesel locomotive and spoke with the locomotive engineers and a number of other crew members. We took photos of some of the crew members.
Warren Scholl
Hank Graham
Paul Prine
Bill Hatrick and his girls in the cab of the Santa Fe 3751
The BNSF diesel locomotive in our consist.
1999 JUN 15 TUE 20:00 Pacific Time Stockton UP Yard
Ray and I walked all the way down through the Union Pacific Yard. We walked by the parked Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) trains and were almost to the yard exit. John drove up beside us in a van marked "3751". Bill Hatrick's family and Andrew were already in the van. We hopped in and rode with them to a nearby Denny's Restaurant. From there we took a taxi to our hotel.
A big thanks from TrainWeb to those of you that have spread the word about TrainWeb's coverage of this event to the railroad clubs and organizations to which you belong and to the railroad newsgroups, forums and chat sessions in which you participate! Please do continue to get the word out to those rail organzitions and internet lists that are not yet aware of this event!
Because we are on the inside, we have not been able to get too many photos of the 3751 from the outside while it is in motion. If you have good photos of the 3751 in motion that you would like to share with everyone, please e-mail them to me. Also, we'd like copies of photos or videos that show the Overland Trail. If you have such photos or videos, we'd greatly appreciate a copy! Photos can be sent via e-mail or postal mail. Videos can be sent to TrainWeb at 124 East Santa Fe Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92832. Please only send copies of your materials and no originals. Also, if any of you have local newspaper clippings or other coverage of this event, we'd greatly appreciate copies of those! We were able to obtain very few newspapers that covered this event during the trip but many people have told us the event was covered in serval local newspapers. Thanks!
Check TrainWeb on Thursday night, June 16, 1999, when I upload the final segment of the northbound journey of the Santa Fe 3751 steam train from Stockton to Sacramento!
Click herefor the next segment of this rail journey.
Click herefor the previous segment of this rail journey.
