On Saturday, Luca and his friend Kai rode on an Amtrak to Sacramento, to visit the California State Railway Museum. Luca was so excited the night before that he couldn’t fall asleep for several hours, and woke up bright and early on Saturday, ready to go. On the Amtrak, we drove right past the oil refineries, where we saw a train getting its tank cars filled with oil and tanker ships delivering the oil; past the BART yard where we saw the trains going through the BART wash; through the center of the C&H cane sugar factory, where we saw all the tanks and pipes where sugar is made; past the car loading dock under the freeway as cars were being loaded onto a train; over several bridges; past numerous fields; past RV camps and truck junkyards. By the time we got to Sacramento, Luca and Kai had already seen more than they ever imagined. But at the train museum there were trains of all sizes and kinds: the first ever steam engine; the only existing Southern Pacific cab-forward steam engine (#4294) which is just a little little bit smaller than a Big Boy; dining cars, sleeping cars, and the biggest, most elaborate Lionel set-up anyone has ever seen. Luca wished Owen was there with him!
(Click on photos to enlarge)
This story read like a novel! What a grand and exciting day you had! It is unbelievable in one journey that you saw all thatANS being in the upper car of the double-decker train too! What fun!..ChoooooChooooo! love, granny
Now that must have been a GREAT day, Luca! Will you take us there sometime when we come to California–I’d like to see all those trains too! Which train was the one you would most like to have ridden on–or maybe even slept on?
Much love,
Grampy