California State Railroad Museum - II

No doubt for covid reasons, all the cars were closed and I had to shot them through the window. On the one above, I didn't quite get the lens flat against the window and there are some reflections. Sorry about that. Yet, even with the reflections, we see a remarkable interior. Few houses of the era would have been this fancy.

Other cars are reminiscent of the train car in the '60 TV show The Wild Wild West where James West (played by Robert Conrad), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin) traveled around the west in style. But, of course, the life magazine on the chair suggests a later time for this particular style of car.

Even on the outside of these cars are wonderfully restored.

The collection of steam engines here is quite impressive. This next one is well used but still in good shape.

The Southern Pacific Railroad Cab Forward No. 4294 is an impressive beast. According to the museum website:

The first California cab-ahead design (also known as a cab-forward) was built in 1901 by William J. Thomas, master mechanic of the North Pacific Coast Railroad. Its unique design was possibly influenced by an Italian cab-ahead which had received much publicity in the trade press. The configuration provided the best visibility for locomotive engineers on sharp curves. Southern Pacific officials also recognized the value of the cab-forward as a design that would save engineers from being asphyxiated by smokestack fumes in SP’s numerous long mountain tunnels and snowsheds. The first cab-forwards were delivered to SP by Baldwin in February, 1910. Engine 4294 was part of SP’s AC-12 class of locomotives, the last new steam locomotives acquired by the company.