Of trains and trick or treating (Part I)
Nov. 27th, 2004 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafish(Yes, I did start on this Halloween evening - I never seem to get them done the same day anywhere near the time it actually happened - I may backdate it later...)
I suppose I should go clean up the pumpkin goop in the kitchen before I collapse.
When I went to the docks on Thursday and Friday, I noticed an antique steam locomotive parked on a siding across from Ports O' Call, and noticed a sign on one of the cars: The San Bernadino Railroad Historical Society. When I was through sampling, I stopped to take some pictures and a volunteer walking by told me it would be open to the public this weekend, so I thought the kids would like coming to take a look at it. It looks very much like the engine I've seen in the ads for The Polar Express.
The AT&SF 3751
Gareth has been pretty excited about his birthday for several weeks, and jumped at the chance to take a special trip. Unfortunately, he's catching his brother's cold and is hoarse enough to pull a wagon (as his grampa says). But Grampa, the kids and I got dressed and piled into the car anyway (John was busy with woodworking projects), and headed over to San Pedro. It was exciting enough for them just to go over the two big bridges on either side of Terminal Island, the ? over the Long Beach end, which gives you a bird's eye view of Sea Launch and what used to be the Navy Shipyard, and the Vincent Thomas Bridge to San Pedro, which lets you look out over the whole harbor. I always wish they could have built pull-outs at the top of the span, so I could stop and look for awhile.
The train was parked near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. We parked ourselves, got seatbelts unbuckled and everyone out of the car (and Angus had his shoes back on - he always takes them off whenever he sits down), made sure enough tissue was stuffed in pockets for various runny noses, and ventured to the gravel path alongside the tracks to the siding.
I was reminded of a friend I had in college; I knew through my boyfriend at the time. His name was Stan and he was also a geology major, but his hobby was being what he called a "railfan." He loved trains. Not models, which he scoffed at, but real diesel engines, be they freight or passenger. It was from him I learned that, the Little Red Caboose, of my favorite Girl Scout song, had suffered an untimely demise at the invention of an item called a F.R.E.D., or Effing Rear End Device; an electronic sensor that performs the same function the personnel inhabiting the caboose formerly had. He carried rail schedules around in his car, and when driving anywhere with him, upon seeing a train, he could usually tell where it was from, where it was bound, and what it was probably carrying. Stan - haven't thought about him in a long time...
The locomotive we were looking at is called the 3751, a Santa Fe type 4-8-4; that is, eight of the engine's sixteen wheels are the drive wheels, massive things almost seven feet tall. It was built in the 20's, did the Grand Canyon Line from Kansas City to Los Angeles for a number of years, ending in 1953, then was sold to the city of San Bernadino in 1958, and it sat in a park on display for about three decades.
Then, in the early nineties, it was purchased by the newly formed San Bernadino Railroad Historical Society, which restored it to running condition. They just started an educational outreach program; this was the 3751's very first visit in this capacity. The cars accompanying it belonged to other organizations, however they all cooperated together on this project.
We started at the end of the train; I believe this was a livestock car, but had been converted into an open space inside with a bar one end.
I believe I heard the person talking behind the bar saying they rented it out for parties and such.
The interior was all wood paneling, with antique train pictures on the walls, and the bar was all hand carved wood. Here's a little detail - although maybe I should have asked the guy to move the styrofoam cup.
...and I liked this sign...
The next car was also a kind of a lounge car, with booths, sofas and chairs, lamp/ magazine racks, and combo glass holder/ashtrays mounted on the floor, next to the the chairs and sofas. There was a bar in this car at one end too, although it was more of a glass and chrome affair. They were selling high-end bottled sodas.
In the front of the car was a pantry and a little barber shop.
The next car was the one I found fascinating. It was a Pullman car, the one with all the cabins with sofas during the day and fold-out bunks at night. There were a few cabins with several bunks...
(I liked the light fixtures - they looked very Art Nouveau [or is it Art Deco? - I like them both and I get them confused])
...and the lovely head...
...and then a row of mini cabins, with one seat, and a single fold-down bed that took up the entire thing.
You would have had to put the bed up to use the fold down sink.
This is the little water dispenser, complete with paper cups. I remember taking the train back to my grandmother's in New York when I was about five years old. We did not have a sleeper, we only sat in seats, but I remember being entranced with the water dispenser, and constantly running down the aisle for a drink of water in a paper cup, annoying everyone.
I was annoying everyone today by trying to take pictures from every angle.
There was another car - a baggage car, I think, but it was where they were storing all the stuff they had brought along and it was closed to the public. You could look in, but there wasn't much to see.
Then it was time to explore the locomotive. It looked even more massive close-up. They had steps set up up to the cab, so you could look in at the plethora of knobs and gages required to run the thing. Every so often, the engineers would blow the steam whistle.
Angus looking in at all the knobs and gages.
The huge drive wheels. my father is about 5'6" and can barely reach the top.
Avalon climbed on the little seats to the sides of the cowcatcher and was looking for a place for Bear-Bear to sit, so I quickly snapped her before I shooed her off.
One of the elderly volunteers for the Historical Society offered to take our picture, althoughI kind of wish he'd managed to get the top of the 3751 in the picture, too - no matter, I stitched the top on from another picture.
After we finished looking at the train, we walked across the street to look at the Merchant Marine Memorial, and the Fishermen's Memorial at the other end of the block. I've driven past these for years, but never stopped to look at them. On the way, the restored Red Car passed us - we considered taking a ride on it, but decided to save it for another time - the whole point of this trip was to avoid spending money.
(view of two large mechanical antiques and quite a few two-legged ones)
The Merchant Marine Memorial is this sculpture (it always makes me think that the lower guys life vest would be doing him a lot more good if he were wearing it - something they always tell you in any kind of water safety class),
(...Trying to gauge how much coinage in the fountain...)
...and a series of sloping black granite walls - I would say reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial in DC, but I've never actually seen it in person.
Right about then, the batteries in my camera (or Air-eh-mack, as my dad likes to call it) died, and I'm sure you are eternally grateful. ;-p There were a few other war memorial things, including a giant ship's gunbarrel, with accompanying shells, various large anchors the kids enjoyed climbing on, and the fisherman's memorial, with a statue of a man with a tuna, and to my surprise, plaques paid for by various owners of vessels. I was expecting to see it commemorating vessels that had sank. The tile mural behind the statue depicted on of the boats we sample from, one that used to regularly get in trouble with the wardens for doing illegal stuff.
It was getting late, and time to head for home, carve pumpkins, put on costumes and go trick or treating. And maybe have some birthday brownies.
To be continued...(probably not nearly as long)
I suppose I should go clean up the pumpkin goop in the kitchen before I collapse.
When I went to the docks on Thursday and Friday, I noticed an antique steam locomotive parked on a siding across from Ports O' Call, and noticed a sign on one of the cars: The San Bernadino Railroad Historical Society. When I was through sampling, I stopped to take some pictures and a volunteer walking by told me it would be open to the public this weekend, so I thought the kids would like coming to take a look at it. It looks very much like the engine I've seen in the ads for The Polar Express.
The AT&SF 3751
Gareth has been pretty excited about his birthday for several weeks, and jumped at the chance to take a special trip. Unfortunately, he's catching his brother's cold and is hoarse enough to pull a wagon (as his grampa says). But Grampa, the kids and I got dressed and piled into the car anyway (John was busy with woodworking projects), and headed over to San Pedro. It was exciting enough for them just to go over the two big bridges on either side of Terminal Island, the ? over the Long Beach end, which gives you a bird's eye view of Sea Launch and what used to be the Navy Shipyard, and the Vincent Thomas Bridge to San Pedro, which lets you look out over the whole harbor. I always wish they could have built pull-outs at the top of the span, so I could stop and look for awhile.
The train was parked near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. We parked ourselves, got seatbelts unbuckled and everyone out of the car (and Angus had his shoes back on - he always takes them off whenever he sits down), made sure enough tissue was stuffed in pockets for various runny noses, and ventured to the gravel path alongside the tracks to the siding.
I was reminded of a friend I had in college; I knew through my boyfriend at the time. His name was Stan and he was also a geology major, but his hobby was being what he called a "railfan." He loved trains. Not models, which he scoffed at, but real diesel engines, be they freight or passenger. It was from him I learned that, the Little Red Caboose, of my favorite Girl Scout song, had suffered an untimely demise at the invention of an item called a F.R.E.D., or Effing Rear End Device; an electronic sensor that performs the same function the personnel inhabiting the caboose formerly had. He carried rail schedules around in his car, and when driving anywhere with him, upon seeing a train, he could usually tell where it was from, where it was bound, and what it was probably carrying. Stan - haven't thought about him in a long time...
The locomotive we were looking at is called the 3751, a Santa Fe type 4-8-4; that is, eight of the engine's sixteen wheels are the drive wheels, massive things almost seven feet tall. It was built in the 20's, did the Grand Canyon Line from Kansas City to Los Angeles for a number of years, ending in 1953, then was sold to the city of San Bernadino in 1958, and it sat in a park on display for about three decades.
Then, in the early nineties, it was purchased by the newly formed San Bernadino Railroad Historical Society, which restored it to running condition. They just started an educational outreach program; this was the 3751's very first visit in this capacity. The cars accompanying it belonged to other organizations, however they all cooperated together on this project.
We started at the end of the train; I believe this was a livestock car, but had been converted into an open space inside with a bar one end.
I believe I heard the person talking behind the bar saying they rented it out for parties and such.
The interior was all wood paneling, with antique train pictures on the walls, and the bar was all hand carved wood. Here's a little detail - although maybe I should have asked the guy to move the styrofoam cup.
...and I liked this sign...
The next car was also a kind of a lounge car, with booths, sofas and chairs, lamp/ magazine racks, and combo glass holder/ashtrays mounted on the floor, next to the the chairs and sofas. There was a bar in this car at one end too, although it was more of a glass and chrome affair. They were selling high-end bottled sodas.
In the front of the car was a pantry and a little barber shop.
The next car was the one I found fascinating. It was a Pullman car, the one with all the cabins with sofas during the day and fold-out bunks at night. There were a few cabins with several bunks...
(I liked the light fixtures - they looked very Art Nouveau [or is it Art Deco? - I like them both and I get them confused])
...and the lovely head...
...and then a row of mini cabins, with one seat, and a single fold-down bed that took up the entire thing.
You would have had to put the bed up to use the fold down sink.
This is the little water dispenser, complete with paper cups. I remember taking the train back to my grandmother's in New York when I was about five years old. We did not have a sleeper, we only sat in seats, but I remember being entranced with the water dispenser, and constantly running down the aisle for a drink of water in a paper cup, annoying everyone.
I was annoying everyone today by trying to take pictures from every angle.
There was another car - a baggage car, I think, but it was where they were storing all the stuff they had brought along and it was closed to the public. You could look in, but there wasn't much to see.
Then it was time to explore the locomotive. It looked even more massive close-up. They had steps set up up to the cab, so you could look in at the plethora of knobs and gages required to run the thing. Every so often, the engineers would blow the steam whistle.
Angus looking in at all the knobs and gages.
The huge drive wheels. my father is about 5'6" and can barely reach the top.
Avalon climbed on the little seats to the sides of the cowcatcher and was looking for a place for Bear-Bear to sit, so I quickly snapped her before I shooed her off.
One of the elderly volunteers for the Historical Society offered to take our picture, although
After we finished looking at the train, we walked across the street to look at the Merchant Marine Memorial, and the Fishermen's Memorial at the other end of the block. I've driven past these for years, but never stopped to look at them. On the way, the restored Red Car passed us - we considered taking a ride on it, but decided to save it for another time - the whole point of this trip was to avoid spending money.
(view of two large mechanical antiques and quite a few two-legged ones)
The Merchant Marine Memorial is this sculpture (it always makes me think that the lower guys life vest would be doing him a lot more good if he were wearing it - something they always tell you in any kind of water safety class),
(...Trying to gauge how much coinage in the fountain...)
...and a series of sloping black granite walls - I would say reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial in DC, but I've never actually seen it in person.
Right about then, the batteries in my camera (or Air-eh-mack, as my dad likes to call it) died, and I'm sure you are eternally grateful. ;-p There were a few other war memorial things, including a giant ship's gunbarrel, with accompanying shells, various large anchors the kids enjoyed climbing on, and the fisherman's memorial, with a statue of a man with a tuna, and to my surprise, plaques paid for by various owners of vessels. I was expecting to see it commemorating vessels that had sank. The tile mural behind the statue depicted on of the boats we sample from, one that used to regularly get in trouble with the wardens for doing illegal stuff.
It was getting late, and time to head for home, carve pumpkins, put on costumes and go trick or treating. And maybe have some birthday brownies.
To be continued...(probably not nearly as long)
