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wood along the NCNG dwindled, it was con- verted to burn oil. In 1901 the NCNG came under the control
A Union Pacific localrests outside the Whistle Stop Bar &Grill in Lompoc, Calif., while the crew goes to beans. While technically it qualifies as a trackside eatery, the lack of front windows may make simultaneous eating and train watching problematic.
any front windows — as a trackside eatery. Of it, John Roskoski wrote, “the Union Pa- cific local comes to town on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Some days the crew parks their train on Laurel, a two-way city street, for an hour to have lunch, sometimes joined by the local trainmaster.” Meanwhile, the owner reports that several trains pass every day. A reviewer at
yahoo.com said of the Whistle Stop, “what a great place” and another at Google gave it five stars. Neither of them mentioned the added value of an occasional passing train, or of a Class I railroad’s loco- motive being parked out front. Open seven days a week, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. (or 1:00 a.m. depending on business); see above for a photo.
Before Leaving Eateries: June 7, 2011,
of Mrs. Sarah Kidder following the death of her husband, and NCNG received a good deal of press for having elected the first fe- male railroad president. Under Sarah Kid- der’s watch, the railroad made significant improvements to its main line trackage and modernized its equipment. Eventually No. 5 needed a more extensive overhaul than the Grass Valley shops could handle, and was shipped to San Francisco’s Union Iron Works in February 1913. Shortly after its return, Mrs. Kidder sold her interest in the railroad to two businessmen from San Francisco. It was during their ownership that the Grass Valley roundhouse caught fire on August 30, 1915, damaging four loco- motives, including No. 5, which was parked outside the machine shop. Fortunately, the damage was mostly cosmetic, the cab and running boards having been burned off. The shop returned No. 5 to service two days lat- er, but it ran without a cab until a replace- ment arrived from Baldwin two weeks later. Engine No. 3, an 1877 Baldwin 4-4-0, was de- stroyed in the blaze, and its tender was later placed behind No. 5. By the 1920s NCNG faced increased com-
basket in overtime to preserve his team’s perfect season, only to collapse and die mo- ments later. You can relax in one of the two “silo din-
Winterail 2014
ing Co. for its appearance in The Spoilers, and action sequences were shot in Tujunga Canyon near Burbank. Afterwards, it was retained by Universal and used in over a dozen feature movies, including Rails into Laramie and Winchester ’73. It appeared in the Technicolor remake of The Spoilers in 1956, and during a wreck scene was pur- posely rolled onto its side. In a bit of Holly- wood trickery, the 2-6-0 was cushioned by mattresses to prevent damage. In 1960 a rebuild of No. 5 was initiated by
From the lens of Gary Grahl. See Philadelphia PCC’s during the colorful 1970’ and 1980’s on Routes 6, 15, 23, 53, 56, and 60. ONLY $29.95
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5552 Republic Way, Bethlehem, PA 18017 10 SEPTEMBER 2011 •
RAILFAN.COM
PHILADELPHIA MEMORIES
saw the ribbon cut for a new restaurant in Fennville, Mich., southwest of Grand Rapids that is also of interest. Fennville Sta- tion occupies one of Fennville’s infrastruc- ture landmarks — two towering grain silos that sit adjacent to its entrance, and sports a Budd-built streamliner converted to a din- ing room. The passenger car, built by Budd in 1938, was one in a series of early air conditioned 52-seat chair cars destined for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. There it saw service for 32 years as number 3109, where itthe Great Depression, despite the fact that and thethe railroad had purchased a pair of power- ful 2-8-0s, one from the Rio Grande and an- westbound Kansas Cityan. Sold to Penn for repairs in 1936, management wanted to retire it, but John Nolan would have nothing of it and put the Mogul through the shop, ar- guing that it was still valuable for yard switching and helper service. Nolan later ac- quired No. 5’s sister Glenbrook for parts. Never used, Glenbrook was subsequently given to
The newest member of the Winterail Hall of Fame is photographer and author Dale Sanders (right). Dale was inducted on March 8, 2014, at the big show in Stockton, Calif. Winterail producers Annie and Vic Neves presented Dale with his award.
THE GRANDDADDY OF ALL railroad slide shows (even though these days, actual slides are few and far between) is Winterail, held each year in Stockton, Calif. This year’s event, put together by producers Vic and An- nie Neves and co-producer Evan Werkema, contained a wonderful variety of shows from some very talented photographers. But first things first. On the evening be-
vice on the eastbound Chicagoan and the other from the SP. When the 2-6-0 came due Central and renumbered 2416 in 1970, it be- came a 100-seat commuter coach that even- tually went to NJ Transit before going into private ownership; it was brought to this site in 2007. Today’s owners, David and Deb Barton, have again renumbered the car, this time to 35 to honor the memory of Wes Leonard, the high school basketball player for the Fennville High School Blackhawks
years on display at the state museum it’s who on March 3, 2011, scored the winning
fore Winterail, March 7, R&R teamed up with the National Railway Historical Socie- ty for the Stockton Slide & Pizza Party. After munching on pizza in the courtyard, the au- dience headed into the theatre of the Scot- tish Rite Temple (the same place where Win- terail is held) to see a variety of shows. The presenters included Paul Jansson (the only presenter over two days to actually show slides instead of digital images), Bruce Blackadar, Mike Pechner, Drew Jacksich, Chris Guenzler and yours truly. Elrond Lawrence, who is the public relations direc- tor for NRHS, gave an overview of RailCamp in addition to showing his own material on the vanishing cantilever signals of Tehach- api. NRHS President Greg Molloy made a pitch for the upcoming 2014 NRHS Conven- tion in Springdale, Ark. And Steve Crise pre- sented a great look at the move of Big Boy No. 4014 from the Pomona Fairgrounds (we got a brief taste of Steve’s work in last month’s RAILNEWS). The evening was a fundraiser for the NRHS Heritage Grants program, and over $1000 was raised; all the money will go directly to the grants program and be distributed to worthy railroad preser- vation projects across the U.S. Saturday was the big event, and this
54 APRIL 2014 •
RAILFAN.COM 12 SEPTEMBER 2011 •
RAILFAN.COM State of Nevada, and after many
now under restoration at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.
It wasn’t long before Hollywood discov-
year’s shows proved to be all very good. Among the shows were 3D images, and even a ten-minute model railroading short the- atrical feature. But one trend I was glad to
ered the Narrow Gauge. In 1941, NCNG trainmaster Bob Paine learned that Frank Lloyd Productions was searching for a loco- motive to use in a big-budget adaptation of the Rex Beach novel The Spoilers. Number 5, having been declared surplus in 1939, was the perfect size for movie work, and was sold to the studio and left Grass Valley on Janu- ary 9, 1942. Before leaving, it was rebuilt by John Nolan one last time, receiving new tires and boiler flues along with the steel cab and running boards from 4-4-0 No. 7, ex- Carson & Colorado No. 4. In Hollywood, No. 5 was fitted with a dia- mond stack and lettered for the Nome Min-
petition from the trucking and bus compa- nies which used the region’s improved high- ways. The Nevada County Traction Co. interurban was built in 1901 between Neva- da City and Grass Valley, and took away some passenger and LCL freight business. It folded in 1924, but the trucks and buses con- tinued to roll and in 1925 the NCNG, now losing money, asked the Interstate Com- merce Commission for permission to aban- don. Fortunately, a group of local business- men led by J. Earl Taylor, came to the rescue. In 1926 they purchased the line for one dollar, and although they faced frequent financial problems in the coming years, the trains kept running. In fact, to make ends meet NCNG even launched a subsidiary trucking company of its own. Number 5 continued in service through ran on the San Diegan, the Golden Gate, El Capitan, but saw most of its ser-
ing rooms,” each at the base of one of the si- los that can seat eight, or take your meal “on board,” where No. 35 can seat up to 50 guests. Photographs of Pere Marquette Rail- road dining cars from the Fennville District Library occupy the walls of the dining car. Running just 50 feet from No. 35 is a CSX route that sees eight to ten trains a day, in- cluding Amtrak. Chef Hans Riem notes that, “when a train passes, our car rumbles from the vibration.” Chef Hans’ specialty is Italian cuisine, and his menu offers a num- ber of traditional and specialty appetizers as well as veal, chicken, beef and seafood en- trees and vegetarian and flatbread (Pizze) items, all accompanied by an extensive do- mestic and imported wine list. Fennville Station is located at 115 East Fennville Street; Fennville, Michigan; 269/561- 4030; www.
fennvillestation.com. Open dai- ly, 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday to Thurs- day, Noon to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Noon to 9:00 p.m. Sunday. A Slow Demise: Troubles persist in the breakup of the fallen flag Minnesota Zephyr. Where the right-of-way is concerned, the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reported on June 12, 2011, that the previous agreement between the state of Minnesota and train owner David Paradeau had expired because the financially strapped state did not have the agreed-upon $4.23 million to complete the purchase. Discussions on this matter are ongoing. Meanwhile, the equipment em- ployed in the railroad operation remains for sale. Because the train set — including a dome car —is “landlocked,” and thus has to be trucked out of Stillwater on flatbeds, the purchase price of the equipment may be the least of the expenses. Thanks to Mike Bar- tels for this clip.
Bert Tuttle of Revue Productions, Univer- sal’s television subsidiary. At the time, TV westerns were all the rage, and Tuttle be- lieved it desirable to have an operating steam locomotive at his disposal. He hired Gerald Best to evaluate No. 5, and at Best’s recommendation the 2-6-0 was overhauled at the studio’s machine shop. The work in- cluded the installation of a new welded boil- er constructed in Los Angeles by Dixon Boil- er Works. Poorly designed (it was basically a low-pressure laundry boiler with large flues) it produced barely enough steam to move the locomotive. Incredibly, the firebox was made undersize in order to fit within the confines of the old firebox, whose outer sheets were torched off and kept in place between the lo- comotive’s frame to preserve the rivet detail! The badly corroded tender tank was set aside and a fake “tank” was built by the prop de- partment using plywood that concealed bar- rels, which held fuel and water. Universal acquired additional three-foot
see this year is that a lot of presenters took the time to tell a story. A lot of shows were heavy on (well-done) narration. Among the highlights were Evan Werkema’s excellent history of the “Oakland Terminal Railway,” Tom Taylor’s stories railfanning stories in “Negative Memories 1966-1973” and Bob Zenk’s excellent light-hearted breakdown of a technical subject in “SP 9010: The Last Krauss Maffei.” Among the more traditional photos-with-
music shows was “Dale and Kenny’s Excel- lent Adventures” showcasing the trials and tribulations of railfanning trips by Dale Sanders and the late Ken Meeker. Minutes before the show, Dale became the newest in- ductee into the Winterail Hall of Fame (above). Other presenters who went the slides-and-music route included Steve Carter and Ted Smith-Peterson. On Sunday the Niles Canyon Railway of-
gauge equipment from the Rio Grande and SP, and laid down a half mile of track on its Denver Street back lot. The studio railroad appeared in many motion pictures, including the Jimmy Stewart film Shenandoah, in ad- dition to over 100 made-for-TV movies and series episodes including The Virginian, Alias Smith and Jones, and Tales of Wells Fargo. The last big-screen appearance for No. 5 was the Twilight Zone movie in 1979. Back in Nevada County, despite the fact
that the NCNG had been gone for decades, there was still much interest in the railroad. In August 1983, Nevada County Historical Society president Madelyn Helling and di- rector Cliff Sommerstom created a spinoff group called Friends of the Narrow Gauge, which was later reorganized as the Trans- portation Museum Division (TMD). NCNG enthusiast John Christensen was elected Vice Chairman of TMD, and as the acquisi- tions officer he endeavored to acquire what few artifacts remained. Number 5 was rusting away on the Uni-
fered up its traditional post-Winterail pho- tography special, this one featuring Clover Valley Lumber Company 2-6-6-2T No. 4, the only Baldwin logging Mallet operating on the West Coast. No. 4 powered a freight con- sist, while photographers rode a passenger train powered by Western Pacific F7 No. 918. Despite a forecast that called for clouds, every photo runby was held in sun. The photographers on the train ranged
from serious rail photographers with the lat- est DSLR’s to daisy pickers holding up cell phones and iPads. Sometimes it’s difficult to get a group this diverse onto the same page, but conductor Mike Roqué was up to the task. He got the photo lines neat enough so that anyone who wanted a people-free shot could get it, while the cell phone gang didn’t have to put out more effort than they wanted to. The locomotive crews both did a fantastic job, with nice plumes of smoke from Clover
versal back lot, by then the only steam loco- motive owned by a major Hollywood studio. Christensen traveled to Burbank to see it in 1984 and found it badly weathered and out of service. The studio had given up on the re- placement boiler (it never functioned as de- sired) and had installed a special effects manifold in the cab which controlled a smoke machine in the tender. In order to move, No. 5 had to be pushed by an electric motor con- cealed in a passenger car. Universal officials were receptive to the
idea of a museum taking custody of the 110- year-old 2-6-0, and an agreement was worked out for a 75-year loan of the locomo- tive and six pieces of rolling stock. With vol- unteers from TMD supervising, No. 5 was loaded aboard a truck and made a tri- umphant return to Nevada City after 43 years on May 10, 1985. During the late 1980s TMD volunteers re-
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