When I was there last summer they didn't have many of the locomotives that they said were in their site like the SP E9 the Santa fe 4-8-4 and 2-10-4, the F-7 or the baldwin road switchers. What happened to all of them?
well, how to put this nicely...the CSRM does not keep all of their equipment in the best shape. Many of the old steamers are stored outside, and while they have a pair of large ATSF locos, they are not on museum grounds. As for the last SP E unit, she is a prized posesion that runs and goes on outings. I have seen her in Los Angeles before. Last year, the CSRM put a SD45-T2 inside, and I think they pulled out the DRS-6-6-1500 to make room
Last time I was there, there was a covered pole building just a hop skip and a jump from the museum. They had a couple steam locos in the shed as well as a ATSF rotary (IIRC) and a couple covered wagons. They might be out there in the pole building. I would say it is a couple hundred yards from the museum and if you know where to look, you can see this building from the museum. Ryan
You know they do own all the remaining Sacramento Locomotive Works buildings and store most of the collection there. There are 2 exATSF steamers in bad shape along the river walk. The collection is rotated in and out of the loco works. I swear, people are so quick to judge without bothering with facts.
I mean I just went out to visit my aunt and we went there. After reading their site for a week and related articles, my understanding was that everything was in the museum. When I was there the river walk had only a daylight corrugated coach. And the old shops across the way were inaccessible. All I was saying is that it was a let down.
Not everything is accessible. The Locomotive works are a work in progress and are not safe. They rotate what's on display. The Tunnel motor was pulled out for Father's day last summer Dad's a Diesels events. The E9 is out all the time often pulling the sac southern trains. if only one coach was out, the Sac Southern must not have been running. I'm sorry your visit wasn't more memorable. I don't work or Volunteer for the museum, but I have friends that do, so I take offense to the notion that they don't take care of their engines. They have 21 steam engines including CP #1 and SP #1, of those only 2 are left out in the weather, and based on that, they apparently don't take care of their equipment.
Also, the atsf engines aren't by the boardwalk. They're down river maybe a quarter mile. Follow the tracks. The Jacket and Lagging was pulled on both, the asbestos removed, the boilers cleaned and painted primer pink and then nothing more was done for 20 years. So, on the one hand, some of the required restoration work was completed and so they're in better shape in some sense, but then they sat for years, so not so much. I don't know why they haven't been pulled into the shops yet. Maybe still no space.
Considering that when the 5021 and the 2925 were stored in Belen, NM, they were rolled out and lubed daily, now.... http://atsf.railfan.net/atsfpres/sf5021f.jpg http://atsf.railfan.net/atsfpres/sf5021k.jpg http://atsf.railfan.net/atsfpres/sf2925d.jpg
And atsf tore down the round houses and didn't want them due to the sp merger and so they sent them to csrm which didn't have the space. 20/20 hindsight it a wonderful thing. If the ATSF hadn't torn down the roundhouse, maybe they'd still be there asbestos and all being oiled. Or maybe, more likely, they'd be so many tuna cans.
Thanks for this info. I was just at the museum last month. I knew there was more to the collection than just the trains in the building and the stuff in the Old Sacramento sidings. If I understand, there's a turntable at the west end of the museum, but I couldn't see what was in it. I didn't know too much about the history of the SLW shops, but I was able to see them from the platforms of the Amtrak station. They should just move the entire museum there one day! Do you happen to know where I can see an aerial shot of the SLW shops during its heyday? I know the entire area is full of vacant parcels and is slated for urban redevelopment today.
The 'plan' is to one day open the Museum of Railroad Technology in the largest brick building (the erecting shop). This is where they will be able to do the restoration to the engines and rolling stock with a cat walk overhead for the public to watch and learn. There was also talk about having a model railroad museum somewhere in the same building. Thomas Enterprises is the company that owns the entire railyard site and was developing the area so the CSRRM cannot just move into the old buildings. Thomas was 'donating' the erecting shop in order to preserve some of the history of the site. The remainder of the old buildings are to be converted into lofts and shops...but of course this was all planned before the real estate market crashed several years ago. After dealing with all of the hazmat on the site and starting some of the other needed infrastructure, work has since...slowed. The current remaining buildings all need to be earthquake retrofitted before anything else can happen to them. Security used to be VERY tight (although I haven't tried to visit the site lately, they used to have full time security patrolling in cars to prevent ANY trespassing). The down town arena has already been moved out of the development and their website (SacramentoRailYards.Com) now only has an 'under construction' sign (it used to have all sorts of information and pictures) and some links to old PDF's and articles. The Thomas Enterprises website (ThomasEnt.Com), the owners and developers of the railyard project, has a very generic (cheap) website with very little info as to what is now happening with the project. Most of the museums unrestored collection is kept in the erection shop and cannot be seen (but it is at least out of the weather). Some of it used to be parked under the I-5 freeway overpass but security and fences used to keep everyone well away. The book "Southern Pacific's Sacramento Shops: Incubator Of Innovation" by Robert A Pecotich covers just about everything about the railyards (amost 500 pages), but I don't think it is still in print. Arcadia Publishings book "Sacramento'S Southern Pacific Shops" from their Images of Rail collection is still available. I'm sure that you can find all the pictures (aerial or otherwise) one could want between the two of these books.
The 800-pound gorilla at that side has been the railyard development. Part of that was re-aligning the UP main line and a new depot/boarding tracks so that the big "S" curve around the shops is already gone. That puts the main a lot closer to the shops. Part of that was also fixing the problem the museum has had for years - a temporary track OVER TOP of the UP main so they could get equipment down to the museum (they had to relay it twice a week or so at night to do freight & switching service for years) - now they finally have a flange-bearing diamond set in there. I got the grand tour as part of the TRAIN/ARM convention in '06, the shops were chock full of stored historic equipment to the point where there wasn't any more space, including the ATSF F-7's 347C and B. If you go to the museum you'd have no idea, or no potential, of seeing that collection. It's a hard-hat area over there then and still is. The curves on the site have never been particularly friendly to the 4-8-4 and 2-10-4. As an ATSF fan, I'm concerned but not alarmed, they are still in the plan, but its a difficult plan to implement. This is California: [video=youtube;fQJlwv0zPiw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQJlwv0zPiw[/video] The curvature and overhang that the 2-10-4 requires to even move it around on the site has been the effective 'clearance diagram' for the entire project. Digging around in old clippings was fun and I found this: http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2009/11/30/focus2.html?page=all At the time I was on the project with TranSystems.
A good question. Where are these fine pieces of transportation? Are they still in Sacramento? I think you have the answer to that but allow me to look "Forward" as mentioned by Ken. I'm very pro the California Sacramento Railroad Museum. So, here goes. What is the future of CSRM? Critics, are a dime a dozen but seldom actually work toward using the criticism to constructive means. How's that, you are asking? Simple. Put your money where your mouth is. In other words it takes money to restore these fine locomotives and it takes property with properly constructed buildings to display them. If you really want to see these fine locomotives of yester year, out where you can admire them, then it's time to put on the hat of a financier or fund raiser and make it happen. Volunteers to work on these fine pieces of history is only a part of the puzzle. Architects, engineers (To reconstruct, repair and operate) contractors, plumbers, construction workers, electricians, plumbers, pipe fitters and so much more are needed. So, where do you fit in? The burden carried by the fine folks at the CSRM, keeps the museum alive. State funds over the years have been cut back and are all but cut off at this time. Typical of the mind set running our State. We the people, train lovers are the ones who will have to reach out and make a difference. Did you already take note of the legal battle presently being decided by the courts? Did I say to much?
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Ken, Nice diversion and not a derail. So I want to send you via a link to my you tube where you can watch the video of your choice. Did I do that correctly in my signature?
