Tilden Park Ry; new loco...

John Barnhill Sep 12, 2006

  1. John Barnhill

    John Barnhill TrainBoard Member

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    Kiddie Railroad Chugs Through Living History; Tilden Park Railway Gets New Engine
    BERKELEY, CA -- Not much has changed at the Redwood Valley Railway in Tilden Park since 1952.
    There are still little trains and big billows of steam and engineers in grease-laden coveralls.
    The place is made of wood and metal, crafted by hardworking hands.
    There aren't any neon signs or snazzy junk stores selling key chains that look like trains or Teddy Bears dressed like conductors.
    "Everything is here because we use it," said Ellen Thomsen, whose father Erich Thomsen, a mechanical engineer and inspector for Western Pacific Railroad, started the kiddie railroad in 1952. "It's like living history in miniature."
    Chief Engineer Ray Pimlott will tell you that the track has 11,000 railroad ties, some of which, he says proudly, are more than 30 years old and made from untreated wood.
    "Everything you see here is built from scratch," said Pimlott, 73.
    And the train ride still is a bargain at $2 -- just $1.80 more than it was in 1952. The train stops in the station every 12 minutes, just like it did five decades ago.
    But in a place where little has changed in more than half a century, there was a recent change -- a new train.
    No. 7 began running in April, 14 years after Pimlott began working on it. There are now four different steam locomotives making the 1.25-mile trip through the Berkeley hills.
    "Well, technically I started on it 30 years ago," said Pimlott, adding that he didn't go "full bore" on building the locomotive until he retired from his job in research and technology at Chevron in 1992.
    You can ride on the No. 7, but not all the time. "It's like a new car, we're still working the bugs out," said engineer Grant Smith, 25, who began hanging around at 11 years old when his father worked there.
    Added Pimlott, "It's such a big hulk of an engine that the engineer bounces around in the cab. It's a matter of fine tuning now."
    Before the No. 7 arrived, it had been nearly two decades since a new train was added, Pimlott said. He should know, he's been working at the railroad -- in some capacity or another -- for nearly 30 years.
    It was Labor Day weekend 1978 when Pimlott saw the spanking new No. 11 train in the newspaper and went into the hills to take a look. "I kept hanging around the engine," he recalled. Then he heard the magic words -- the railway was short on engineers.
    "With that, my ears perked up and here I am," he said. "Within a month, I had the keys to the place, and within not much time I was an engineer," he said.
    These days, he's a fixture. He's there whenever the place is open, and during the summer that's seven days a week.
    "Some people won't even ride unless they know I'm working," Pimlott said.
    Like most of the 20 who work or volunteer at the Redwood Valley Railway, Pimlott loves trains. Has since he was a kid hanging around the yards in Turlock and Oakland.
    Now he's trying to do everything he can to make sure the next generation sees the romance of the steam train.
    "Steam locomotives are becoming a lost art," he said.
    But because of second-generation railway folks such as Ellen Pimlott and Smith, the mini-railroad stands a better chance of staying afloat.
    "I enjoy the heck out of it. I look back and see the kids smiling, it's great," Smith said.
    Thomsen knows the feeling. "I was drafted as soon as I could see over the counter," said Thomsen, who has worked at the railway 39 years. If Pimlott has anything to say about it -- she'll be there many more years. And hopefully, Pimlott says, there will be another new train sometime soon. - Kristin Bender, The Oakland Tribune
     
  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Neat story! Wonder if they have a web site? Guess I'll have to do some searching.

    :D

    Boxcab E50
     
  3. taz

    taz TrainBoard Member

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  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Under construction. Have bookmarked it for a later look.

    Thanks!

    :D

    Boxcab E50
     
  5. jagged ben

    jagged ben TrainBoard Member

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    Wow, I haven't been there since I was a kid. I should go check it out again sometime.
     

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