I have an unparalleled opportunity, although it isn’t with the Alaska Railroad.
It is with another railroad, one that is steeped in as much history and class as the ARR itself. The railroad I am speaking of no longer exists as a railroad company, but it’s tracks were the first big tracks coming up from Oakland, California, then switching through Sacramento north and east into the Feather River Canyon on a route to Salt Lake City. For the greater part its tracks are still in use today, albeit by other railroad companies. It is with the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California, that my opportunity awaits.
When I was very young, about eight years old back in 1963, I lived in the tiny town of Keddie,
California, where there was a Western Pacific railroad passenger depot. The California Zephyr would stop there daily, and I would often walk up the hill to the station just to watch the train come in and the passengers arrive and depart. For a young boy living in the mountains this was high excitement. In later years I did finally ride the Zephyr, but it no longer ran through the Feather River Canyon. Regardless, the “Silver Lady” is still a grand old dame.
In its original run, California Zephyr operated over the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad from Chicago to Denver, Colorado, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Western Pacific Railroad from Salt Lake City to Oakland, California. Cars owned by different railroads ran together; cars cycled in and out for service, repairs, and varying passenger loads with the seasons.
The first train was named in San Francisco by Eleanor Parker while California Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight, mayor of San Francisco Elmer Robinson, and WP President Harry A. Mitchell looked on. For the inaugural run in 1949, every woman on the train was given "silver" and orange orchids flown from Hilo, Hawaii. The car hostesses were known as "Zephyrettes."[4]
I suppose that most Kossacks here are of my son’s generation, but I do know that there are somewhat of us old geezers around. Old, my ass. I’m a young 62, and now that I’m officially retired, life is beginning all over again for me. At least,that’s the way I’m playing it.
Retirement is, I guess, the last major stage in life. There is every reason to just plain ol’ get on with your life and go out and do whatever it is that you want to do and can accomplish and will enjoy doing.
For me, it will be working on trains as a Western Pacific Railroad Museum volunteer, committing to six months for summer of next year.
The museum has an accommodation for its live-in volunteers, providing sleeping space, shower, and kitchen. If it works out, I plan to do this on a seasonal basis for a long time.
Winters will be spent elsewhere in the most hospitable climes achievable. Now there’s another diary or two waiting to happen.
Might even go fishing again someday. I’ve yet to go deep sea fishing.
The thing about trains is they are green for the environment, especially when all-electric. Modern freight and large passenger locomotives are diesel, but much of inner and inter-city rail locomotion is electric. Yet even those big diesels are getting much more fuel efficient. Heck, if you owned a railroad wouldn’t you be fuel-conscious?
I grew up with trains, in many ways, and so it is with the greatest of joy that I welcome my retirement with the prospect of doing something way fun.