SFX Whistle Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, a Mexican restaurant serving the Phoenix area since 1990.

Raildreams, a designer and builder of custom model railroads since 1994.

Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we'll visit a garden railroad on a quiet street in San Mateo, California, relive the exciting moment when the transcontinental railroad was completed, and ride a spectacular dinner train in the shadow of the Cascade Mountains.

To create a modern rail transit system, Los Angeles needed to borrow quite a bit from railroads of the past.

Annc: It's a comeback story worthy of Hollywood.

You won't find the name "Union Station" on a sidewalk star here, but this aging and long-forgotten railway station in downtown Los Angeles, California has recaptured the spotlight, taking on a starring role as the main terminal for LA's vibrant transit system.

The two supporting players in this production are Metro, which operates four rail lines within Los Angeles County, and Metrolink, a regional system linking five surrounding counties.

For Union Station and the area it serves, this renaissance of passenger rail was a long time coming.

Union Station is considered the last of the great railway stations built in America.

It opened in 1939 as a passenger terminal for three major railroads: the Southern Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway.

During World War II,the trains were often standing room only, and Union Station saw a steady stream of travelers pass through its beautifully- appointed main waiting room.

But by the 1950's, train travel had sharply declined and for decades, the huge terminal remained nearly abandoned except for Amtrak.

Today the passengers have returned to Union Station but unlike sixty years ago, most of them are not traveling cross-country but commuting from neighborhoods and nearby counties, making train travel a part of their daily lives.

Standing tall near Union Station is the headquarters of The LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, better known as "METRO. "

METRO manages some two hundred county bus lines, and provides pick-up facilities for the Flyaway Buses that run between Union Station and Los Angeles International Airport.

But the agency also operates a busy commuter rail system on four major routes called the Red, Gold, Blue and Green lines.

At peak travel times, 250 trains are running along 73 miles of track.

Boardings average 250,000 per week and ridership continues to grow.

Dave: Here in downtown Los Angeles there's just been this explosion of residents coming in and living downtown and one of the main reasons is there's such an availability of transportation.

Annc: The Blue Line was the first Metro light rail to open in 1990.

It begins downtown at the 7th Street Metro Center and travels 22 miles south to Long Beach.

For most of the trip, the Blue Line is following a right of way first built by the historic Pacific Electric Railway back in 1902.

Borrowing fromolder railroads was the key to making thenewer lines efficient and affordable.

This was even more essential for the regional Metrolink system which was built mainly on preexisting track.

Mike: It was important because the right of way through these urban areas is irreplaceable.

The fact that they'd been built, in many cases 120 years ago and preserved through the years enabled Metrolink to start within 2 years.

Annc: The busiest Metrolink route is the 57-mile-long San Bernardino, which carries five thousand passengers to and from work each weekday morning, many of them connecting with the Metro lines at Union Station.

Mike: So we carry those 5,000 people in about 2 hours.

So that's 2500 people an hour so that's roughly equivalent to 2,000 automobiles an hour for two hours in the morning, same thing going east in the evening.

So we do the work of one lane of frway.

Annc: Another Metrolink route stops at Fullerton Depot, a city located thirty minutes south of Union Station and a great place for train-watching.

Metrolink makes several stops here each day as does Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner.

There are two historic railroad depots here.

The former Union Pacific Station now houses a restaurant while maintaining its original architecture.

The Fullerton Depot has also been restored to look as it did in the 1930's, when it still belonged to the Santa Fe Railway.

The Fullerton Depot is still a working railroad station, providing services for Amtrak trains including the Southwest Chief that travels daily between Los Angeles and Chicago.

This cool rainy day kept rail fans from their usual gathering spot along the pedestrian bridge to watch the variety of trains that pass by here on three tracks, including many Burlington Northern Santa Fe Freight trains.

But one young rail fan didn't let the weather dampen his enthusiasm.

Back at Union Station, the Metro Gold Line heads out over elevated track toward its first stop at Chinatown.

This commuter line is also popular with tourists, who enjoy the scenic fourteen mile ride heading northeast from downtown LA.

Part of the Metro Gold Line uses the median of the 210 Freeway, once again taking advantage of the preserved right of way of the Santa Fe Railway.

Pasadena is currently as far west as the Gold Line operates.

Construction is well underway on a six-mile extension serving communities east of Los Angeles.

The new track is curving out from Union Station over the Santa Ana Freeway, enabling the Gold Line to continue in the same direction.

This is a first for Union Station which was built as a "stub end" terminal, meaning trains come in from one direction and stop before reversing course.

Another first for Union Station happened in 1993 when it became a subway terminal for The Metro Red Line with service to Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

The route, which is all underground, stops along the way at stations designed to reflect the history or character of its location.

A visit to the Metro station at Hollywood and Highland takes in the famous view of the Hollywood Hills.

Surrounded by showbiz, the station became part of a large entertainment complex and designed in highly theatrical fashion.

The subway station at Hollywood and Vine reflects the glamour of Hollywood's golden years, with movie projectors and a ceiling covered in film reels.

But the real action is once again happening at street level where a rebirth of the Hollywood neighborhood has been in progress since the subway opened here in 2000, attracting both tourists and residents back to an area that had been in serious decline.

Dave: Virtually every station on the red line has some sort of project in the works or completed and nowhere is that more evident than at Hollywood and Vine, where they're building a W Hotel, luxury residences, everything on top of the metro station.

Annc: LA's transit system has had a powerful effect on many of the neighborhoods it serves.

But its goal is not to replace the freeways, but to offer an alternative.

Mike: We don't see it as attacking the automobile culture.

I love sports cars myself.

I like to drive, it's just when there's two hundred thousand people trying to go to the same place at the same time it just isn't fun anymore.

Dave: If they choose public transit they have a much better alternative, they can save money, and they just have a better lifestyle because they can do things on the transit system that they wouldn't be able to do behind the wheel of a car.

Annc: With the help of a classic railway station, some well-preserved rail lines and a cast of thousands, LA's rail transit system is a critically acclaimed production, making this city of dreams a better place to live and work.

And, what's most important, it's helping people get to where they need to go, every day.

Construction on the subway took seven years to complete and the tunnels were built to withstand a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.

On a quiet street in San Mateo, California sits a house surrounded by a world in miniature.

The year is 1939.

The place?

Jack Verducci's backyard railroad.

Annc: Jack Verducci started with a simple plan to run a model train around his yard in San Mateo, California.

Twenty years later he's created a 3,000 square foot garden railroad on the hillside of his backyard and covering his front lawn.

He calls it The Crystal Springs Railroad and it all began back in 1987.

Jack: Well I was into indoor railroading and on one of my trips to the hobby shop I saw a large scale engine and it kind of tweaked my interest.

It said it was for outdoor use so I went ahead and bought it and started out with a little circle of track on the lawn and thought it'd be neat to do a railroad based on that engine and cars.

Annc: Jack started in the low end of his hilly backyard, creating a forest and logging area and building his first major structure, the lumber mill, which is steam powered and has working machinery.

Jack: Basically what we're trying to do is depict what a logging and a little short-line railroad might've looked like and operated like in the 1930s in this area.

We have several little sub industries, machine shops, furniture stores, wood factories, that are customers of the railroad so it's a full operation like a full blown transportation system.

Annc: The lumber mill overlooks the coastal town of Fog Harbor.

This is the lowest point on the railroad and considered at sea level.

From Fog Harbor, the trains travel up a grade that represents the Pacific Coast Range.

The train is actually climbing five feet to get to the summit.

This steep grade was Jack's biggest challenge.

Jack: It was pretty steep and we had to build a retaining wall to have a place for the trains to start out at.

Even with the retaining wall we're still at a five percent grade.

SFX phone rings Dispatcher.

Train number eight is cleared from San Mateo to Fog Harbor.

You are clear to proceed.

Annc: The Railroad is powered by live steam on 650 feet of mainline track.

Jack built his layout with track-powered engines but gradually replaced them with live steamers.

He finally disconnected the track power completely ten years ago.

A battery-powered tram operates separately for the mining district in the front yard.

Members of Jack's train crew are happy to be working with live steam.

Eric: All the senses, the smell, the sound, it's something that electric trains don't seem to compare anymore.

Annc: The Crystal Springs Railroad has more than a hundred structures.

Jack built most of them from scratch in order to get the look he wanted.

Some of the buildings have detailed interiors, like this bar, one of Jack's favorite structures on the railroad.

Jack: I like my machine shop and of course the sawmill and I have a little bar I like, the bar is one of the few buildings I take in, the weather doesn't really do interiors very well, you get bugs in it and everything else, but the structures themselves do alright outside.

Annc: All of the plants on the railroad landscape are real, and there are hundreds of them.

From dwarf pines and maple trees to miniature roses, ivy and moss.

Each one carefully chosen and planted with a purpose, to fit into the scale of the railroad.

Early on, Jack was surprised to find himself enjoying the "garden" part of garden railroading.

Jack: I didn't even like to mow the lawn so that was kind of an interesting thing, after getting into it I realized that gardening was a lot of fun and it became a challenge to find the right size trimmingthese tiny plants for nearly twenty years, shaping them to look like tiny oak trees.

His wife, Pauline, also enjoys maintaining the railroad, but she does have one complaint.

Pauline: This railroad is basically for a lot of men, with all the logging and steam engines.

Annc: To please his wife, and his grandchildren, Jack built a special area to accommodate Jiminy Cricket, Tinkerbelle, and a few of their special friends.

As expected, it became Pauline's favorite part of the garden.

Pauline: Yes the Disney part of the garden with Snow White and the dwarfs and the little trees and the sidewalk, creating the little villages with Pinocchio.

Annc: For the record, the dwarfs are fully employed on the railroad, managing the Seven Dwarfs Mining company.

As for Pinocchio, he stays close to home, steering clear of the lumber yard.

According to Jack, the ultimate success of his Crystal Springs Railroad depends on three basic requirements: real dirt, real plants, and real steam.

It also took real talent, plus, a lot of hard work.

Jack: Oh yeah, I enjoy it.

There's enough challenges there to keep me occupied, and it's almost like a job, keeping everything up, but I still enjoy it.

Jack continues to build new structures for his railroad and has written a book about garden railroading based on his twenty years of experience.

The year 1869 was a major milestone in the United States.

For that was the year that the railroads linked the two coasts with their ribbons of steel.

We'll visit the actual spot where it happened, and see what it was like to be present for the event.

First, there's a part of northern California that is dominated by the majestic presence of Mount Shasta, at the southern end of the Cascade Mountain range.

There's a small town at the mountain base, called McCloud, California.

And we go there now to show you an historic railroad that has been running through these forests for more than a century.

Annc: McCloud California, on the southern slope of beautiful Mount Shasta is a photogenic natural masterpiece.

The fresh mountain air blows through the tall pine and old growth forests.

McCloud is an old company built mill town, with a rich history tied to the timber and railroad businesses.

A rich history which is always on display at the McCloud heritage Junction Museum.

Betty: McCloud has, and always has been, a lumber company town.

It was company owned by McCloud River Lumber Company until the mid 1960s.

And people were very proud of their work with McCloud Lumber Company.

And they wanted to preserve the history of this company, of this town.

All the houses were built by, for the families, and no one lived here unless they worked for the McCloud River Lumber Company, the railroad, or the schools, the stores or anything like that.

Bob: It was a company town that you might say, "You owed your soul to the company store. "

Well that was not really the case with McCloud.

The wages were good, the working conditions were good, the housing was good, very reasonable rates of rent.

And people that lived and worked in McCloud, even to this day, people that are 70, 80, 90 years old, come back to McCloud with very good feelings about the good days when they lived here and worked here.

Annc: The McCloud River Railroad itself was incorporated back in 1897, to connect growing McCloud with the recently arrived Southern Pacific Railroad.

For years it carried both people and goods through this area.

There was the McCloud River Lumber Company, which owned the mill, and The McCloud River Railroad.

For the first fifty years or so it was a traditional and very successful logging railroad.

In the 1950's, with post war travelers descending on California, there was a strong influx of people wanting to ride the line.

The increasingly popular excursion trains were pulled by some of the same old steam engines which now provided the horsepower and the entertainment.

Jeff Forbis purchased the McCloud River Railroad in 1992, and renamed it The McCloud Railway.

He had worked for the previous owner, and he just couldn't let this historic dream slip away.

Jeff: I had looked around and tried to find a purchaser for the rail line, worked with the parent company.

They had found nobody who was able, who was interested or was able to put the deal together.

And so I decided it was time for me to either get a little bit gutsy and try it myself or I was ready to go away and let the rail line be picked up at that time.

Logging railroads in this area have been disappearing for years.

I figured that I could probably figure out how to make this railroad continue on operating for a while, and I also liked the historicness and beauty of this region.

And it all worked together and it was a very interesting project to do.

Annc: In light of the declining timber business, Forbes brought back a new and improved excursion business.

It was done with class and style.

These days the big star of the railway is called The Shasta Sunset Dinner Train which provides fine dining and fantastic scenery.

You are surrounded by elegance aboard vintage dining cars, and there is a meticulous attention to every detail.

Jeff: These cars are very historic cars.

They date back to about 1916 and were coach cars on the Illinois Central Railroad.

And they mainly moved around in the midwest and southeast parts of the country.

And they became dormant when Amtrak got their new shiny silver fluted side cars that are their trademark today.

We purchased these cars from Atlantic, Iowa, where they'd been on static display.

We brought them back to McCloud.

They'd been a plain metal interior.

We added mahogany to do what we called a recreation rather than a restoration.

We wanted to recreate the real fun days of railroading back in the 20's and 30s.

If you had a first class railroad, you had to have a first class passenger and dining car operation.

And so we were able to do that right here in our own shops and have created quite a beautiful dinner train in the process.

John: The average dinner train runs about three hours, about a 28 mile roud trip.

And we go over the south saddle of Mt.

Shasta.

We head over to the city of Mt.

Shasta.

There's a switchback on the way and we have some pretty spectacular views of Mt.

Shasta, the Eddies, which is a mountain range to the west of Castle Craig State Park, Mt.

Lassiter.

Primarily it's a rural.

a totally rural area.

There's virtually no grade crossings, no habitation, no homes.

It's definitely all in the forest.

Annc: The McCloud Railway is helping breathe a new life into this old mill town.

A beautiful and quaint town that is a tourist attraction as much for its location as it is for the wonderful things it has to offer.

Mount Shasta may be the towering main attraction, but The McCloud Railway will provide hours of scenic enjoyment, and years of unforgettable memories.

Singing, applause Music Annc: On May 10th, 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, there occurred an event so significant that it literally shaped the course of American history.

A ceremonial golden spike was driven to simulate the anchoring of the final rail joining the tracks of the Union Pacific's westbound expansion from Omaha with the Central Pacific's eastbound tracks originating in Sacramento.

This single act completed the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, linking both coasts of a growing nation by rail, and paving the way for westward expansion.

Today that event is re-created in great detail by volunteers and the dedicated employees of the National Park Service at the Golden Spike National Historic Site.

John: The re-creation, or the uh, uh, re-enactment that we do is done at the exact location where the original, ceremony was held in 1869.

The re-enactment consists basically of a script that was put together about 20 yrs.

ago and reflects the newspaper articles and some of the actual speeches that had been written and recorded.

And so we try to duplicate as closely as possible the actual verbiage and the sequence of what happened here on May 10th,1869.

Speaker: We are met this day to celebrate the completion of a remarkable example of the vision, determination, and the labor of thousands of men in a union which this day shall be consummated forever.

We are assembled at the Promontory Summit of the Utah Territory to link Europe and Asia with a new route of travel and commerce and to join the raw riches of the American West with the finished goods of the industrial East.

Annc: Of course, no re-creation of such a monumental moment in railroading history would be complete without a working tribute to the steam technology of those bygone days.

John: The 2 locomotives that we have here, one named Jupiter #60 is the Central Pacific loco, and the other is the 119 Union Pacific loco, our live steam locos operating at steam pressures of 140 to 150 lbs.

per square inch, and are replicas of the original 2 that brought the dignitaries here from the east and the west on May 10th,1869.

Annc: Approximately 1000 people attended the original ceremony, while President Grant and the entire nation awaited news of the actual moment of completion.

news delivered by telegraph.

Telegrapher: Promontory to the country.

Bulletin.

We have got done praying.

The spike is about to be presented.

Annc: Gold and silver ceremonial spikes were tapped into place and then removed, while the crowd, and the nation awaited the actual completion, effected by the driving of a common iron spike (Applause & train bell) Alright gentlemen are we ready to drive the last spike?

Alright, let's get on with it.

All ready now.

12:40 PM Dr. Durrant has adjusted the spike.

The spike will soon be driven.

Signal will be 3 dots for the commencment of the blows.

Ambient noise Promontory to the country.

Bulletin D-O-N-E Applause, bells ring Henceforth there's but 1 Pacific Railroad of the U.S. Speaker: At that moment, 1 era ended & another began.

The golden spike became a symbol of hope for a better way of life & a renewal of faith to face future challenges that have yet to be conquered.

Annc: Nearly a century and a half after this notable event took place, it lives as a fresh experience in the minds of the thousands of visitors from around the world who have come here to relive history at the Golden Spike National Historical Site.

You will think you are really on a wild goose chase when to drive to the park, as it is located a long way from any town.

But stick with it.

It's worth it.

That's all for this episode.

Please join us next time for more, Tracks Ahead.

Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, a Mexican restaurant serving the Phoenix area since 1990.

Walthers, manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products; serving the hobby since 1932.

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