California State Railroad Museum: Glorious Ode to Train Travel

“I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.”

~Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar

The Pullman sleeping car was gently rocking from side to side as I climbed aboard the Canadian National St. Hyacinthe. Berths with comfy-looking pillows and rose-colored blankets were turned down for the night, and light from shaded sconces was casting a soft glow over the space. For a brief moment, I was immersed in the romance of train travel, imagining what it must have been like to head out on a Canadian adventure in such 1930s style.

The St. Hyacinth is one of 21 beautifully restored railroad cars and locomotives in the California State Railroad Museum, a magnificent 225,000-square-foot space in Old Sacramento. It’s a grand scale of a place, showcasing railroad history in California and The West. With cars and locomotives dating to 1862, displays of wonderful old photographs and memorabilia, and knowledgable docents eager to engage with visitors, the museum offers a glimpse into the days when railroads were the heartbeat of the world of transportation.

Herb and I made the hour-and-a-half drive from the Bay Area to Sacramento with our two little grandsons. As a special treat, I’d also booked tickets for a ride on the museum’s vintage train that runs along the Sacramento River. We arrived when doors opened at 10 a.m., allowing plenty of time to explore the trains and have lunch before our afternoon excursion.

Great Northern U.S. Mail Railway Post Office Car No. 42

Rows of thick mail bags and wooden mail boxes line the aisle of the Great Northern Railway Post Office Car No. 42. Designed to simulate a working mobile post office that transported and sorted mail between Chicago and Tacoma, Washington, the car has been restored to its 1967 appearance. Postal work on the railway, one of the docents told us, was a popular job that offered good pay and an air-conditioned workplace.

The U.S. Mail Railway Post Office began transporting and sorting mail by train in 1860 and made its final run in 1977. Today’s mail is sorted at post offices around the country and transported to various destinations in bulk by truck, plane, ship, and yes … still by train.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Dining Car No. 1474, Cochiti

The Cochiti Dining Car is one of those places that you wish were a modern-day restaurant instead of a museum train car. Tables set with white linens feature custom-designed china patterns that were used by various railroad lines. From food to service, meals on the Cochiti were considered a gourmet dining experience.

Named for a 1,000-year-old Pueblo in New Mexico, the Cochiti was built in 1936 for Santa Fe’s first streamlined stainless-steel train, the Los Angeles to Chicago Super Chief. The car served its final dinner to passengers in 1968 and was purchased by the museum in 1978.

Canadian National Railways Sleeping Car No. 1683, St. Hyacinthe

With its nighttime sound effects and simulated movement, the St. Hyacinthe may be the museum’s most charming railway car. Completed in 1929 by the Canadian Car & Foundry Company of Montréal, it was one of fifteen sleepers built to a standard Pullman design with ten open sections, one drawing room and one compartent. St. Hyacinthe was retired in 1971 and donated to the museum for restoration in 1980 by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.

According to the California State Railroad Museum’s website, the restoration goal was to display a typical sleeping car traveling at night:

“A mechanical device built by the Museum rocks the car to simulate motion, berths are made up, a lone passanger is sound asleep in his compartment, and lights of passing towns and grade crossings flash by the windows. A soundtrack simulates the typical night sounds of a fast-traveling heavyweight passenger train: the rhythmic clicking of the wheels, the distant whistle of the locomotive, and the descending Doppler effect of passing crossing bells.”

A Few Other Museum Favorites

Fruit Growers Express Company Refrigerator Car No. 355832

Refrigerator cars, developed in the late 1880s and early 1890s, were a game-changer for California farmers, allowing fruits, vegetables and meats to be successfully shipped beyond local markets. The key to these cars were 300-pound blocks of ice loaded into the cars by workers from a local ice factory that processed 400 tons of ice a day.

Sierra Scene & Central Pacific Railroad No. 1, Governor Stanford

The Central Pacific’s 1862 Governor Stanford locomotive bursts through the Sierra Nevada Mountains in this depiction of the challenge to connect California railroads with the rest of the U.S. In addition to hauling materials over the mountains for the construction of the railroad, the Governor Stanford pulled the Central Pacific’s first freight and passenger trains in 1864.

Virginia & Truckee Railroad No. 13, Empire

With its brass steam dome and gold-leaf striping, the 1893 Empire is quite the stunner. Displayed surrounded by mirrors that showcase its design details, the locomotive provided freight service on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad until 1918.

Upstairs at the Museum

The museum’s second floor is devoted to the world of model trains. Miniature train cars of every imaginable kind line walls and display cases, and moving trains pass through scenes of recreated cities and rural landscapes. A playroom complete with a Thomas the Tank Engine slide is set up for little ones needing to take a break. and a “Toy Train Mechanic” holds office hours on Fridays to help enthusiasts with repairs.

A Ride on the Sacramento Southern Railroad

After a picnic lunch in the park across from the museum, we walked to the Central Pacific Passenger Station to pick up our train tickets. The Sacramento Southern takes visitors on a 45-minute ride along the Sacramento River, about six miles round trip. I had booked seats in the first class car, which promised “air conditioned comfort as you are served refreshments in first class style.”

The railroad features one of its three vintage first class cars on each excursion. A restored New Orleans-themed car called The French Quarter was our ride for the trip, and we settled in at a dining table by a large picture window. Docents were on hand to serve snacks and beverages and tell stories as we rode along the river.

About halfway through the journey, the train stopped, and we watched our locomotive amble by on another track. It turned out that this locomotive does double-duty, pulling the train in one direction and then in the other, taking us back to where we had begun.

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Our day at the railroad museum and excursion on the Sacramento Southern got me thinking about the trains I’ve had the delight of experiencing around the world. The four-hour journey through Russian countryside on the Sapsam from St. Petersburg to Moscow, the fascinating Shinkansen from Kobe to Kyoto, the great seating mixup on the Railjet from Prague to Vienna, and closer to home, the lovely ocean views from the windows of Southern California’s Pacific Surfliner. And I realized that wherever we travel, if there’s an option to take the train, I will surely choose it.

Most train travel today, of course, doesn’t carry the panache of long-ago cars like the St. Hyacinthe or the Cochiti. But I think there’s still a magic that surrounds the sights and sounds of a train coming down the tracks, ready to take passengers to a near or far-away destination. And no matter how sophisticated our modern modes of transportation will likely become, there will always be the romance of the rails.