Trip planning -- California

[BR60103]

It looks as if we will be taking our motor home out to California for Christmas and New Year's and beyond. L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento. Stops at San Antonio and The Grand Canyon on the way.
We could do with suggestions on:
Camp grounds.
Railway attractions.
Other attractions.
So far the only fixed events are the Rose Parade on New Years Day and Disneyland on my birthday (It's free!! ).
Any local hobby shops?

[TrainNut]

I can't recommend much about California, however, when we go up to visit the canyon from Phoenix, we always stay in a campground near Williams (Kaibab Lake) and drive up for the day (50+ miles). However, that'll be no good to you as the campgrounds in that area will be closed for the winter. Still, there might be some within the city limits that might remain open. It would be a smart call to check ahead and see what you can find. Also, watch your weather as the section of I-40 between Ashfork-Flagstaff-Winslow can get pretty hairy if it snows.
I know there are several KOA's in that area but I've never stayed at them nor do I know what their seasonal closures are (if any).

[Herc Driver]

Wow - that's a tough one! There is so much to see. I fly all over the country, stop just about everywhere, and have probably seen every square foot of the continental US from 45,000 feet up. If you cutting across the US from the general Northeastern area, there's some great places to see, but the weather is going to be a factor unless you drive to the southeast pretty quickly on your swing to Texas. But first things first...are you starting from Ontario?

I don't know if many of the rail museums are open during those particular weeks, but that's probably easy to find out on the web or by contacting them. I'd stop at the rail museum in PA, take the Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive above the Shenandoah Valley which takes you past Roanoke, VA and visit the Virginia Rail Museum, then to Spencer, NC and visit the NC Transportation Museum (one my family has visited and is really pretty good), then swing west.

[tomustang]

It looks as if we will be taking our motor home out to California for Christmas and New Year's and beyond. L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento. Stops at San Antonio and The Grand Canyon on the way.
We could do with suggestions on:
Camp grounds.
Railway attractions.
Other attractions.
So far the only fixed events are the Rose Parade on New Years Day and Disneyland on my birthday (It's free!! ).
Any local hobby shops?

I use to live outside sacremento, there's not much. I highly suggest you stay out of west sac, loomis and citrus heights areas.

Only stop you should do is the roseville union pacific yard since its huge and is visable around it. Downtown sac isn't that bad.

[TrainNut]

Reading Herc's response somehow reminded me of the Orange Empire RR museum in Perris, CA. We've been and it's pretty good although we went on a Thomas the tank engine weekend. While searching for that place, I came across a list of museums in CA. Have a look...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.beachcalifornia.com/california-train-museums.html">http://www.beachcalifornia.com/californ ... seums.html</a><!-- m -->

[BR60103]

Herc: we'll be heading south from Detroit, probably through Indianapolis, but possibly going south a bit faster depending on weather.
Trainnut: it looks as if we'll be taking I-10 and passing near Phoenix. Any sights there?

[ezdays]

Plenty of sights in Southern Arizona. I-10 takes you right by Karchner Caverns south of Benson off I-10. In Tucson, there's always Old Tucson, the movie studio. It's just a bit southeast of Tucson. In the Phoenix area, there's a bunch of stuff to see, just depends on how long you have to sightsee here. One of my favorite places is north of Phoenix off 1-17. You just have to go through Sedona. Stop off at the Chapel of the Holy Cross before you get the Sedona, but the red rocks anywhere there are amazing. There's not a bad time to see the Grand Canyon, but getting there is more of a problem in the winter because it does snow up that way. As TrainNut says, I-40 can be a bit tricky to drive sometimes. You can always take the train from Williams and there are bus tours at the Canyon, so that helps a bunch. Another possible train trip that we always enjoy is about 25 miles from Sedona near Cottonwood. The Verde Valley Railway is also recommended if you have the time.

[Russ Bellinis]

You definitely want to stay on the South side of the Grand Canyon. The North Rim is at 9500 feet elevation and closed in winter. The South rim is at 7500 feet. It gets snow and is cold in winter, but it stays open year round. You might want to consider staying in Williams or Flagstaff and riding the Grand Canyon Railroad to the Grand Canyon. They have some discounted excursions available through AAA that include 2 nights lodging at the hotel (added on to the historic Wiliams Harvey House) 2 breakfasts, lunch at the Grand Canyon, and dinner back at the hotel in Williams as well as a bus tour with tour guide who will stop at 3 overlooks of the canyon. If you do elect to take that deal, an extra $20.00 per person will get you a seat in the dome of the dome car, but I suspect those seats book up early. Don't miss the Verde Canyon Railroad. There are hundreds of Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles that winter in Verde Canyon from Alaska and probably parts of Canada. They literally fly along side of the train in flocks. They arrive sometime in November and fly back north in April.

In California, check the website for the Orange Empire Railroad Museum, I think it is on the third weekend of every month that they have steam up weekends where the train ride is behind their steam engine. Other weekends the train is pulled by an ex-Santa Fe Fp45. They also have a caboose train which consists of three cabooses pulled by an old switch engine, and you can ride in the cuppola if you wish. There are also 2 street cars running around the loop, and all of the trains run all day long. In addition there are car barns with displays indoors and out throughout the grounds. They usually have a restored Pacific Electric red car running on the same track with the steam engine or Fp45. There is a passing siding halfway to the town of Perris and a double track at the museum, so the PE Red Car and the train meet half way.

In old Sacramento, don't miss the California Railroad Museum. I don't know how it is organized now since it has been 15 years since I went through it, but the last time I was there the way to see the Museum for the first time was to view the 15 minute movie before you enter the museum proper.

Another worthwhile place to visit is the other half of the California Railroad Museum at Jamestown in the gold rush country a few hours South of Sacramento. That museum is in the old shops of the Sierra Railroad. The area around Jamestown is an excellent place to camp. It is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains so the elevation is probably around 3000 feet, below the snow level. Near Jamestown is Angels Camp, Murphy's, Sonoma, and Columbia State Park. These are all old historic gold rush towns. Angel's Camp famous for the jumping frog contest of Calaveras County, also "Angel's Flight" which was the nickname of the old branch line on the Sierra railroad that ran between Angel's Camp and Jamestown. The distance "as the crow flies" was less than 20 miles, but the railroad ran from 3000 feet in Jamestown, down into a canyon probably 1500 to 2000 feet deep and back up to 3000 feet at Angel's Camp. That branch was so steep and twisted that the Sierra built special shorty passenger cars that the MDC Overton Cars used for a prototype, and was the only regularly scheduled passenger train that I know of that had to be pulled by a shay because a rod engine would not handle the grades. Columbia State Park is an old Ghost Town that was restored with pennies, nickels, and dimes donated by school children throughout California during the 1930's. There is a fancy restaurant in Columbia that is operated by the local Junior College as a part of their culinary arts, and restaurant and hotel management program. The food is outstanding, the service is 5 star, and the prices are higher than Denny's but not really outrageous. If you are there on a Friday or Saturday, reservations are just about required to get seating.

Farther South just East of the town of Oakhurst on Hwy41 into Yosemite is "The Logger." It is a museum and logging train ride behind an ex-West Side Lumber Company shay. Just be aware that there is a pass between Coarse Gold and Oakhurst that is over 3500 feet and gets snowed in occasionally. They keep it plowed because it is one of the 3 main entrances to Yosemite National Park that are kept open year round. By the way, any of the mountain passes might require chains at any time that time of year, but if you take highway 99 between Sacramento and Bakersfield, you will stay in the valley and then you can just go East off of the appropriate highways to visit the towns in the western foothills of the Sierras.

Going from Los Angeles to San Francisco that time of year highway 5 sometimes gets closed due to snow at Gorman. For the railfan, a better route to take between L.A. and S.F. is to take the 15 out through San Bernardino over Cajon Pass, You will see the tracks off to your side most of the way up the pass, then go to 395 North at the top of the pass to highway 58 which takes you into Bakersfield over Tehachapie. Gorman's summit is at 4500 feet and gets snow, Tehachapie and Cajon are both around 3000-3500 feet and seldom get much snow.

I hope this is helpful. There are more things that are worthwhile seeing, and most don't cost much, but I've lived in California most of my life and I still haven't seen all of it.

[Herc Driver]

If you're going south from the Indy area, I might suggest adding St Louis Union Station to your list of short visits. They have restored the old Union Station into it's former glory and added a really nice multi-store and hotel complex, with lots of shops, food courts, etc. Outside, there were passenger cars and some engines on display, but I'm not sure if they're still there now. There's quite a few pictures of UP's restored E-units pulling into the Union Station for a layover on railpictures.net - so I guess there's still room under the train shed. Check out the St Louis Union Station website for more details.

<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.stlouisunionstation.com">www.stlouisunionstation.com</a><!-- w -->

[Russ Bellinis]

While in Southern California, there are some nice state parks with camping permitted along the beaches in Orange county. If you are a member of AAA, they have some of the best resources for listings of camp grounds and the material is free to members. The camp grounds along the beaches can be hard to get into in the summer, but in mid winter, the temps are cool enough (40's at night, 60's during the day with chilly breezes) that the camp grounds probably won't be crowded.

If you will have internet access and email, go to <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.arniestrains.com/store">www.arniestrains.com/store</a><!-- w --> and sign up for their email newsletter. Arnies buys collections either from folks who have left the hobby or estates and they put the stuff out on their "deal table" at incredible discounts. Typically Athearn blue box powered locomotives are priced at $13.50 each. Recent production Athearn r-t-r locomotives will be priced under $20.00, and Genesis, P2k, and Kato will be priced @ $30.00-$35.00. "Shake the box" freight car kits and built up will sell for $3.00 each, and sometimes they put them out buy 3 @ $3.00 get the 4th one free. I bought 4 of the Intermountain Santa Fe reefer kits with the original Longs Drug Store label unbuilt for $4.95 each. I picked up a half dozen IHC passenger car lighting kits for $.99 ea. When the anouncement comes in your email of a new collection at the store, the trick is to go down asap, usually they get the collections in on a Monday or Tuesday and if you wait until Saturday to go in, they will be picked over.

[MountainMan]

Donner Pass can be a problem in the winter. Plan for it.

[sgtcarl1]

OKay, well, if you are going through Roanoke, also take a trip through the Virginia Transportation Museum, just a few blocks from the Railroad Museum, and the O. Winston Link mseum is in the neighborhood, too. If you'll be in Illinois, plan a stop at Galesburg. It is a really good railfan spot. Amtrack stops there, and many freights pass through, with a wide variety of consists. But if you spend any time in Arizona, particularly the Verde Valley, be sure to say "hi," for me.
We left there just over 7 years ago, having lived in Az most of my adult life. There is a TTN/NACO and a KOA nearby.

[BR60103]

Things are happening to our trip. Dayle bought tickets for the Rose Bowl Parade, and booked an RV camp from my birthday to new years. We'll try to see Disneyland on my birthday to get free admission (and maybe a few more times). But this is cutting into the time we'll have for travelling west, so we may have to cut bits on the way out.