To Shiny Rails

Lynn and I thoroughly enjoyed a fabulous Labor Day weekend excursion aboard the private railcar Silver Lariat and exploring the Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena. It was a business excursion for the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, which also explains why the Huntington was the destination – as in Henry Huntington, railroad baron. It’s the sort of place where you could spend a week and still not do it justice. Below are a smattering of pics from the trip. We stayed at the the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena; this place is a story on its own. If you’re interested in seeing the entire gallery of photos, just let me know.

A handful of us toured the electrified portions of the Pacific Coast Railway under the very capable leadership of Kevin. All the photos are here.

Matt, Matteo, and AJ joined me for an outing to Bitter Creek Western Railroad to enjoy a couple hours of their annual Narrow Gauge Meet. All the photos: http://bcwrr.org/140809.html

There have been lots of changes along the PB&J right-of-way over the past year or so. The largest change is the back yard. The entire back yard has been taken over by a deck (see the photos of Lynn’s retirement party). The other major occurence was the removal of the large oak tree that was right in the middle of Fosterville. This necessitated the removal of the entire railroad. So, we’re pretty much starting over. When Papa Bill got started a couple weeks ago, there was NOTHING but a few concrete bridge supports and the wall around the mission area. Everything had been take out to raw ground. Some other changes to note… A new puppy, Sandy, a labradoodle, brought a dog run to the driveway. The run is directly behind the bench. That actually opened up the area nicely. The hot tub is gone from the concrete area lower right. This’ll be a new seating area. Note how the two bridges will soon lead to a 30-degree crossover/diamond in the foreground. There will be a balloon track on the rock patio that connects one side of the diamond to the other making the basic layout a circle eight.

More photos: http://jf2.com/pbjrr/140802.html