To Shiny Rails

Back in college days, if you had some studying to do, you headed for the library. Not being in college any more, but still having some railroad related studying to do and having some unused Amtrak tickets in the drawer, the answer was obvious… Turn the Surfliner into a study hall. I road down and back to Union Station in Los Angeles (from SLO), had lunch at Traxx, got all my reading done, and took a few pictures. All the pics are here: http://jf2.smugmug.com/gallery/9355528_YTLxQ#626088829_dvBjp

This picture is of SLC-2 at Vandenberg AFB as seen from the train coming home.

Highlights:
1. Santa Susana Depot
2. Ventura County RR cutoff
3. Old steel bridge in Ventura
4. Misc. stations
5. Scenes along the way
6. Metrolink yard
7. Union Station / Traxx Restaurant
8. NJ Transit train
9. “Stonehenge” at Simi Valley station
10. Launch pads at Vandenberg

I organized and led a chapel car event for my church and involving the Santa Maria Valley Railroad. We met at 9:00am at the headquarters of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad (at the site of the old sugar mill in Betteravia) for a continental breakfast and slide show presentation by Barry Hague and me called “This Train Is Bound for Glory”. Following the presentation, we boarded the La Condesa, a vintage Pullman observation car, for a train ride along the SMVRR, including an en-route worship service led by Pastor David Burgeson and Rev. Bill Foster.

The pics (and some info) are here: http://www.worshipweekly.com/090606.html

This site documents an educational experience designed to teach social studies, local history, and science content to a third (3rd) grade class under the umbrella of railroading. My wife was the classroom teacher, and my Dad did nearly all of the prep work for the HO layout. When my wife moved the follownig year to second grade, this unit didn’t fit in so well, so it went on hold. Hopefully we’ll get back to it some day.

The web site is here: http://jf2.com/aasrr/