Lawson, thank you for your great coverage on this Western Sonoma County Historical Society event! Great turn out too! Appreciate your dedication to the history of our town. Keep up the good work.
Lawson is an awesome reporter. Guessing at his age, I'm left wondering where he learned about trains. But then again, we still teach about dinosaurs and good manners, too, am I right?
I was on Main Street the day they tore out the rails for the "train down Main."
I volunteer at the museum and have been sorting through images of the trains for the past couple of weeks. So when they hosted this special presentation, I knew now would be a great time to write about it.
You’re on the right track with this article Lawson. I’m sorry I missed the presentation. Having relocated to Sebtown from LA in 1995, my first awareness of the Train on Main was a photo on the wall of the old Pine Cone restaurant. Keep up the good work and try not to get sidetracked.
I enjoyed Lawson Gaylord's article and hope he will continue to develop his reporting talent. A wee nit to pick: the rail car that sits behind the West County Historical Museum is not a "boxcar". Boxcars look much the same but are built to handle dry goods, lumber, machinery or other non-perishable freight. The car behind the museum is a refrigerator car, or "reefer" car. They were ubiquitous members of the consist of freight trains on multiple railroads in California in the 1940's and 50's, used to transport perishables- fruits and vegetables - from the bountiful agricultural regions of our state to the midwest and eastern states. The Southern Pacific would bring them together into long strings at the huge Roseville yard northeast of Sacramento where they were shunted by a great ice house. Workers on catwalks, slid blocks of ice into the hatches at each end of the roof of each car. The walls of the cars were insulated and the doors built to seal tight. You can see the hatch covers on the roof of the museum car. Once iced up, the trains headed up the steep grade to Donner Pass and on to the markets in the east.
Rod, I appreciate that you point out to us the difference in purpose between "boxcars" and "refer" rolling stock. As one interested in maritime history/culture, I rankle when a cargo/passenger/naval vessel of vast tonnage is simply diminished and referred to as a "boat".
Bravo to Lawson Gaylord on reporting this important piece of local history and his pursuit as a journalist.
Lawson, thank you for your great coverage on this Western Sonoma County Historical Society event! Great turn out too! Appreciate your dedication to the history of our town. Keep up the good work.
Lawson is an awesome reporter. Guessing at his age, I'm left wondering where he learned about trains. But then again, we still teach about dinosaurs and good manners, too, am I right?
I was on Main Street the day they tore out the rails for the "train down Main."
Thanks!
I volunteer at the museum and have been sorting through images of the trains for the past couple of weeks. So when they hosted this special presentation, I knew now would be a great time to write about it.
Thank you for this! Intrguing, very well written.
You’re on the right track with this article Lawson. I’m sorry I missed the presentation. Having relocated to Sebtown from LA in 1995, my first awareness of the Train on Main was a photo on the wall of the old Pine Cone restaurant. Keep up the good work and try not to get sidetracked.
I enjoyed Lawson Gaylord's article and hope he will continue to develop his reporting talent. A wee nit to pick: the rail car that sits behind the West County Historical Museum is not a "boxcar". Boxcars look much the same but are built to handle dry goods, lumber, machinery or other non-perishable freight. The car behind the museum is a refrigerator car, or "reefer" car. They were ubiquitous members of the consist of freight trains on multiple railroads in California in the 1940's and 50's, used to transport perishables- fruits and vegetables - from the bountiful agricultural regions of our state to the midwest and eastern states. The Southern Pacific would bring them together into long strings at the huge Roseville yard northeast of Sacramento where they were shunted by a great ice house. Workers on catwalks, slid blocks of ice into the hatches at each end of the roof of each car. The walls of the cars were insulated and the doors built to seal tight. You can see the hatch covers on the roof of the museum car. Once iced up, the trains headed up the steep grade to Donner Pass and on to the markets in the east.
Rod McAulay
Rod, I appreciate that you point out to us the difference in purpose between "boxcars" and "refer" rolling stock. As one interested in maritime history/culture, I rankle when a cargo/passenger/naval vessel of vast tonnage is simply diminished and referred to as a "boat".