Riding the Rails, A Trip to Jamestown

For our Fourth of July weekend, we just wanted to get away. We had a vague plan to head to the east, and the only specific place we wanted to visit was Railtown 1897, a state historic park in Jamestown.

With no further plans (or reservations)—who knew what we would find?

Jamestown is in the southern gold fields of California. You get there on the same route you might use to get to Yosemite (CA Route 120). It's a bit of a drive to get there and back in a day—but do-able, depending on how motivated you are. We spent the night in Columbia (a Gold Rush town) which is another state park.

Railtown 1897 California State Park is operated by the parks system and has a strong cadre of train-buff volunteers on holidays and weekends that you'll see in the railroad station house, steam locomotives and round house.

When we got there, it was hotter weather than I've been in in a while. All our actions involved moving at slow speed and searching out shade (like lizards might be searching out sun, but in reverse) and large amounts of water.

There were snacks in the gift store at Railtown, but I ended up buying popcorn from two women in period costume on the station platform.  The price for the popcorn was so shocking, I thought it had to be wrong—$1 for a large bag, 25 cents for a small bag. Coming from the movie theater where I shell out $4.50 for a tiny "child's size" (which is at least cheaper than "small size"), the price seemed in some way flabbergastingly low. How is the park to raise anything on that? Then again, almost six years in the Bay Area might have changed my definition of "reasonable."

Since it was so hot, (somewhere over 100 degrees) there were water mist nozzles arranged at the crowded end of the station platform. They were fabulous. I had never experienced these—but it turns out that they are quite common, because we saw them at dinner that night and at OSH in Sonora the next day. Our son loved standing under them to see how wet his head could get.

Don't let the amount of heat we experienced make you think we didn't have a good time. When we moved slowly and drank lots of water, the whole thing was tolerable. And as with anything, it is the people who can make or break a place or experience. A surly waiter in a restaurant can taint a meal, as you know.

Well, at Railtown we met nothing but jovial docents, conductors and engineers.  

Jim (our super tour guide of the Roundhouse) clearly loved sharing information—what he finds fun and exciting to think about. The Roundhouse tour was great. There was unprecedented access to the towering steam engines. Few machines seem to be that large. Or, maybe it's because we aren't able to stand under the wing of a 747 that this made such an impression. We touched tools, stood next engines—and took any number of pictures we wanted. It was great.

Another thing which made this tour special was that Jim was ready and willing to dive into the technical wonders of steam locomotives. Yes, with several train museums, books and videos under our belts, our family knew that wood-burning locomotives had the bigger "smoke stack" funnel—coal and oil burning ones the little short stubby ones. But we didn't really understand why. Jim explained to us the added design challenge of wood fuel—you have to contain the ashes and cinders—and that big funnel gives room for the locomotive's exhaust to swirl around and snuff out those cinders before they get out.

Also, for all the TV and film buffs out there, Railtown has been used for location filming from 1913 to present-day films and TV. A large poster shows you that you are visiting the same train museum where John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Michael J. Fox filmed their steam train adventures. The props from many of the films are on display in the same area.

Editor's note: Railtown 1897 is one of 70 state parks on the closure list the 2011-12 budget. However there are still discussions underway in Sacramento, and Railtown 1897 is operating until further notice, including weddings and events that are booked this summer.

Prices:  

$15 for train rides (includes roundhouse tour)

$5 for roundhouse tour only (children free)

Railtown 1897 website

California State Parks