Hi Everybody-- (I promise to be Good--so NO insults--please !!)

Can anyone remember a TALGO Demonstration Train that departed Oakland at 5th & Kirkham Streets about 22+ years ago hosted by Southern Pacific ?

My wife and I were invited by a V-P at the # 1-Market Street offices of SP on official letterhead. How come or Why ? I really don't know. So we took BART from Union City to the BART "Oakland West" station, got off, and walked just a few blocks to the newly-installed 5th & Kirkham platform.

Per SP employee "Westbound" (Gary), he states the following, for those of you who doubt the station being at 5th & Kirkham Streets :

"SP briefly established a passenger loading "station" at 5th & Kirkham around that time.(The time of this trip) It consisted of just an asphalt paved strip alongside the mainline. If I recall correctly, the idea was that it could be a transfer location for train passengers to walk to the nearby BART station on 7th Street. About the same time, SP established a small private, fenced parking lot a few hundred feet away, for those employees who needed to park there to use BART. You had to have a printed pass to park there and it came in pretty handy in mid-day for a quick trip to the City when the BART lot was full. All this came about, in part, because of the 1989 earthquake."

(Westbound)-- (Gary)

We rode from Oakland to Sacramento--- Down to Lathrop area== up to San Jose--
back to Oakland. And then we went to Oakland-West Station and took BART back home to
Union City.

It was a great trip and the SP brought old commissary dept retirees out to serve refreshments thru-out the trip. My wife and I sat across the aisle from Michael Ongerth's (MDO) Father. Very nice gentleman to visit with !

We stayed for several minutes in Sacramento and found time to meet the two Spanish gentlemen who represented RENFE.

In San Jose, I can't remember the following event : Either MDO's Father got off the train, OR MDO-himself joined us for the trip back to Oakland. When recently checking on this question with MDO, he couldn't remember when the trip was operated. Amazing, huh ?

Anyway--it was a fun time but I was really wondering if any one else of you could remember this trip and what the DATE might have been.
Gary's info about 5th & Kirkham and the 1989 earthquake makes sense !
Thanks in advance !!

KRK