>He gave me a tour when. The shay pulled the Miramar Chief.

If I remember, that would have been somewhere around 1980-1981 between when the Shay returned to operation and the equipment moved to La Mesa, before heading to Campo. All of the Miramar equipment did go to Campo where it is still except for the Shay (Feather River 3) which was sold by the idiots during the dark days to support their bloated staff (It became Cass 11 but last I heard was out of service for a 1472). Of the passenger cars on the Miramar Chief, the kitchen/guard car was in the display building last I knew and I don't think it has been on a train in a while, the ATSF 1509, Robert Peary and UP 576 are all used on the North Pole Express as first class cars. Either the Peary or 1509 would have been downtown as they were Amtrak certified and in charter service for a while.

I can only think of a few people from those days still active in the museum - many have since passed on. I still get down there every few years, but there are a lot of new faces that I don't know which in many ways is a good thing. On the Miramar Chief, there was a good chance I was on the train or engine. 7485 (long out of service) was the first engine I ever ran, the Shay the fist steam engine and third loco, and it's been downhill ever since.