Perhaps the following would be of inerest to some..memories that never seem to fade ....

In the mid 30's when the parlor obs Moraga was still used on No. 2 the "Comet".. To fully enjoy your $1.00 RT Oakland to Sacto...Getting to the Key Pier on Sunday a bit early was important...Likely the Moraga's door wasn't open.. so you boarded and ran thru the car ahead over fish trap type mats apparently made of rubber blocks wired together ....These cars had a strong unforgetable cleaning disinfectant odor. It was important to get the best deck chair on the back platform first .== When the 'scheduled' ferry connection arrived and parlor car riders ran down the ramp to the train.... you were secure on your seat and ready to breath the pungent bay air and drink in the rythmic wonderful clickity clack over the creaking trestle heading toward 40th & Shafter. == Going up Shafter it was common to stop while crew and maybe amused willing passengers got off to help bounce a car out of the way..over to the curb.. You wondered ..why was the track close to the side of the st? Possibly because double track was intended later..or because originally it was a roadside..almost a country like setting. === At Temescal, after passenger days.. if you were on a eastbound freight, you would stop dead for half an hr because power was paid for according to peak hr usage...This cut the bill.. === Back on the Moraga on entering the tunnnel it was downhill. On exiting now at high speed..on that first sharp curve..wheels were screaming and all deck chairs raised up on their 2 right legs..passengers bracing themselves on each other. === About then the conductor would hand you a pink ticket in exchange for a 25 cent reduced parlor car fee...and it seemed someone always had a cigar lighted up..=== With chime like horn blowing . whipping at full speed, kicking upt he dust thru Redwood Canyon.. sparsely settled Moraga and sleepy village of Lafayette was a thrill. === If you were up front with the motorman you could see him prepare to throw a rolled up SF newsppr to a dog who had heard your approach and was faithfully waiting by his masters fence near Saranap to fetch the ppr for his owner. == At our first stop at Walnut Creek on No 2, there might have been a 6 car southbound train full of Sacto passengers on the passing track... Or you may have been thrown momentarily onto a deadend spur at Ohmer toallow another SF bound passenger to whiz by. === A real treat would come at Bay Pt..Pt Chgo..if a AT&SF steam passenger train happened to come up beside you at the exact same time.. Then seemingly a race was on.. side by side while going down under the subway...=== Loading on the ferry Ramon...was so precise that from your back platform seat you could see the dock start to move away before the train completely stopped... The captian blew his horn the instant the last wheels clunked on board not waiting for the train to stop..== After the duck hunters got off..Rumbling accross the lengthy marsh trestles was especially fascinating.. Stopping at Rio Vista Jct. many would recall that because of an opitcal illusion having watched the rails unfold behind at 60 mph it appeared that Mt Diablo seemed to be rushing in on you. === Some old timers may also recall that a kid named Carter.. whose dad worked on the Ramon .. would climb on the roof of the passenger cars and because he likely weighed over 250 lbs if it was a pm train as you crossed the prarie, the shadow of the train in the passing fields included this humorous lump... == Head end permits were easy to obtain. What a surprise one a.m.north of Rio Vista Jct.on that long tangent with few crossings the motorman took a large rubber band ..wrapped it around the controller to keep us moving... while he pulled out his newspaper and began reading . === One sunny a.m. when sitting on the front deck of a frt mtr. pulling a long freight across the Lisbon trestle spanning the flood filled Yolo Bypass, Engineer George Hademan rang the bell and stuck his head out the window saying he would stop on the curve..so that pictures could be taken from the levee. What a privilege.. === Further up the line, if passengers were not getting off or on at Live Oak..being no third rail thru town..Rather than bother to raise the trolley.. we'd simply coast thru town. === Another surprise came one rainy day when we stopped "nowhere" somewhere north of Yuba City.. The motorman took a phone off the wall..climbed out in the rain and plugged a jack into a receptical on a pole to talk with dispatch. Had no idea such a "modern" convenience existed.. === Riding up front in a driving rain at night the headlight made it appear as tho we were going thru a marvelous fireworks display....Not a rare sight for those who have similar privileges on todays trains... All memories one enjoys going back and reliving If you have memories back then ..would be happy to read of them.....