Steaming into town
A restored 1927 steam locomotive blew through the Inland Valley on Saturday and again on Sunday, a special run between L.A. and San Bernardino to celebrate the latter's bicentennial. I got the above photo on Saturday morning in Claremont as the former Santa Fe 3751 headed east, at high speed. Woo-woo!
A couple of dozen people, including families with children, turned out to greet it. Members of the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society, which bought, restored and operated the train, waved from the rear platform.
The Chasing Steel blog by Joe Perry of Ontario has some impressive photos of the beast at rest.
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About this blogger
A journalist for more than two decades, David Allen has been writing a column for the Daily Bulletin since 1997 and blogging since 2007.He lives in Claremont.
E-mail David here or read columns here.
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I was able to catch this as it went by in Upland. Threw a video of it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KscUZIaPSxU Pretty impressive beast, I'll say...
Steam engines like this one (maybe even this one?) were still running through Claremont in the 1950s. As kids, after a Saturday matinee at the Village Theater, we would gather on the west side of College Ave. at the RR Xing and wait for the sound of an approaching train. Then we'd place pennies on the track, back away from the rails and wait for the train to go by. Then we'd rush back to the tracks and find our supremely squashed pennies.
[Oh, why didn't I lay a penny on the tracks? -- DA]
I was stopped at the tracks (red R/R light) on Mills (Claremont Blvd) going north above Arrow. I was on my way to Lowes in Upland around 10:20am. I wondered why there were people standing around at the tracks. Then I see this beautiful locomotive coming by and I rolled down my window and waved. I knew it had to be something going on!