Flowers take train to fields of color – Vacaville Reporter

Phil Secor, a docent and volunteer since 1972 and former South Pacific engineer, drives a 1914 during the Western Railway Museum’s “Wildflower Special” train run at the Suisun City Museum in April Restoration of the Salt Lake City and Utah Railroad passenger car. (Photo by reporter/Richard Barmer)

Flowers are symbols of many things. Love of course. But also a rebirth of the landscape that emerged from a long, cold, wet winter, rekindling the hope of a sunny, warm spring.

Trains have come to symbolize progress and modern life – especially in the heavily industrialized 19th century, but also in the 21st century with the rise of high-speed railways known as “bullet trains”.

But, in our time, trains also mean a journey, a new beginning, an adventure, even if the journey lasts less than an hour. Being on a train—at least for adults—the trains and their sounds, the sirens and the rhythmic clack they make as they pass on the tracks, may bring back childhood memories and the joys of travel.

Put those two together, flowers and trains, especially old-fashioned electric trains, and you have what the Western Railway Museum in Suisun calls a limited-time sightseeing train every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday to April 30.

Katrina Gomez, the museum’s director of marketing and special events, noted that the event, also known as the Wildflower Special, is the nonprofit’s primary fundraiser and helps pay for the museum and railroad’s operating expenses.

On a train dating back to the early 1900s, take a one-hour ride south of the museum tracks on State Route 12 5848 for a respite from modern life to reunite with family and friends and admire the throngs of tourists in Solano The county countryside is filled with vibrant colors amidst the rolling hills and fields.

Volunteer narrators on the train will inform passengers not only of the train car they are traveling in, but of course about plants blooming beyond the tracks, or anything that can be seen for miles outside the tracks on a clear day.

Opinions change every week—whether it’s the California poppy or the state flower; Butter and Egg, a small bright yellow flower; Great milk vetch, a purple flower; White hyacinth; Caraway lomatium, a yellow cluster or red-stemmed filaments, a delicate pink flower; goldfields; and sheep sorrel. This time of year, as the winter rains end, it’s also possible to see the spring pools and their own visitors: ducks and other waterfowl. If you visit, be sure to bring a camera or smartphone.

Three-car trains with 1st and 1st class coaches run every hour starting at 11am, with the last leaving Museum Station at 3:30pm

Afterwards, accompanied by knowledgeable volunteer docents, visitors can tour the museum’s collection of ancient and modern electric trains in the warehouse-sized railcar showroom and exhibition hall. There is a snack bar next to the museum and picnic grounds nearby. The museum itself includes a gift shop and also has some informative displays on the history of railroads and electricity.

Gomez estimated that the number of museum visitors and rail passengers reached 300 a day in April.

If you purchase first-class tickets separately, you’ll travel in the restored 1914 Salt Lake City and Utah Railroad Cabin Scenic Car No. 751. Phil Secor notes that it was originally a Salt Lake City intercity car and has served as a docent and volunteer since 1972. During a recent Sunday wildflower run, a former South Pacific engineer Dressed in vintage command attire and hat.

What about the track? “They’re original tracks from the early 20th century,” said the Seattle native.

As he spoke, Fairfield volunteer Isais Perez offered passengers free wine or soda.

Steve Graves, a volunteer docent in Vacaville, also wearing an old-fashioned black command uniform and hat, said the first-class carriage had been converted into a parlor car with equipment dating back to the 1930s. Donated furniture and rugs.

As the train passed the tracks at 15 to 20 mph, past a giant wind farm and Little Honker Bay Road, Graves said most of the wildflowers outside the window were “the size of a fingernail.”

In the distance, a retired union grocery clerk points to Mount Tamalpais, visible 50 miles away, and to an oil refinery in Martinez.

David Epling, riding with his wife Victoria, who says he is an engineer at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, boards the train Was to “support the museum” and his hobby around vintage trains.

“This is our fifth or sixth time” visiting the Western Railway Museum, the Stockton resident said, adding that he and his wife made a special trip to Suisun for a wildflower tour.

Passengers and Vacaville residents Gwyn and Dennis Colomb, both retired DMV employees, boarded the bus with their 2-year-old granddaughter Angelica Colomb.

“We love seeing wildflowers and cows” grazing nearby and further west, says Gwen.

“You can relax and be close to nature,” she added of the trip.

“It was a really good moment,” Dennis said. “You’ll see places you can’t go by car.”

Gwen added that on vintage trains “you slow down and life slows down”. “We’re in no hurry.”

At the Railroad Car Building, Rio Vista volunteer docent Bob Immergluck leads about 20 people, from children to senior citizens, on a tour of the historic railcars, engines and the museum’s only diesel engine, an image-evoking The hulking black behemoth from David Lean’s 1945 classic “Brief Encounter.”

In a refrigerated truck with a wood-slatted exterior used from the 1890s to the 1960s, Immergluck noted that it needed 20,000 pounds of ice to cool the interior, which was filled with California fruits and vegetables that ended up being sold across the country market.

He added that refrigerated trucks contributed in part to the profitable expansion of California agriculture in the 20th century.

San Francisco passenger Chas Fleming, accompanied by his wife Lucy Zou and six-year-old son Augie Fleming, called the trip “fantastic” and the train carriages “comfortable”, his 15-month-old Big dog Yogi is easy to approach, a Newfypoo (Newfoundland and Poodle mix).

Fleming said it was his son who encouraged the trip to Suisun and ride the vintage electric trains, in part because his son “has every model train you can think of.”

What you need to know if you go: General admission is $20 for adults; $18 for seniors 65 and over; $15 for youth ages 2 to 14; children under 2 are free. First class fares are $30 for adults and $28 for seniors. Patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance (visit wrm.org). In April, the train departs from the museum every 90 minutes and is located on Line 12 of National Highway 5848 in Suisun City. Open year-round Saturday and Sunday from 10:30am to 5pm. On Wednesdays, visit the museum website or call (707) 374-2978.