Completed Projects
Discover the completed projects of the California State Railroad Museum Foundation. Learn how volunteers and donors restore historic tracks and locomotives, preserving rail heritage and supporting museum excursions.
The Sacramento Southern Railroad’s volunteer track crews have said it best: “No track, no train.”
In 2023, Museum volunteers replaced rails, ties and switch components on the three tracks leading from a three-way “harp” switch to the Central Pacific Passenger Station in Old Sacramento. This track, originally built when the reconstructed station opened in 1976, has seen heavy use over the years. Volunteer crews, using track materials paid for by the Foundation, worked to renew the tracks and keep them serviceable.
Two projects along the mainline were completed with the help of State Parks and contractors. About 1,300 feet of track was replaced south of Capitol Mall, along with drainage improvements, between June and October 2023. While the project forced the Sacramento Southern to suspend excursion operations for most of the summer, the payoff is a segment of brand-new railroad that should be good to go for decades to come.
While that was going on, another contractor replaced nearly 100 crossties at Miller Park, about halfway between Old Sacramento and the railroad’s bridge over Interstate 5.
Your contributions can help the Museum and the Foundation maintain the railroad’s most critical infrastructure.
Western Pacific #402
This diesel switcher is actually several years older than the Granite Rock 10! The Electro-Motive Corp. of La Grange, Ill., built this locomotive for the Western Pacific Railroad in 1939. Railroads were beginning to experiment with internal combustion as an alternative to steam; EMC came up with this SW1 switcher with the aim of helping railroads make their switching operations more efficient.
As No. 502, the locomotive went into service on Western Pacific, becoming one of their “yard goats”—locomotives used to shuffle cars in yards, putting trains together and taking them apart. The 502 was later transferred to WP subsidiary Sacramento Northern as its No. 402. The Sacramento Northern once ran electric interurban trains in and around Sacramento, entering the California capital over Tower Bridge.
After its “real world” service, the little switcher came to the Museum in 1983, where it was used to help train the first generation of Museum volunteers for service on the Museum’s excursion railroad, which began service in 1984 and evolved into today’s Sacramento Southern. The 402 has seen limited use on Sacramento Southern excursion trains over the years since.
Foundation members and donors helped underwrite major work on the locomotive’s brake rigging in 2022 and 2023, carried out largely by Foundation diesel mechanic Robbie Smith. This work will help keep the 402 on the road for years to come, telling the story of the rise of diesels and the eventual end of steam on American railroads.
Western Pacific 913
Western Pacific F7A diesel No. 913 came to the Museum’s opening Railfair in May 1981 as the property of WP. It never left—WP donated the 1950-vintage locomotive to the Museum that same month, and it’s been here since, handling special moves and (since 2011) Polar Express trains.
Thanks to the generosity of Foundation members and donors, No. 913 is still roadworthy and should be for the next couple of decades.
WP bought the 913 in 1950 as part of its transition from steam to diesel power. The 913 and several other first-generation locomotives worked well beyond their expected service life, famously pulling WP freight trains between Stockton and the San Francisco Bay Area via Altamont Pass nearly to the end of the 1970s.
In 2022, Foundation diesel mechanic Robbie Smith carried out repairs on the 913’s main powerplant designed to last a good 20 years, a departure from normal railroad practice (which he characterized as a quick fix meant to get the locomotive back on the road ASAP).
Sacramento Southern 2030
Thousands of young men served in Korea during the Korean War of 1950-53. So did dozens of diesel switchers that, like many of the servicemen, came home after their overseas tours ended.
One of those switchers is No. 2030, one of 40 SW8 locomotives built for the U.S. Army Transportation Corps by Electro-Motive Division in 1951. The entire order was shipped to Korea for the Army’s use in repelling North Korea’s invasion of its southern neighbor. After the conflict ended in a cease-fire in 1953, all but about 14 of these locomotives were returned to the U.S.
No. 2030 soldiered on stateside until the Museum bought it from the Army in 1995. The 2030’s last duty station was the Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada. The Sacramento Southern put No. 2030 to work handling switching duties and freight cars to and from Setzer Forest Products near Miller Park, and as backup power for the excursion trains. Around 2004, the 2030 was repainted from its Army colors into the same two-tone gray paint scheme used on the railroad’s coaches since 1999. The 2030 still wears those colors today—the only operating locomotive in the Museum’s collection lettered for the Sacramento Southern.
In 2021 and 2022, the locomotive was deemed in need of a major rebuild of its diesel power plant. The Foundation brought in diesel mechanic Robbie Smith to handle the work. His labors, supported by Foundation members and donors, returned 2030 to active service keeping the excursion trains rolling.
