Car House #3

Yes, I made another trip to the Western Railway Museum. Mostly because I learned about a train barn that I had never visited before. Before we talk about Train Barn #3 (Car House Three), I was able to track down a train shows in a 1975 family photo.

The original photo was taken by my dad during my first visit to the museum. Today the train is not working and visitors are not allowed inside.  The "Blackpool Corporation Transit Boat Car" is from england and was built in 1934. It joined the museum in 1972 and road the streets of San Francisco from 1983 to 1985.

Boat Car in 2011

Boat Car interior 2012.
Had to hold my hand into the air above the train to get this shot... Without the viewfinder.

Car House #3

The Western Railway Museum has a giant train barn full of almost dust free perfectly restored trains. For train fans, they are beautiful. For some crazy reason, access to these trains is limited to a 45 minute guided tour twice a week. All other access is prohibited.  Basically the best of the best is locked away and you are rushed though the barn by a tour guide. Almost no time is available to take a quality photo, let alone look around and just enjoy the history. It is a shame.  Below are a couple of the cool trains I found, a bunch more shots can be found on my flickr WRM photo set. The fastest way to get as many shots as possible was to just put the Nikon D5100 into automatic mode and just shoot.

You can't really tell but the size of this steam engine really is impressive.

Sadly, the steam engine in this family photo is in Barn #2 and "rusting away"

Old Pullman sleeper car. I would love to get inside to shoot photos.

Boxcar with it's own hobo

Oregon Electric

United States Maritime Commission Shipyard Special

Former San Francisco Street Car

This Sacramento Northern train was recently restored and is in working condition

Return to the WRM

I have a long history with the Western Railway Museum. My first visit was in the mid 1970's when my parents took my on a visit.

The Comet. Taken around 1975

The Comet taken in August 2011

My next visit was in the 1980's when my best friend and his parents took us on a day trip. I had no idea where the place was located but last year I accidentally passed it while going for a drive.

Museum ticket from 1987 and 2012

So I stopped in 2011 and took some photos and returned again today.  Below are some the shots.

This HDR capture of an old red boxcar was the last image I took today.
Clearly they are doing work to rebuild the interior and exterior.

The next 2 shots were taken of the same train 1 year apart using different lenses. Which one do you prefer?

2011 HDR 18mm Nikon kit lens version

2012 HDR 10mm Tamron wide angle version

HDR train interior

HDR image turned almost totally B&W. Not very happy with the POV.
Next time I will get the tripod lower toward seat level.

I also took a bunch of Macro shots with the Tamron 90mm Macro lens

And of course a few cool signs from inside the train that I really enjoyed

Western Railway Museum

This picture is as good as any to post first. I took this on a weekend trip to the railroad museum and was by far my best photo that day.  If you are looking for a great place to shoot photos of trains or even just rust bolts and industrial equipment you should check them out.  Western Railway Museum - Solano County - California