The Niles Canyon Train of Lights

Niles Canyon Historic Railway. Photo by Frog Mom

One of the last working trains of the Bay Area, the Niles Canyon Railway is a real working railroad whose vintage locomotives and coaches conjure images of Wells Fargo, Joaquin Murrieta and Mark Twain days. Come December, the train dons a festive appearance with thousands of lights inside and outside, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus walking down the train, and holiday music playing during the ride. My girls and I went with a friend and her 6-year old son and had a ball.

Yes the hill spells "NILES". Photo by Frog Mom

Before I bought my tickets online, I looked up where Niles was. You see, the Niles Canyon Railway departs from the Niles Station which itself is located in the Historical Niles District which in all logic should be in the city of Niles. Well, try again.

Despite all the evidence, the train departs from Fremont in an area that was formerly called Niles until 1956. One city absorbed the other, the city name is no more but the spirit is strong. Niles Street in Fremont is all Niles this and Niles that.

Shuttle bus. Photo by Frog Mom

The quaint district is also what my husband would call a nightmare: lovely antique shops filled to the brim with something you could bring back in your friend's car. Utter temptation! At 3.30pm, we made for the shuttle bus stop and saw a vintage bus open its doors. On the large bench at the back, the kids were getting goofy - they were obviously ready for the train.

And what a train! A quarter-mile long, from what I've heard. Quite the monster iron horse. After a train guy punched our tickets with star shapes, the kids smiled for a photo with Santa Claus and Mrs Claus but the North Pole couple were oddly positioned behind a white rope and on the photo, it looks like the kids are cordoned off. Hmm.

Waiting for the whistle. Photo by Frog Mom

Finally we arrived in front of the train and faced the big dilemma - which car to choose? All the coaches are different. Some are open, some are not, some are 1910s, some are 1950s, some have the food and drink kitchens, others have restrooms.

I mean, you have to walk down the train and stake your claim as soon as you know it's right. The kids wanted to be outside so after mildly protesting that we'd catch a cold, we all sat outside. What the heck, it's not every day we board a holiday train.

Classy outfit. Photo by Frog Mom

At 4.15pm sharp the locomotive blew its whistle and the train rolled away. Slowly first, the train quickly picked up its pace but even at its fastest, we were surprised at how slow it was. I know that's not the TGV but I guess I expected it to go faster. But hey, the speed mattered not the least because we were taking in the left-right lulling, the clickety clank sounds and the train people.

Golden hills. Photo by Frog Mom

For instance, on every car you will find docents who are trained railway engineers. They can operate the train, restore equipment and build tracks. I spent some time conversing with them on the history of the railway while the kids prepared their hot chocolate and apple cider on their seat. My friend Day was happy watching the landscape zoom by.

At one point I scanned the hills and saw a big coyote with a thick tail. I blinked twice to make sure it wasn't a deer or a weird bush. No, a real coyote. By the time I got the kids attention, it was already way behind. Cool! I was hoping that by boarding the 4.5pm train we'd see some wildlife at sun down and we did. Oh, there were cows on the slopes too but those don't belong in the wildlife category.

After crossing a bridge the train followed the curves  of the canyon which gave us numerous opportunities to see the whole train progressively lighting up. Initially we didn't notice the lights were on but as the night blanketed us, we realized every single car was fully decorated and some even had blinking patterns.

As fun as watching a light bulb can be, a kid is a kid and ours were dying to explore the train, or rather run down the train. We figured they couldn't get off anywhere and gave them our green light to run off while we watched the bags. They were ecstatic and left before we even had time to say "stick together." Well, they did anyway and came back asking for cookies. Cookies? What - they were hungry again?

Train elves

Turns out, the next car was one of the dining cars and there was a big box that said "Cookies $1". Inside the kitchen, two kitchen elves were busy pouring hot chocolate, mixing it and topping cups with frothy whipped cream. Ah the child's delight!

All right, so they got their cookie on top of wolfing down two tangerines each, a bowl of Chinese fried rice, and gulping down three cups of hot chocolate. They must be growing.

After 40 minutes we slowed down and stopped at the Sunol train depot where the 7pm train departs. Could we get off and walk around the station? No Ma'am, you have to stay on the train. Bummer. I wanted to see the lights from outside. Again, the kids took off to explore some more and after a while, I followed suit. The whistle blew once more and from Sunol, we rolled in the opposite direction back to Niles.

See the car lights on the other right? Photo by Frog Mom

Now, there's a detail I haven't divulged yet. The train tracks run parallel to Highway 84. Why that is? Highway 84, at the point, is called Niles Canyon Road and connects Fremont to Sunol. See a pattern here?

Obviously the railway came first but the cars caught up and in the narrow canyon, the constant traffic takes some getting used to. Still, it was fun to wave at the cars and have some drivers honk back at us.

The night was getting chillier but to my surprise, the kids peeled off their layers. After running around so much, they were hot! I understood why when I caught up with them in the last open car where they were using handrails as swinging bars. So that's what made the little monkeys so hot. I see.

A few minutes later the trail pulled to a stop and we rallied the young crew to get off the train. Wait, I didn't even have time to say all that and they were already gone! Geez, what's the hurry?

Slow exit. Photo by Frog Mom

My friend Day and I tried to find our offspring but they had gone too far and the crowds stopped us from going any further. Oh well, let's just hope they wait for us. They will, right?

And they did, a tight trio waiting for us right outside the train. They seemed relieved to us their moms and so were we. Once we were off, all we needed to do was hop on the shuttle bus to get back to our car. No problem, there was room for everybody.

As a bonus, the drive home was surprisingly smooth and we were in front of our house before 8pm. What an evening!

Practical details

• When: The Train of Lights runs every December.
• Tickets: you can buy them on Eventbrite. 
• Niles or Sunol? The Niles trains departs at 4:15, you can see the canyon and the sunset.The Sunol trains depart at 7:15, and this ride is all about the lights.
• Website: www.ncry.org 

Sacramento's California State Railway Museum

Central Pacific Railroad No. 1 Gov. Stanford. Photo by Frog Mom 

In Old Sacramento lies a train museum where children can hop onto a sleeping car that rocks to the sounds and lights of a 1950s late-night train, play out their train fantasies on a big-scale Thomas the train set, walk inside a train post office or explore reconstructed train tunnels and depots from California's yesteryears. No wonder the California State Railroad Museum is a must-see destination for local schools and train enthusiasts.

Vintage toy trains. Photo by Frog Mom

A museum that includes 225,000 square feet of locomotives, cars and landscapes, and that organizes weekend steam train excursions along the Sacramento river from April to September deserves more than a visit on the fly. It should get your undying gratitude for prolonging the life of the American railroad dream - it's virtually a train set ready for filming your wildest Gold Rush movie! Actually, the reason all trains are on tracks is that they can all roll out of the museum for filming purposes. Pretty cool, right? Well then, no reason to delay. All aboard and enjoy the ride!

Imagine the Gold Rush. Photo by Frog Mom

When we visited the California State Railroad Museum last month on a rainy week day, we thought we'd have the museum to ourselves. Weather was gloomy and drizzly, snow fell by the truckload on Tahoe, and we needed to find an escape for our girls who were getting all cabin-fevered. The museum was just what we were looking for: hours of indoors fun, enough space to run around if needed, wooden benches to sit down and relax, shiny metal eye candy and miniature train sets for the young at heart.

Past a room of vintage toy trains, the first big display shows a Gold Rush scene complete with a covered tunnel, a canvas tent settlement, rocky mountains ready to be blasted away and engineers at the ready. It is simply awesome and we immediately heard a big "Wow!" from our girls. I thought the same wow too. This part of the museum is as close as a film set as it will ever get.

I didn't expect my girls to notice the display  on Chinese laborers but they couldn't help wonder: "Mom, what are the Chinese people doing on the mountain?" Well, kid, they're getting ready to blow up the mountain with dynamite. "But it's dangerous!" Yup, it is. "They could get hurt!" And so they did. I'm not one for sugarcoating history and I'm glad the train museum shows the reality of the Gold Rush with its dangers - and rewards.

Locomotives and more locomotives. Photo by Frog Mom

As you emerge from the dimly lit room, the vast street-level exhibit hall is an open door into a world of possibilities. In front of you, 21 locomotives are standing on tracks, the same tracks that were used to bring them inside the museum. Some of the trains like the yellow one are right next to a small station with wax station attendant telegraphing text messages, wax women waving out of second-floor windows or wax cats sneaking out on the roof.

Phone! Photo by Frog Mom

A group of 4th graders zoomed by us and walked inside a waiting room where a train station controller figure was sitting on a bench - an old man with a gray beard and a straight face. "How ya doin' homey?" went a girl, making funny faces at him while others were snapping shots with their iPhones. Way to treat the oldie, I thought.

Next thing I knew, all the kids screamed and the girl fell back on her fanny. The figure wasn't a figure at all! He was a docent dressed in a costume and as he rose from the bench  to shake her hand, created quite a stir. Ha ha ha, well done grandpa! He sat back on the bench and the still-shaky tweens scampered away. Apparently the docent had rehearsed his skit because we heard another scream not a minute later.

Action! Photo by Frog Mom

At the end of the yellow train, groups of kids were striking poses in front of big locomotives "a la Flashdance." True, the wax figure of a 1940s female worker was a tempting backdrop. We walked around a small wooden station and I saw an old guy looking down on an open book. Was he for real? I got closer and he looked at me, "Can I help you?" Dang, now I had to think of a question. Yes, well, what time is it? "It's on that clock," he replied, pointing at a big clock. I thanked him and walked away.

"Why did you ask about the time?" asked my kindergartner. That was a darn stupid question, I always wear a wrist watch. Just because would only lead to more questions. "Look, you can climb up in the locomotive!" I said, pointing to a big engine next to us.

The diversion worked and my girls ran up the stairs to the locomotive. What a beautiful machine it was. Beautiful and shiny and massive, headlight on. The inside was crammed with people waiting in line to take pictures of their kids at the wheel, or pulling on a cable, or blowing on a whistle. It's the 1901 Southern Pacific Cab Forward No. 4294 whose cab design allowed for better visibility in sharp curves.

Kid and train. Photo by C.G.

To give you an idea of size, here is an interesting little photo, the kid and the train.

To me, part of the trains' appeal is the monumental size of these machines compared to, say, a car or a bus or a tram, all of which kids see regularly on San Francisco's city streets. When you take them to see a train (here or in the Santa Cruz mountains, in Sonoma, in Suisun City or in Jamestown), kids get exposed to something that's mostly out of sight in our daily cityscape and a reminder of days when people traveled at a slower pace - and watched the landscape. Even writing this I'm seriously considering a train trip down the coast to San Diego.

Meat or fish darling? Photo by Frog Mom

Oops, I got sidetracked. Back to the museum where we continued our exploration.

The Fruit Growers Refrigerator Car was a fun walk through with wooden boxes stacked inside and an icing dock, but my girls' favorite was the Dining Car No. 1474 Cochiti, a bullet-type diner-dining car showcasing menus, china settings from the museum's collections, and a docent dressed as a butler. Since you can walk through the entire car and gaze at the various china designs (Santa Fe, Rockies, Western National Parks...), it was very popular with visitors and we had to get in line to enjoy it.

Train kitchen. Photo by Frog Mom

Next to it is the killer sleeper car on a rocking mechanism, a car where you actually feel like the train's zooming past stations and rocking you to sleep at night. Berths are made-up with white linen and beige blankets, a passenger is fast asleep in his compartment, the rhythmic clicking of the wheels is interrupted by the occasional whistle - it's a sensory experience.

Other cars nearby can be viewed from the outside, showing kitchens that look like home kitchens, or kitchens that look like industrial kitchens, or Victorian lounges with tea sets that are worthy of westerns. The visual treats don't stop on that floor. When you've had your fill of oversize engines, climb to the second floor of the museum where everything is miniaturized and kid-sized. For children, this is the real fun.

Thomas the Train-land. Photo by Frog Mom

When I purchased our tickets, the cashier had whispered to me: "There is a Thomas the Train room upstairs. Don't tell them now." Oh I understood well enough. Once they were in that room dedicated to all things Thomas the Train, it was very hard dragging them out.

One of the displays was especially fun as it consisted of an elevated oval train set mounted around a clear plastic bubble where kids could poke their heads and watch the train go choo-choo from inside the loop.

Miniature trains. Photo by C.G.

As I said, it was hard to drag them out of there. I had to play the "Come check out the Hogwarts Express!" card to get any results. Alas, the Hogwarts Express was a disappointing small Lego set but we were moving and that was good.

All the second floor is dedicated to miniature trains, in particular Lionel trains, and several big scale train sets with buttons to push had the kids drool with envy at the engines in motion. From toddlers to school grade kids, they were all captivated by the small trains. Who wouldn't? Some are such exquisite mechanisms with tons of details, it's hard not to stop and start scrutinizing them from every angle.

This was the last stop on our tour, until we exited through the museum shop ... and purchased a few toy trains for my nephew. Great museum!

Details: The California State Railroad Museum

• www.csrmf.org
• The museum is open daily (except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day) from 10am to 5pm.
• Corner of 2nd and I Street in Old Sacramento.
• Accessible by car (parking lot a block away) or aboard Amtrak.
• All Aboard! Steam-Powered Excursion Train Rides from April through September, every hour on the hour on weekend from 11am to 5pm (details here)

The Western Pacific Railroad Museum: A Train Museum on Real Wheels

Are you a train lover at heart? Among your childhood fantasies could be this one: where can you operate a vintage diesel locomotive with a private instructor? Say, an EMD F7 streamlined road unit or an EMD TR-6 locomotive? Your dreams can come true at Portola's Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM) through the Run-A-Locomotive program. This program allows you to rent a train car for an hour or more and to operate it on the museum's tracks under supervision of a trained train driver. Alternatively, you may just show your family one of the West's best train collections. Won't your junior engineers love it?

The WPRM is a terrific train museum to visit - when you get there despite the somewhat confusing road signage (check the map on the website before you go). Between Reno and Quincy, Portola is a little town in the Feather River Canyon, Plumas county, north of Lake Tahoe. You might as well say in the middle of nowhere.

With a census of 2,227 people and local news on livestock auctions, it's puzzling to find there one of the largest railroad museums in the Western United States. The list is impressive: 37 diesel locomotives, 1 diesel locomotive, 1 steam locomototive, more than 10 passenger cars and numerous freight cars, many ready to roll on the museum's 37 acres and 2.5 miles of tracks. If trains are your thing, then you have to go.

As you drive past Portola's historic downtown and you enter the train yard, big signs warn the visitor: any of these machines could get moving. How cool to think that you are stepping in a place that's about historical railroad equipment yet is not frozen in time. These trains are made for rollin'.

Inside the great depot, machines getting repaired await visitors or train buffs footsteps to come to life. The California Zephir open-dome passenger car is almost entirely gutted out, yet you long to see it glide along scenic routes of the Sierra Nevada or Colorado River. Being able to see trains neatly restored and in the process of is a rare behind-the-scenes feel, like you're an insider walking up with your oil can to get cracking on the engine.

Outside the building is the greatest collection of cabooses with wacko internal layouts that made our children's eyes pop out of their heads. Between hidden beds, elevated beds, corner desks, drawing cabinets, empty cupboards and spinning chairs, there was enough decor to pretend play forever. "All aboard!" kept yelling the children, following their arm & whistle gesture by a huffing "chugga-chugga-choo-choo." The guy who sat in the chair 10 feet high right underneath the ceiling really had a great view - both inside and outside. Stepping down from one caboose to climb up in the next was probably the best part of the visit, until we heard a loud whistle.

A train was coming! Obviously, the museum is by the Feather River, its tracks running parallel to the actual train tracks. We all climbed on the lookout to admire the freight train passing by. As it came to a stop, a glance to our left revealed the biggest collection of train spare parts we'd ever seen. We started walking down the alley, the children fascinated by rusty twisted nails, bigger-than-life track nails, stacked up barrels and springs of all sizes. That's not even mentioning the open freight cars used to stock metallic beams and wooden pieces, with stick calendars on the back wall reminescent of Woodie Guthrie's Dust Bowl.

Now look at your calendar and cross out all the weeks between November and April because the museum closes in the winter. If you want a chance to climb aboard these great machines or if you are dying to drive your own train with your junior engineers, you better hurry because winter's coming fast. Your only other opportunity this winter will be the Santa Train on December 5th and 12th, after the museum has undergone a "winterization" makeover. Then it's hibernating time and the snowplow train will be sleeping too. Anyone for a train ride?