Living Steam Virginia & Truckee -- on DVD ($19.95) and Blu-Ray (call 877 323-8002)

Fun Train and Snow Train -- all rights owned by Key Holidays / All photo and video owned and copyrighted by Train Arts, 2007
Colfax local wisdom: "a small drinking town with a railroad problem"
A Union Pacific train crossing Grass Valley road near downtown Colfax

Cape Horn Promontory is just outside Colfax. This is a view from the Red Frog bar



Sunset sky on Interstate 80 at the Blue Canyon exit

Emeryville
Emigrant/Nyack/Soda Springs Snow
Hirschdale Road
THIS IS Colfax / Cape Horn / Hwy 20
Sparks Yard / Truckee / Soda Springs

This page is for Colfax, the Red Frog, nearby Cape Horn Promontory overlook, and a great spot off Highway 20 at Interstate 80 showing a tunnel entrance.

Key Holidays runs the Snow Train and the Fun Train from Emeryville to Reno. From March 11, 2007, see the Snow Train in this video...



Right click here and "Save" to download a 138Mb 640x480 WMV file or a 70Mb video at 320x240
also see the Video page from UtahNevada.com
See the Fun Train TV ad

The midweek Snow Train waits at Colfax for clear track ahead

The Snow Train made great time until arriving at Colfax, where is sat for a while waiting for clear track.

Colfax crossing at Grass Valley Road, waved through on a red flag Milepost 141.89 Roseville Subdivision at downtown Colfax

This type of mile marker sign can be seen along the railroad showing precise locations on the mainline. Mileage at the same spot is often different for tracks 1 and 2.

In the video above, there is a piece of radio traffic where someone says the switchman turned into a pumpkin. This is a euphemism for an employee going dead on hours. This can happen to any railroad employee, including engineers, and is mandated by federal law. The switchman left and another switchman had to come out and let the Snow Train continue.

Because a switchman "turned into a pumpkin," aggravated by construction and a broken rotary snowplow ahead, there was a two-hour delay.

The Snow Train finally went, with a red flag at the Grass Valley Road crossing. If you have to stop and sit in a train for hours, you couldn't pick a much better spot than Colfax.

The Key Holidays Snow Train proceeding with a red flag at Colfax, California

In the shot below, you see the Rio Grande Royal Gorge passenger car on the Key Holidays Snow Train. This train was delayed in part by a rotary snowplow, shown at the bottom of the page.

In the next shot of the Royal Gorge car, you can see in the lower left a taped-off area with a box next to the tracks.

This "box" is the passenger platform extension for Amtrak trains so they don't have to use the yellow stepstools. The platform was flipped up and out of the way to allow the rotary snowplow to clear the platform.

The Royal Gorge Rio Grande passenger car passing through Colfax, a small drinking town with a railroad problem

This next shot is at the spot where the Fun Train was waiting, it's called Narrow Gauge Road...
A sign, "narrow gauge road," at the entrance to the road next to the tracks in Colfax, California

the rotary snowplow mentioned above...
A Union Pacific old Southern Pacific rotary snowplow running the first time here in ten years

This was the first time this plow had run up into the Sierra Nevada snow in ten years. It was only a test run, the snow had already been cleared as usual with spreaders and flangers. This plow ran into problems at Bowman, a little over ten miles short of Colfax. This disappointed the crowd of railfans waiting at Colfax to see this relic in action.

For those that waited around all afternoon, the reward came under great afternoon light. The machine could be heard first, with the old steam whistle coming up the hill to the crowd at the Grass Valley railroad crossing in downtown Colfax. Here's a longer shot showing Union Pacific locomotives 5810 and 5816...

A longer shot of the steam whistle on the Southern Pacific rotary snowplow, showing UP locos 5810 and 5816