All Aboard: Ride a steam train along the historic Sacramento Southern Railroad
Posted by Mary on Mar 24, 2010
A stop on the First Transcontinental Railroad, Sacramento’s history with locomotives, train tracks, and engineers dates back nearly 150 years.
The California State Railroad Museum — one of Sacramento’s most popular tourist attractions — showcases that history, displaying 21 restored cars as well as various exhibits on all things rail-related.
And, since trains are much more fun to ride than look at, they offer seasonal steam train rides on the Sacramento Southern Railroad line on weekends, April 3 - September 26.
The six-mile, 40-minute trip runs along the levees of the Sacramento River while you take in the sights, sounds, and smells of old-fashioned train travel. Take a seat in either a vintage closed coach, an open-air gondola car, or a restored 1920s first-class observation car.
Trains depart hourly from the Central Pacific Railroad Freight Depot in Old Sacramento from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekends through September. The Depot is seven blocks from the museum itself, and train tickets are separate from the museum admission price. Coach and gondola seats on the train are $8 for adults and $3 for kids ages 6-17 (kids under 5 are free). First-class seats on the El Dorado car cost $15 per person. Train tickets are sold at the Depot. Museum admission is $9 for adults and $4 for kids ages 6-17.
The museum this summer also has special exhibits on Abraham Lincoln’s railroad legacy (through May 31), vintage train toys (through Sept. 26), California farm workers (through June 21), and the "love affair" between trains and Hollywood cinema (June 2 - May 31, 2011). Other ongoing exhibits are also on display.
Ride There and Away
For more fun on trains, an easy way to travel between our three San Francisco hostels and the Sacramento Hostel is to take one of the nine daily trains Amtrak runs between the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento on the Capital Corridor line. Long-distance trains running from Seattle to Los Angeles and Chicago to Oakland also stop in Sacramento.
See Amtrak for schedules and pricing.