Category: Severn Pacific

Continuing our theme of sharing tasty holiday leftovers, I’ve gathered up a couple of fun memories from the last month or so.

Towards the end of November, we were delighted to visit nearby History Park & join in the ceremonial relighting of the Stephen’s Meat Products sign. That may not sound like a big deal, and it probably wouldn’t be in most Henry-less households, but our guy loves vintage signage & has long been a fan of the San Jose Signs Project. Until the sign was recently removed to make was for the new Google campus, it cheerfully lit up the sky near our neighborhood. Now it’s been relocated to History Park, and we loved joining the mayor and hundreds of area residents to celebrate the work of local sign- and printmaking artisans—then see “Stephen” dance again!

Here’s a little gallery from the evening.

Then, right before Christmas, our neighbor Severn hosted a lovely backyard party & enlisted Hen to be his sole engineer! Our guy delighted his numerous passengers—including the Sugar Plum Fairy!—until they’d finally run the engine’s battery down to zero. Check out a small gallery plus some video from the event:

Having been a fireman & machinist for Southern Pacific, our neighbor Severn is incredibly well connected to folks dedicated to railroad preservation, and his skills remain in high demand.

On Saturday we were delighted to accept his invitation to drive up to Napa, where a team of volunteers devote many hours per week to restoring old engines & cars. It was an especially interesting day as the group was firing up their 100-year-old steam engine for the first time in many years.

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Severn & the whole team were incredibly generous with their time and knowledge, taking us through their numerous old cars. Highlights include a mail car that had been trapped in an avalanche in the 50’s (causing the passengers to have to rip up & burn its flooring to stay warm) and a beautifully restored Art Deco lounge car featuring an amazing round bar.

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The real highlight, though, was Henry getting to fire up a pair of the old diesel locomotives on site! Here’s video of the whole process:

Check out our rather epic gallery for many more shots.

Finally, after some restorative beer & potato chips (the former for me, the latter for Hen 🙃), we cruised back over the foggy Golden Gate Bridge, then south to San Jose:

Oh man, I cannot believe our luck!

A few weeks ago, a new pedestrian bridge opened up on the trail that occupies the old path of the railroad that once ran through our neighborhood. I noticed that off to one side, a little garden railway was visible. I took a few long-distance pics for Henry, figuring that that’s about as close as we’d get.

This Tuesday, however, both boys joined me on a walk with Seamus, and Henry—visiting this spot for the first time—decided to get a closer look. As luck would have it, a nice lady named Cathy was out walking her dog—and it turned out to be her house!

Minutes later we found ourselves in the back yard, checking out & even riding the train with Severn, a retired machinist who’s been building up the railroad. Even more amazingly, they have a full-sized caboose in the back yard! 🤯

The dogs played happily while we soaked it all in, swapping all kinds of nerdy railroad facts & planning our return visit this Sunday—when we hope to help with the construction of a miniature water tower! It’s like we’ve all died & gone to Henry Heaven. 🥰

Check out our photo gallery plus this quick video:

To be continued! 🚂