Checking out Barstow, Calico, and Kelso

A week after our Arizona/Utah/Nevada trip, we were off for a weekend with friends on the Harleys. We checked out the Harvey House, Mother Road (Hwy 66), and Western American Railroad Museums in Barstow (all at the former Santa Fe depot), Calico Ghost Town (tourist trap), and the UP Kelso Depot (closed). It was still a great weekend of over 550 miles in the saddle, none of which you'll see here. All I shot were the cooler places we went.
So, join us for a few pieces of history!
UP 4014 Big Boy and Kelso Depot • Union Pacific 4014 Big...
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[@kens.3729]

Looks like a very Cool and Scenic Railroad Ride. Thanks for taking us long. 👍🙏

[@wrangler70jkujeep74]

Awesome

[@MarkJoseph81]

Wow the architecture on the outside of that building, I would've loved to have seen more of that!

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

Here's the link to the walk through I did in 2019 kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV7Fk6KAadiLrpo

[@chuckmorris7043]

Hi Mark: thanks for touring the Harvey House in Barstow. My dad took my brother and I out to the Harvey House there several times, just going on a ride, and all the way from the San Fernando Valley where our home was. We would always order the big spaghetti dinner there at the Harvey House, boy, I wish I could get another one of those Harvey House meals again. I was just getting into teenage years then. I think the meal might have been maybe $1.75 per person back then. The years then were about 1953.

[@gastech7188]

The Amtrack Station platform in Barstow was where my wife and I boarded the Big Boy 4014 excursion train in October of 2019. The track closest to the station was the one that was used. Great experience. Back in my Boy Scout days (late 50's to mid 60's) we would camp ti a canyon adjacent to the Calico Ghost Town. Back then nobody cared about Scouts camped there, but shortly after the price of silver went up and some of the mines in the area outside of the ghost town were active again and barriers were put up. Fenced off and armed guards.

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

That canyon is now the RV Park, and according to my friends who stayed there, has no trail to access the townsite. You have to walk all the way around! I was at Kelso with my Dad the day the 4014 came through. Here's the link to that video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV7Fk6KAadiLrpo

[@briansimson933]

The Barstow static locomotives you were unsure about were EMD SD40-2 and rare EMD FP45...

[@randydobson1863]

hello mark its is randy and i like yours video is cool thanks friends randy

[@glennfoster2423]

The Santa Fe heavyweight you called a mail car is a Horse Express. They transported race horses all around the circuit.

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

Wow! I'd never heard of that, but it makes sense as they fly them everywhere now. I wish they had information attached to the rolling stock, but at least they have the stuff! Thanks for the info!

[@jeffreygosselin7576]

I almost got hired by BNSF in Barstow back in 2004. I love the McDonald’s in Barstow.

[@thatcurveguy]

The marine base in Yermo use old EMD'S to switch. I retired from GE at the Barstow rail yard. I film in Daggett

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

Thanks for the info!

[@revenniaga6249]

That control stand and chair was the first generation simulator used in th 70s when they ran out of steam firemen to promote to engineers. The SD 40-2 was made by GM with 3,000 hp motor. One of the first type of locomotive with 6 wheel trucks, dynamic brakes and turbocharged Does Barstow still have the McDonalds made from passenger and box cars?

[@jonusle2937]

Yep

[@davec9244]

Just returned from a trip to Ely Navada, A railroad museum you must see. Every time I go to Kelso it is closed maybe next time. Harvy girls were an off shoot of Hooters girl. they had a look alike theme. thank you, good job ALL stay safe

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

Here is the link to my playlist "Depots, Stations, and Museums" in which you will find my walk around of the Nevada Northern Yard, engine house and an excursion ride up the hill, as well as a tour of the Kelso depot the day the Big Boy came through! Thanks for checking it out! kzbin.info/aero/PL6ge3RoxmyvrlkERhZUtcRxm9YN0_C-V4

[@davec9244]

@@MarkClayMcGowan thank you

[@royreynolds108]

At 10:26, I have a hand car, a velocipede, and a Fairmont B4 signal maintainer's car similar to the M19 in the back of the red motor car. I also have a pick, spike hammer, and level board like the ones on the hand car. At 11:22, upper right are different rail anchors or anti-creepers. upper left are tools used to repack journals before roller bearings which was cotton waste(stringed cotton yarn that looks all the world like a rat's or mouse's nest) or latter foam-filled pads that looked like terry cloth soaked in oil. The predominant oil used in the journals was called summer black oil which looked like used diesel lube oil. Nasty stuff. 11:35, caboose stove, phone box, a car mover(held on top of a rail and under a car wheel) could be used to reposition a car without the use of a locomotive, a carman's jack, a track jack, another track jack, a small bottle jack, a pry bar, a threaded car or shop jack, lining bar, tie tongs, rail tongs, etc. On the left is a switch broom and then a switch stand. The 3-wheeled vehicle is for a car man to check the journals. The scales would have been in the freight office. 11:44 has a hack saw on the wall for cutting rail and a folding rail drill, insulators on the bottom shelf from the telegraph and signal lines, 11:56 looks like a rail drill the signalman would use for rail bonding and connections(smaller drills than for track bolts), 14:30 is not a RPO or railway post office car but a baggage car that can be loaded with vehicles(the very large hinges on the end) by opening the doors, the trucks have roller bearings, Go to www.youtube.com/@EngelsCoachShop and go to his listing for the 20-mule-team borax wagons series he did when he built a whole new set of borax wagons a few years ago. This guy is a fabulous craftsman.

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

While I am not conversant with some car types or locomotives, as a retiree with 40 years in the SP/UP signal department, I am with everything else. Someone else said the car I thought was a mail car was for transporting race horses? I dunno. I wish the museum had more information posted on or near their rolling stock. Still, it was a neat place. Thanks for the info.

[@MarkJoseph81]

Were those actors or animatronics up on the hillside while you were riding the tour train? Or workers?

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

All I noticed were other tourists. You can walk all through that stuff.

[@MarkJoseph81]

@@MarkClayMcGowan That's so cool!

[@markverloop8787]

Just saw this video. Is Barstow a transfer yd. where trains pick up cars going east & or west Like San Berdinio?

[@MarkClayMcGowan]

I am not certain exactly what all goes on there, but it is a huge facility. I imagine a lot of transfers happen there with manifests, and perhaps intermodals are added to for the trip across the desert. The part of the yard shown in the video is just the east end where not much goes on, the main yard is on the west end.