PBS Film Crew to Arrive for Union Pacific Railroad for Railroad Days Excursion Train
Portola, Calif. – Union Pacific’s Passenger Department in Omaha gave approval to allow the first ever excursion train to bring passengers to the 28th Annual Portola Railroad Days Festival on August 19-23, 2010.
This year’s Railroad Days celebrates an historic event very important to the growth and development of Portola and the entire Feather River region. The date coincides with the 100th year anniversary of the first Western Pacific passenger train operating between Salt Lake City and Oakland and will travel at the same day and hour, one hundred years following that first train ride from Utah.
This year’s event is so historic that a PBS film crew will be in the Portola area for a week, filming a TV show called “Tracks Ahead” which is very popular and is shown on over 200 stations around the United States and several countries, including Europe. This program will include the Portola Railroad Days Festival, Western Pacific Railroad Museum and the Feather River Express.
The first train 100 years ago carried all of the railroad’s high management, press and VIP guests. After departing Salt Lake City on August 20, 1910 it departed Portola for a run to Oroville with a stop at Hartwell, which is now called Quincy Junction. Here all guests transferred to a Quincy & Western Railroad excursion train for the five mile trip to downtown Quincy to take part in a massive celebration complete with a parade. Later in the afternoon, once passengers were back onboard at Quincy Junction, the first passenger train continued on down the Feather River Canyon to Oroville. On August 22, 1910 the last leg of its 925 mile journey was made between Oroville and Oakland. All the way to the Bay Area the train was met by thousands of well wishers who came out to welcome new passenger service to their communities.
