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I had a great time yesterday on the photowalk Robert Scoble organized at the California State Railway Museum. I have a great love of classic trains and California history, so this has always been one of my favorite museums.
I shot some 3D photos; you can view them here or on Flickr.
They've always had an amazing collection of restored rolling stock, and over the has few years have shifted the focus from just cool trains to also include stories of the folks who built and worked on the railroad, and the effects rail transportation had on American society and culture. A trip from New York to San Francisco, what was once a perilous journey of many months, was reduced to a week or less. This made it possible for people and commerce to move all over the country and changed the rules of business, and opened up great opportunities for humans to change their lives.
There are so many other ways the railroad changed American life. The railroads, which were once among the most dangerous of all industries, instituted safety programs, built hospitals, and worked with insurance companies to reduce risk. Railway workers were foremost in the labor movement, and made many great strides in creating a more humane working environment for all American workers. Fresh produce could be shipped all over the country, providing better nutrition. The meat industry moved to Chicago, and the old cattle driving trails were eliminated, and the quality of beef increased.
Before the railroads, there was no uniform time system. States and local juristictions might have their own time standards, creating much confusion. Since the railroads thought in terms of hundreds or thousands of miles, a way was needed for a universal way of determining what time it was. Congress enacted time zone laws, and highlyaccurate watches and clocks were developed.
The railroads also needed a way to communicate instantly over long distances. In his book The Victorian Internet, Tom Standage discussed how the telegraaph required a mindshift to deal with the sudden extension of communication we had. For the first time in history, we had a way of instantly exchanging information with others hundreds or even thousands of miles away as easily as with those in the next room. This changed many rules, and brought great fortune to those who were able to grasp the idea. The shift was much more profound than with subsequent advances in communication (telephone, radiom television, and even the Internet). This was driven by the railroads, who desperately needed it. In fact, much of the original transcontinental telegraph and later telephone trunks ran alongside railroad main lines; even the first fiber optic networks followed the railroad right of way.
The railroad business followed the business conventions of the rest of society of its time, including some of the ones that we now realize are shameful. The museum has exhibits discussing the second-class status of the Chinese laborers who performed incredible construction feats in the High Sierra under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, and the plight of the Pullman Porters, who were almost exclusively African-American, who also worked under extremely difficult conditions. For a long time, the porters were all addressed as "George" by white customers (after George Pullman), and finally had to strike to be allowed to get name tags to identify themselves in a more dignified manner.
Since my last visit, the museum has added an extensive exhibit of model trains, featuring classic sets from Lionel, American Flyer, and some superb European manufacturers. All guages, from large scale to the smallest Z-scale are represented.
A trip to the museum takes about an hour and a half to breeze through, and one could easily spend most of a day getting into detail of the various exhibits. This is a great collection, and something the entire family can enjoy. They also offer a six mile live steam excusion in the warmer months.
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