Being back in the Bay Area for business briefly, I took the chance to visit old friends as well as one of my favorite live steam operations. The Redwood Valley Railway is a miniature park railway running on 15 in. (381mm) track. The scale of the rolling stock is approximately 1:2.4 or 5″ (to the foot). The railway was started in the early 1950s by a fellow called Erich Thomson and reached a total length of track of about 1 1/4 miles.

Traveling light, I used my trusted iPhone to capture the ride as well as some impressions from the station area.

Due to the high volume of riders- this was a very beautiful Sunday after a long period of rain- 10 wheeler #11  “Sequoia” was on the point of a long train working its way around through the Redwood forest in the hills above Berkely, CA.

The railroad is located at the south end of Tilden Park, at the intersection of Grizzly Peak Blvd and Lomas Cantadas Rd. Right next door are the Golden Gate Live Steamers. As luck had it, the club had a “Public Run” day and we used the chance riding along the extensive layout till the fuel line on the leading engine broke down.

According to the club’s website: “The Golden Gate Live Steamers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit museum whose mission is to operate a miniature live steam railroad, to teach & promote model engineering craftsmanship for the benefit of our members and to educate the public on what live steaming & model engineering is all about”.