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Golden Spike Ceremony, Then and Now
Golden Spike Ceremony at Southern
California Live Steamers 1949 - 2009 Sixty years later

Golden Spike Day at the Southern California Live Steamers club track located at the Little Engines facility in Lomita, CA 1949.

Written by Phillip Cohen
 

On May 9th 2009 the Southern California Live Steamers recognized National Train Day with a Golden Spike ceremony held in front of the main station. The meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads was simulated using Jim Berryman's Sweetcreek and Tim Brothers' Fourney Locomotives. Golden spikes were hammered in by Torrance commissioners Reva and Steve Skull as well as other S.C.L.S. club members.

After the reading of a short story by Phil Cohen the two locomotives arrived center station, nose to nose where the gold spikes were driven into a special finished tie. After the ceremony was completed, over 700 train rides were given to the public that attended the ceremoney.

Looking at the pictures below from 1949 and the pictures taken at our 2009 ceremony, other than the clothing and hair styles not much has changed. You can still see the enthusiam and smiles in the S.C.L.S. members. We are very lucky to be able to participate in such an interesting and unique hobby as well as being able to share our hobby with the public both young and old.

 

Golden Spike Ceremony at the Southern California Live Steamers in Torrance, CA 2009. At left, Phil Cohen, Reva Skull (City of Torrance Civil Service Commission), Steve Skull (City of Torrance Planning Commission)Tim Brothers, and Harlan Hiney re enact the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah.) The group poses with the engines at right and in the two photographs below. Photographs provided by Lynn Fielding.

Visit the Southern California Live Steamers web site ©Discover Live Steam and Southern California Live Steamers. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed without written permission.