Truckee–Trains, Cars, Bars and Bikes?

Took a little trip with the dogs into Truckee just to get a feel of the place.  Truckee was and is a huge railroad town with many trains passing through it each day.  There is only one set of tracks over Donner, so Eastbound has to wait for Westbound and vice-versa.  Here is their little Railroad Museum, an old caboose.

It stands next to the old train station, which is now a visitor’s center, Chamber of Commerce office, and stuff like that.

The little train museum, which is accessible to wheelchairs, is so small that it is hard to take good pictures of the wall displays since it is only the size of a caboose…a narrow gage caboose at that (I think).

This is a good depiction of a standard gauge and a narrow gauge.  Narrow gauge came to Truckee in the form of transporting people from Truckee over to Lake Tahoe where they would get on a steam ship to head over to one of the cities along the lake.  Of course the standard rail came as part of the Transcontinental Railroad.  It took six years for the Railroad to be built between Sacramento and Promontory, Utah where the East met the West.

Next door to the train station is an old “Flying A” service station which is now a brewery, or was a brewery…it was hard to tell if it was still in operation or not.

Flying A’s were popular on the east and west coasts from the 1930’s to the 1960’s.  The ones on the west coast were taken over by Phillips 66, while the ones on the east coast were taken over by Texaco.  One can occasionally find a independent Flying A, but otherwise they are pretty much gone.  This replica is noted as one of the few authentic looking Flying A’s in the nation…and represents to Truckee the importance of old U.S. 40, where it is located on.

They just don’t make signs like that anymore….

Another thing I wanted to see was the old Truckee Jail.  They don’t have set hours of operation, and it looked to be closed up this morning.  Truckee’s historic jail museum is one of only a few surviving 19th century jailhouses of its kind in the West and one of the few remaining original buildings in Truckee. The jail was used continuously from 1875 until May 1964.

   

Truckee’s downtown, old U.S. 40 called Donner Pass Road here in town, is known for its “Commercial Row” which includes some shops and a number of taverns, such as the Sierra Tavern (multistory building with ivory colored façade) which was built in 1928 with upper floor added in 1938.  Many of the buildings date back to the 1860’s, and there are a number of drinking establishments here…I am sure they keep the cold winter skier warm at night once they get off the ski slopes.

 

Next to the Veterans Hall above is the 17 ton “Rocking Stone” below. 

At one time this stone would rock with the touch of a finger, even a good wind would make it move.  Indians used it to store food on because the rocking scared off animals, even birds.  It was placed there by a glacier and is only one of 25 rocking stones in the world…however, this stone was CEMENTED in place for fear that it would roll and hurt someone many years ago.

   

Left, train tracks headed west towards Sacramento.  Right, train tracks headed east towards Reno.

 

We enjoyed driving through some of the side streets, some along some good high slopes, to see he local older homes.  One has to wonder how they get down those roads in the winter to the main part of town.

This one here is along Donner Pass Road and is a commercial property which is up for sale or lease.  For a mere $10k per month you can open up this “ready to go” restaurant (which means it is designed for a restaurant, but you have to furnish the insides).  Never could find the price to buy it, I am sure it is up there in the one million range.

 

Tonight we are going back to “Burger Me” for another award winning burger.  This time, I am going to bring it back to the RV because there is a bike race in town tomorrow, right along Donner Pass Road just down from Burger Me.  Don’t want to have to fight the crowd in finding  table.

It is hard to tell which bike enthusiast is here for the race, or just out riding…they are all over the place. It is all part of the USA Cycling National Championships, which were held over in Lake Tahoe and ending here in Truckee.  Here in Truckee the Criterium, which is a bike race held on a short course, will be held.  You can bet we are glad we went to old town today and not tomorrow!