The Electric Railroaders Association 2004 Convention will be held in San Francisco on Labor Day Weekend. This year’s convention headquarters is at the Wyndham Canterbury at San Francisco (formerly the Best Western Canterbury Hotel), conveniently located in the central area of the city at 750 Sutter Street.
Spend a full day in the San Jose area, starting with a tour of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Tasman West line and the new Capitol Corridor line in Ex-Milan Italy Peter Witt car 2001. Visit Carhouse and Shop and ride one of San Jose’s new low-floor articulated units. Ride the downtown loop in one or more cars from San Jose’s heritage collection. Ride beautifully-restored streetcars at Kelley Park trolley museum.
Finish the day with our Annual Slideshow at the Canterbury. Topic: Northern California traction.
All-day Municipal Railway streetcar fantrip through downtown on heritage fleet of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco. Change cars at the Geneva Car House. Sample as many different types of cars as possible.
ERA’s Annual Banquet in private room at the Canterbury. Guest Speaker: Peter Straus, Muni Manager of Service Planning.
Visit Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista Junction. Ride Rio Vista’s collection of historic city cars.
Sacramento Light Rail fantrip will cover all the lines in our own LRV, which will be attached to regular service trains. Visit Carhouse and Shop. Ride and photograph heritage car 35 as well as being able to photograph each of Sacramento’s three types of LRVs, hopefully posed together. Siemens Plant Tour featuring construction of new light rail vehicles for Charlotte, North Carolina.
Don’t forget to revisit the San Francisco area with this special reprint of John Pappas’s article on the 2004 ERA Convention, “Bay Area’s Traction Paradise,” from the July-December 2004 issue of Headlights.