Signs & Posters

 Final Railroad Museum post from our visit - I promise. Right up their with vintage produce signs - neon signs and travel posters. There is a section of wall in the Railroad Museum filled with old neon signs and posters for different destinations. Such fun. I even have one of the railroad posters they have on display - gotta get me a neon sign now...

Trains - Big Ones

I LOVE the Railroad Museum. I have great memories going there as a kid, it is fascinating. While T was visiting, we stopped in.

 Walking through the reflecting halls.

 The kitchen car - they have some hilarious mannequins.

 The mail car.

Love the paint job.

 Engine #1

About to get run over.

T gets her ticket.

They show a great little documentary you can watch in the theater before going into the museum. I'll admit  walking through the moving train simulation makes me slightly ill.

Next time I’m taking the tour guided by the little old man in coveralls. He seems a dream. While we were viewing one of the engines a visitor was speaking with one of the volunteers in the  engineer’s seat, they were discussing his time in Nam and how he went into North Vietnam with special ops and some CIA guys – it took everything I had to walk away from their conversation rather than stand there invasively listening.

Trains - Little Ones

 I adore toy trains. When we were little and Dad's trains would come out, it was always such a thrill. There were big ones and little ones. An engine that produced real steam. I loved the way they smelled when the metal got hot. Though they never did go quite as fast as I wanted them to.

Naturally, in addition to 'real' trains the Railroad Museum has some lovely diorama toy trains set up. Drool.  

Do you think there is a minimum age limit to join one of those toy train clubs where old retired gents get together and build large scale sets? I think I would be quite skilled. And how fun would it be to sit around and listen to their stories.

These museum layout are so bright and cheery - I forget sometimes that the world doesn't actually look like this.

Ag Ads

At the Railroad Museum, in one of the boxcars, they have an exhibit of vintage ads for different agricultural enterprises. My apologies from the outset, for the battle I lost with the glare from the lights - the images are not flush against the wall. I did manage to resit the urge to break through the glass and improve the arrangement of the exhibit.

 I don't know what it is about vintage signs, the color scheme, the sometimes naive and entertaining marketing elements, but I find them fascinating.

 "Extra Fancy" California Pears

"Fancy" Mountain Grown Plums

 This one baffles me - "A-Okay" California Fruits...with a rocket?...in space, with the moon?

Fido Brand Citrus - doesn't the dog look slightly terrified?

It looks like the wings of this glider plane are on fire.

Did you know I love lemons? I'd like to try a meteor lemon...I had no idea lemons came from space.

Perhaps it is the winning combination of charm and hilarity that pulls me in.