Pacific Locomotive Association
Eagle Scout Appreciation Month

August 12, 1912: Arthur Rose Eldred earned the first Eagle Scout award!

One hundred years ago on Aug. 12, Arthur Eldred, a 17-year-old Boy Scout, became the first person to earn the Eagle Scout rank.

In August 2012, The Pacific Locomotive Association (operators of the Niles Canyon Railway) will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the award, and we will also celebrate the Eagles who have worked on projects at the Niles Canyon Railway, and the Eagles among our volunteer membership who quietly lead us, inspire us, and help keep us on track.

In recognition of those who have achieved the Eagle award, we are offering to let Eagle Scouts, and their proud parents, ride our weekend excursion trains for free, on our normal operating days during the month of August.

All we ask is that you wear something that identifies you as an Eagle, or an Eagle parent, when you come to the station to get your green Complimentary Ride tickets before you board the train.

For scouts, this could be your Eagle neckerchief, a pin, or belt buckle. For parents, this can be your "Proud Parent" pin. We hope you are happy to show these off once in a while, and August will be a great time to let people see more of the Eagles among us.

Eagle Projects completed at the Railroad

The Niles Canyon Railway currently runs trains on 6.5 miles of track, along the last leg of the Transcontinental Railroad. We are caretakers for history, here in the canyon. We are a non-profit museum, with an educational outreach, teaching people about Western Railroading in the 1900's.

Many of our Eagle projects are visible from the trains, using old plans and drawings, and combining traditional and modern methods and materials, to replace fallen signs and artifacts along this historical corridor, so that people visiting the trains can see what the passage would have looked like, in the mid-1900's.

There is one point in the canyon, where three of these projects are within one fifth of a mile of each other, and they are also visible from the highway. They are pictured below. But most of them are only visible from the trains.

Here are the projects to date;

• Restoring the Station Signs along the canyon, marking old Timetable stops.
• The Yard Limit signs mark the slow tracks at Niles, Brightside and Sunol.
• Whistle Boards remind the locomotive engineer when to blow the whistle.
• A "Telltale" stands over the track, warning crew of an approaching bridge.
• Replaced and repaired quarter-mile marker poles.
• Built a sturdy display table for a cast-iron cutaway steam boiler display.
• Restored an old Buda hand-car, which is displayed at the Niles Station on normal Excursion operating days.

We are grateful for the Eagles who chose to do their projects at the railroad. Their service has made a great difference for our volunteers, as well as for the people who come to ride the trains.

We want you to come visit us again, to see what you helped to complete, and to see the other projects which came after yours.