For Immediate Release: 3/13/2015
Old Sacramento has Just the Ticket for Family Fun…
Sacramento, CA – Interested in riding the rails along the picturesque Sacramento River? Or maybe exploring the alluring underground is more your style? Either way, Old Sacramento State Historic Park has just the ticket with history-rich weekend excursion train rides and crowd-favorite Old Sacramento Underground Tours resuming on April 4 & 5, 2015, with each program offering fun new twists to experience this season.
Weekend Excursion Train Rides
California State Parks and the California State Railroad Museum are proud to announce the opening of the 32nd consecutive season of weekend excursion trains on the Sacramento Southern Railroad on April 4 and 5 and continuing through September 2015.
Shortly after opening weekend, guests are encouraged to stay tuned for information about steam train rides returning to Old Sacramento when the excursion trains are once again pulled by a vintage steam locomotive. Also, Old Sacramento visitors can look forward to periodically scheduled “Diesel Days” when the excursion trains are pulled by two gracefully-styled, streamlined diesel locomotives.
Diesel or steam, excursion train ride guests delight in the sights, smells and sounds of an authentic, working locomotive as it rolls along the levees of the Sacramento River for a six-mile, 45-minute roundtrip excursion. Appealing to all ages, the experience offers guests with the chance to enjoy train travel from an earlier era. The train features a combination of vintage closed coaches with comfortable seats, and open-air “gondolas” with bench style seating.
Excursion train ride tickets are available to book online in advance at www.csrmf.org or can be purchased in-person starting at 10:30 a.m. the day of the train ride (based on availability) at the Sacramento Southern Railroad ticket office located on Front Street between J and K Streets.
All excursion trains depart from the Central Pacific Railroad Freight Depot in Old Sacramento (located on Front Street between J and K Streets). Departures are on-the-hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekends the trains are running.
Effective April 1, 2015, regular excursion train tickets cost $12 for adults, $6 for youths (ages 6-17), and ages five and under ride free. For passengers desiring a ride aboard the first-class car El Dorado, tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for youths and are free for children five and under. Note: there is a per-ticket service fee when booking online. Groups interested in reserving the entire El Dorado car for a regularly scheduled ride need to do so in advance by calling 916-322-8485.
Summer temperatures of 100 degrees or higher may cancel train excursions for the remainder of that day. For more information about the weekend excursion train rides or the California State Railroad Museum in general, please call 916-323-9280.
Old Sacramento Underground Tours
Now in its sixth consecutive season, the popular Old Sacramento Underground tour program will resume on weekends beginning April 4 and 5 and will continue through mid-December 2015 (with schedules fluctuating and expanding with the seasons). Hidden beneath the city for nearly 150 years, Old Sacramento’s underground has long been the capital’s best-kept secret.
Underground tour visitors have the unique opportunity to uncover the facts behind the legends that lie below historic buildings and sidewalks. Tour guests explore excavated foundations and enclosed pathways while entertaining and knowledgeable tour guides recount the tales of the devastation, perseverance, and determination that led to California’s only successful street-raising project.
New this year, Old Sacramento Underground tour guests will enjoy two new visual components that enhance the understanding of Sacramento’s unique history. In one underground area, an archeological dig will be recreated to show tour guests how artifacts
are uncovered and the critical clues they hold to piecing together our fascinating history. In a second underground area, an exciting new visual element will be projected onto the wall of the
hollow sidewalk. The image will show the changing water patterns and demonstrate the effectiveness of the lifting process.
The Old Sacramento Underground tour program is coordinated by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation (HOSF) in partnership with the City of Sacramento, California State Parks, Old Sacramento Business Association (OSBA) and participating merchants and businesses. While tour schedules vary with the seasons, Old Sacramento Underground tours will kick off on weekends in April, departing as follows for the month: 11 a.m., 12 p.m. 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Additionally, the popular “Adult Only” Old Sacramento Underground tours will resume on April 23at 6 p.m. and will be available every Thursday through Saturday evening through the season. For the “Adult Only” evening tours, guides will share some of the dark secrets and racy tales lurking in Old Sacramento’s underground history.
Regular tours of the underground last approximately one hour in length and cost $15 for adults, $10 for youths (ages 6-17), and children five and under are free. The “adult only” evening tours depart at 6 p.m., last approximately an hour and a half in length and cost $20 per person (only guests 21 and older will be admitted).
All underground tours check-in at the Sacramento History Museum located at 101 I Street in Old Sacramento. Interested tour participants are encouraged to check the website at www.historicoldsac.org for tour dates, times, availability and to purchase advance tickets. More information about the Old Sacramento Underground tour program or the Foundation is available by calling 916-808-7059.
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California State Parks provides for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high quality outdoor recreation.