Training Day, p. 3
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		Portola grew up around the railroad. It began as one of the instantly-constructed railroad worker camp towns I read about last year in Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like it in the World. The railroad museum sits adjacent to the freight yard on the Union Pacific main line. From observation points in the museum you can watch the long freights or sleek Vistadomes as they speed through. Sitting and idling on sidings are derrick trains for emergency repair and snowplow units for the frequent Sierra blizzards.
The men who volunteer at the Portola Railroad Museum have grown tired of their HO-gauge model railroads or their computer simulation train layouts. Instead, they operate real locomotives around the yard and the 3-mile loop of the museum grounds. In the winter months, while the museum is closed to visitors, the workers zoom around the rails with abandon, moving the antique rolling stock around for the sheer joy of it. Tom and I climbed aboard one of the yard diesels and rode in the cab with its engineer as he moved boxcars from one siding to another. If you'd like to drive a Portola locomotive yourself, you can. See the museum’s web site for information.
				Later, I watched in amazement as they carefully positioned a freight engine atop a flatbed transporter, nudging it inches at a time until it was perfectly centered.
Inside the museum, I was drawn to an interesting contraption: a six-person railroad bicycle. I have been planning for a while now to acquire a one-man rail bike for use on abandoned track. But this vehicle opens up a whole new perspective.
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