Passenger Parade

Running Time: 33 min
Media: Color slides with some black & white
Written and produced by Ken Rattenne

About The Show

Passenger Parade is a multi-media slide presentation by photographer/writer Ken Rattenne focusing on passenger railroading in the western United States. The show debuted at Jim Boyd's EastRail Exhibition in 1990, then again at Dave Stanley's popular Winterail Exhibition in 1992 (the annual Winterail show is now organized by Vic Neves). Passenger Parade has also played to the NMRA West Coast Regional Meet in spring of 1994, and the Central Coast Chapter of the NRHS in December of 1995.

The show is a tribute to the American Passenger train with an emphasis on the western region of the United States. The images show contemporary passenger trains from around the West (circa 1980-92), plus a sprinkling of "blasts from the past" thrown in for good measure. In addition to photographs from the show's creator, additional photos were collected for inclusion from such well-known rail "shooters" as Guy Dunscomb, Will Whitaker, Jon Pullman Porter, Mike Schafer and a host of others too numerous to mention.

CalTrans F59PHI 2005 pauses in Riverbank, CA to deposit holiday passengers
bound for points in the Central Valley. December 26th,
1995. (Ken Rattenne photo)

Passenger Parade Program Guide

Segment 1. The show opens to "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and starts our "passenger parade" with steam locomotives and early streamliners. We end by viewing contemporary passenger trains pulled by Amtrak locomotives before our introduction ends and the "real" show begins.

Segment 2. Our excursion starts in San Diego, CA for a look at Amtrak's Los Angeles-San Diego San Diegans and what has become the Golden State's busiest Amtrak corridor. This segment's earliest photos go back to circa 1972 when Amtrak's "pointless arrow" E-units were first used on the trains.
Segment 3. Next we jump to Northern California where we go to Oakland, CA for a departure of Amtrak's old San Francisco Zephyr: Destination: Denver! We cross the fabled Sierra Nevada and cross the Great Basin before pausing at Ogden Utah and the Wasatch Mountains. As we roll through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado our Amtrak train magically transforms into the D&RGW's Rio Grande Zephyr. This segment of our Passenger Parade features a side trip to the Winter Park ski slopes, allowing us to view the D&RGW's old Ski Train, when it still featured cars now used by today's Napa Valley Wine Train.

Segment 4. Time to get gritty with a look at Teakettle railroads, those funky short line tourist operations featuring steam engines of all shapes and sizes for public consumption. We'll visit the now-defunct Oregon Pacific & Eastern and it's stately former Illinois Central passengers cars, then move to the Pacific Coast of California to see the narrow gauge Roaring Camp & Big Trees railroad. We'll also get a taste of California's celebrated Sierra Railway movie railroad and Colorado's Georgetown Loop Railway.
Segment 5. Staying with our steam theme, we'll catch Southern Pacific's Queen Of The Fleet, No. 4449, starring in a series of photo vignettes that eventually lead us to reminisce on SP's gloried varnish of past. We end this segmet, and the first half of our show, with images of the business car fleet in action.

INTERMISSION: five minutes

Segment 6. After our brief intermission, we open to the sound of vintage diesel "cow horns" put on our wine-tasting duds and head for the popular Napa Valley of California for a ride on the sometimes controversial Napa Valley Wine Train.

Segment 7. A tribute to passenger trains wouldn't be complete without a look at Union Pacific's steam and passenger program. Passenger Parade salutes this now giant railroad system's two well-known steam locomotives, after which we'll see photos of UP's second-string passenger power, the E9's in action. Finally, we'll see a vignette featuring the many passenger specials operated by UP each year.

Segment 8. Our "parade" finally ends with our popular Trains After Dark sequence; a special peek at railroad photography in the twilight hours and beyond. This closing segment holds back nothing, showing a variety of varnish scenes from a number of different roads, their.common thread being filmed using time exposure photography.

Technical Notes

Photography by Ken Rattenne; additional photos by Ted Benson, Jon Pullman Porter, Mike Schafer, J. David Ingles, and many others credited during the show.

Sound effect: Amtrak Train No. 5, the San Francisco Zephyr in Wyoming, circa 1975, WP 921, Portola, CA.