Fans Track the Old and the New at Fullerton Rail Festival

Safety experts advise against standing on the railroad tracks outside a train station, but that’s precisely what organizers of Saturday’s seventh annual Fullerton Railroad Days invited people to do.

More than 10,000 rail buffs gathered at the Fullerton Train Station to celebrate all things trains, many taking advantage of the opportunity to climb aboard vintage rail cars on side tracks, including a 1927 Santa Fe steam locomotive and a red caboose.

And despite recent downbeat rail news -- from derailments to conductors falling asleep on duty -- many railroad aficionados congregating at one of the region’s premier rail-watching spots sported train T-shirts and striped engineer hats, as well as healthy appetites for talk about boilers, pins and couplers, among other things. For Don Hatch, 61, a self-described “train nut,” the Railroad Days celebration is an important way of introducing kids to trains.

“Most children have never ridden a train,” said Hatch, who rode the train to Fullerton from his Camarillo home. “I’d dare say many adults haven’t ridden a train either.”

“It’s the most pleasant way to see the country,” he said. “You don’t have to take your shoes off and no one looks inside your luggage.”

As for recent news reports about derailments -- such as the Metrolink accident in Glendale earlier this year -- Hatch said they usually make the news “because they don’t occur very often. It’s like a plane crash. There have been accidents where the crew was at fault, like a guy running a red signal, but I think that’s life. We have accidents and we have to investigate and try to fix it.”

Saturday’s event had the buzz of a country fair. Bands played as food vendors sold tri-tip beef sandwiches and hot dogs.

At the other end of the parking lot, visitors could buy almost anything train-related: model rail cars, striped railroad engineer hats, railroad-themed suspenders, railroad socks and railroad stickers.

About a dozen model train clubs offered indoor and outdoor displays featuring electric trains of all sizes -- from finger-length passenger cars to foot-long cabooses -- circling miniature tracks.

But for many, the biggest draw was a shiny black 1927 Santa Fe locomotive, the last steam engine to pull a passenger train between San Diego and Los Angeles. Retired in 1953, it sat idle until the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society put it back into service 38 years later. Today the locomotive is the only steam engine in its class still working, drawing crowds at special events and exhibitions such as Fullerton’s.

On Saturday, kids and parents lined up to climb into the cab and grip the rope that blows the whistle.

Christopher Jean and his son, Jean-Paul, 12, grinned as they stood next to the wheels that are more than 6 feet in diameter. “This is the absolute highlight of my day,” Jean said. “It’s just amazing ... and to think that somebody had to build it. It’s just got so much history.”

He and his son have been coming to Fullerton’s Railroad Days since the event began, he said.

“What a sound,” the father said, shaking his head as the engine’s whistle let out another screech.

The show continues through today.