The City of San Francisco Snowbound in 1952

This week the history and the possibility of snow in San Francisco has been a point of much discussion. Debate even, as we are still not sure if it snowed this weekend or not. But not much has been said about the time in 1952 that The City of San Francisco was snowbound for several days in Donner Pass. But it happened, as unlikely as that seems.

The City of San Francisco was the name of a passenger train line that ran between Chicago, Illinois and Oakland, California. You could take a ferry for the final leg across San Francisco Bay to the city proper. You know how there’s that song with the line “…on a train they call The City of New Orleans“? Same deal. Only TCoNO is still around, running to this day. TCoSF was shutdown by Amtrak back in 1972.

The historic 1952 incident is documented on on the newsreel above, by the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum website and much more nerdily by a special module in Microsoft Train Simulator (who knew they had a train simulator?!?). Here’s a great review and extended look at the game:

mikl-em
Mikl-em

Actor, nerd, poet, producer, writer mikl-em made his name short so you wouldn't have to. In addition to his blog you can find his writing in "Hi Fructose" magazine and witness him almost life-sized in various plays at The Dark Room Theater in SF's Mission district.

He tends to write about theater, humor, San Francisco culture and history, and stuff that's just plain weird. He thanks Scott for sharing the keys to the Laughing Squid virtual HQ and promises to uphold whatever it is that the mirthful cephalopod would prefer to be uplifted.

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