2009 Live Steamers

Community Volunteer Awards
2009 Honoree
Sacramento Valley Live Steamers Railroad

Distinguished Community Service

Sacramento Valley Live Steamers Railroad

When children in Rancho Cordova hear the unforgettable shout "All Aboard!" they may be thinking of Thomas the Train.

But it is just as likely they will be thinking of Rancho Cordova?s favorite railroad, the Sacramento Valley Live Steamers.

Riding the Live Steamers trains has been a part of growing up in Rancho Cordova ever since 1973 when a group of steam train buffs drove the Golden Spike in Hagan Park and began giving rides to the public. They have been doing so twice a month and on holidays ever since.

The train organization has come a long way since that day in May 1973 when they toasted their new track with cold chocolate milk poured from a long spouted oil can and started operations.

They expanded the railroad in 1992 and today there is more than a mile of mainline which includes yards, sidings, trestles and bridges. They expanded their name to Sacramento Valley Live Steamers Railroad Museum a few years ago to better capture who they are and where they want to go.

Riding the train at dusk can be especially beautiful as deer and other wildlife who share space with the Live Steamers emerge to take advantage of the cool of the evening. The Live Steamers host birthday parties and school field trips. This past year, they even helped deliver a small miracle by building a train for a five-year old who chose having his own train his "Make a Wish" dream.

No celebration of any sort in Hagan Park is complete without a ride on the rails. Live Steamers are there to help us celebrate Kids Day in the Park, the Rancho Cordova Fourth of July and Halloween.

This past November, they piled portable track on a trailer and hauled it to Village Green Park in order to be a major attraction of the 9th Annual Cordova Community Christmas Tree Lighting. Kids of all ages lined up to ride the trains.

To know the Live Steamers is to be acquainted with a quiet group of civic-minded volunteers who don?t ask much more than you come and enjoy a train ride now and then. But in fact they are much more.

The Live Steamers are part of what growing up in Rancho Cordova is all about: staying on track, working hard to get to the top of a hill and enjoying the breeze on the way down. Thank you to the Live Steamers for a great ride with many more sure to come.
Share by: