ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 16, 2001

FILLMORE CA - Some $100,000 in historical artifacts, including a Revolutionary War-era musket and California Gold Rush relics, were stolen from an antique railroad car en route to the annual Fillmore Rail Festival.

The items were part of an exhibit for the Museum of America's Freedom Trains, an all-volunteer organization run by the Friends of STEAM, a railroad preservation group based in Boron.

"It's a heartbreaking, devastating loss," rail museum director Larry Wines said. "This kind of crime steals from everyone. A museum's property is everyone's to enjoy."

The converted baggage car was part of a Union Pacific freight train that left Woodland in mid-February. Although the cars were supposed to go straight to Fillmore, they were mistakenly routed to Sparks, Nev., Wines said.

The theft was discovered by a Fillmore and Western Railway crew March 1 after the cars arrived in Fillmore for the March 24-25 festival. It wasn't known when or where the items were stolen.

> The converted baggage car was part of a
> Union Pacific freight train that left
> Woodland in mid-February. Although the cars
> were supposed to go straight to Fillmore,
> they were mistakenly routed to Sparks, Nev.,
> Wines said.

Another stellar performance by our Nation's class 1 railroads! Can't they move any single car shipments anymore without misrouting the shipment at least once? It happens with amazing frequency, I see it at least once a month here in my limited sphere of class 1 railroading.



rickrailrd@aol.com