Amtrak will again serve aviation history event near Merced. Patrons can save big
Amtrak again will help people get to Open Cockpit Day at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater. The deal includes free entry to the May 23 show and a 25% discount on rail tickets.
Train passengers can get off at the Merced station and take a free city bus about six miles to the show. It happens twice a year at the former Castle Air Force Base.
The route is called the Gold Runner, rebranded last year from Amtrak San Joaquins. Two of the seven daily round trips run between Bakersfield and Sacramento, with 10 stops in between. The others branch west at Stockton and reach Oakland.
Amtrak had its first trains to Open Cockpit Day last August. They carried 270 people, said an email from Tom van der List of KP Public Affairs in Sacramento. He helps promote the Gold Runner for the governing San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority.
“The enthusiasm and strong turnout we saw last year made it clear this is something truly special,” authority CEO Chris Orlando said in a news release, “and we’re excited to keep building on that momentum.”
Amtrak long has billed itself as an affordable alternative to driving. It is even more so with the run-up in gasoline prices amid the Iran war.
What are other details about Open Cockpit Day?
Open Cockpit Day will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 5050 Santa Fe Drive. The cost if arriving by car is $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors and $15 for ages 6 to 17. Entry is free for younger kids and $20 for active-duty or retired military. Tickets can be purchased at the museum’s website, castleairmuseum.org.
The shuttle from the station will arrive at various times during Open Cockpit Day. The same goes for return trips.
Details on booking rail tickets are at goldrunner.com. Purchasers can get the 25% discount by using the code V661 at checkout.
Castle was a military base from 1941 to 1995. It now has a civilian airport and several businesses. The museum is run by a board chaired by retired Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison.
In the news release, he said the Amtrak connection “has allowed us to do is reach an entirely new audience. ... The journey really does become part of the experience.”
How else does Amtrak travel into history?
Amtrak honors another part of military history with occasional trains to Allensworth State Historic Park in Tulare County. It has remnants of the town co-founded in 1908 by Col. Allen Allensworth, who had become the highest-ranking Black officer in the Army.
The next event will be a June 13 observance of Juneteenth, marking the end of slavery. Details on times and prices are on the Gold Runner website.
The line does not have a permanent depot in Allensworth. Visitors instead use a temporary platform and walk or take a short bus ride to the park.
The colonel was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1842 and escaped to fight for the Union during the Civil War. He retired from the service in 1906 and became a traveling lecturer on civil rights. The town he helped start faded after losing its water supply and rail depot.
