Union Pacific Shares Safety Messages at Colfax Railroad Days in Northern California

Union Pacific showed up in a big way this year for Colfax Railroad Days in Colfax, California, an annual celebration that honors the town’s rich railroad history.

More than 25 Union Pacific employees volunteered to staff several booths earlier this month, sharing rail safety messaging with about 900 community members. The public learned about Union Pacific’s fire protection efforts in Northern California, track inspections and proactive maintenance efforts, as well as met some “Sierra Snow Fighters” – the crew responsible for keeping the tracks open over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in the winter months.

Attendees also got to view unique railroad equipment up close, including a snow flanger, spreader, ice breaker, firefighting equipment and the No. 1983 Western Pacific heritage locomotive.

“It was great to see our team turn out and support this town’s annual celebration, which is so closely tied to Union Pacific’s own rich history,” said Peggy Ygbuhay, senior director-Public Affairs for Union Pacific Railroad. “We love our history and our railroad towns, and the city of Colfax is an important railroad community, especially for the railroaders who call it home.”

Ygbuhay coordinated the overall effort and came up with a unique passport idea: every visitor who attended was urged to get a stamp from each Union Pacific-sponsored booth visited. The stamps featured rail safety messages from Amtrak and Operation Lifesaver. Once the passport was fully stamped, visitors were given a chance to climb into the snow fighting flanger box and firefighting platform car, where they could operate the water cannon.

Colfax started as a railroad construction camp during the building of the transcontinental rail network in the 1860s.