The Wells Fargo Wagon

Posted on June 19, 2018 by vanbraman

I have a song wandering through my head tonight. It is The Wells Fargo Wagon song from the musical The Music Man. I was in this musical when I was in High School and talk about some of my memories in my post: The Music Man

Wells Fargo Wagon, Museum, Music ManYesterday while in downtown San Francisco I happened across a Wells Fargo museum and just had to wander in after dropping off my passport application paperwork.

What initially drew my eye was a Wells Fargo Stage Coach. I found out that there are a number of Wells Fargo museums across the country and some of the others also have stage coaches on display.

Wells Fargo Western Routes, San FranciscoThe Wells Fargo stage coaches had some very long routes that they covered to move mail, people and valuables from place to place.

Wells Fargo Wagon, San Francisco, Luggage, Yellow WheelsHere you can see an example of the luggage on top of the wagon. This coach is a Concord Coach and would have been built in Concord, New Hampshire.

The wagon in The Music Man would probably have been an overland wagon that was used more for freight.

Wells Fargo Express Agent, L.L. White, Mid Texas Train RobberyThis display in the museum made me think of my 2nd great-great uncle L. L. White. He was a Wells Fargo Express agent and helped prevent a train robbery in Texas in 1898. I talked to the manager at the museum and he had heard of L. L. White. At one time they had a picture of him on display that was on loan from his family.

For more details about the train robbery and how I found out about it visit my post: The Great Mid-Texas Train Robbery

I am hoping to find out more about L. L. White and his career with Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo Stage Wagon, Museum, San Francisco, Concord StageHere is one last look at the stage wagon. It is quite an impressive piece of equipment. I can imagine it being pulled by a team of horses along the perilous roads of the California mountains.

I may visit the museum again tomorrow when I go to pick up my passport.

Steven

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Another Travel Tale

Posted on June 18, 2018 by vanbraman

Tonight I have Another Travel Tale. This one did not have as big of an impact for me as being In the Wrong Place after this weekend, however it did have a big impact on the East Bay this afternoon.

My day started early with a phone call to the passport agency that our company uses. I needed to find out what I had to do to get a new passport. I was e-mailed forms to fill out and then had to get them to downtown San Francisco by 10:30.

Dublin Pleasanton BART station, transit, commuteLuckily traffic into the office was not too bad and I was able to get everything filled out and was soon on my way to the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station.

I almost did not leave in time as I arrived at the office in San Francisco with just a few minutes to spare.

Passport Picture, Good Passport Picture, New PassportOn the way to the office I had stopped to get photos for the passport application. I took this picture as I completed filling out the forms in the office. I am actually pleased with the pictures. If they show up this well in the passport I will for once have a good picture on an ID 🙂 However, I just noticed that I have very tired looking eyes. This is understandable after the weekend I just had.

Pyramid, TransAmerican Pyramid, San Francisco, Former TallestJust across from where I dropped off my passport application is a very recognizable building. The Transamerica Pyramid was until last year the tallest building in San Francisco. The tallest building in San Francisco is now the Salesforce Tower.

After dropping off my passport and forms I headed back to BART after making a short stop at the Wells Fargo History museum. That is when things got interesting.

While traveling through the Transbay Tube an announcement was made that the train was being diverted to the MacArthur BART Station. I knew that was in the wrong direction from where I was going. I soon found out that there was a problem near the Lake Merritt Station that had closed down the line heading back to the office.

BART Bus Bridge, Lake Merritt, Medical Emergency, BART, It looked like the line would be closed down for some time so BART called for mutual aid from AC Transit and I was soon on a bus heading through Oakland toward the Bay Fair station. While making our way slowly along the route I found out that the emergency was that a man had been struck by a train and killed at the Lake Merritt station.

AC Transit Bus Route, Bus Bridge BART, AC TransitI think that the route was about 15 miles long and took over an hour to complete. It was an interesting trip especially watching the people get on and off the bus along the way.

By the time that I got to the Bay Fair station the line was still not open. However the train was operating to Dublin/Pleasanton.

Hopefully my travel woes are over for awhile and I can get back on track by the end of the week.

Steven

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