Colfax Railroad Days

On the second weekend of September, Union Pacific parks engines and railcars alongside the Fruit Shed on Railroad Street in Colfax, California, and the historic downtown fills from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Colfax Railroad Days is free. It marks the town’s part in building the Transcontinental Railroad, when Colfax was the terminus for the supplies, equipment and laborers pushing the railroad bed through the Sierra and beyond. The 2026 festival was held September 12 and 13. Colfax Railroad Days, Inc. runs it.

Engines beside the Fruit Shed

The railroad’s own display is called the Union Pacific Experience. In 2026, Gold Mountain California News reported, it included department displays, rolling stock and a Heritage Fleet Locomotive. Visitors can look at the modern engines and railcars up close. The organizers note that permission to climb aboard is controlled by Union Pacific and is not guaranteed. Among the 2026 equipment was the SW222, which, the organizers posted, “can throw snow over 100 feet.” They also announced that at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Union Pacific would “fire this baby up!” The California Operation Lifesaver team worked the grounds that weekend, and afterward the organizers repeated its rule: “See tracks, think trains!”

The smaller trains fill the storefronts and halls. The city counted 10 model train displays in 2026, and Gold Mountain California News counted nine. The organizers list layouts by the Sacramento Brick Builders, whose model is an electric train built of Lego, and by the Wandering Railroad, the Diablo Pacific Shortline, the Bay Area S Scale Club, the Carson City Railroad Association, and the Magic Trolley Layout. They also thanked The Motormen, whose display was built by what they called “a single man crew.” The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum gives handcar rides. A free ride sponsored by Rigid Roofing, which the event listing calls a trackless train, carries children through downtown.

The Placer-Sierra Railroad Heritage Society staffs the museum and the caboose. Its member Roger leads historical tours, and the organizers credited him with “seemingly limitless knowledge and energy.”

Gunpowder Man and the Black Flag Gang

The rest of the program runs on living history. A blacksmith works on site through the weekend. The Mormon Battalion sets up an 1840s pioneer camp. The Black Flag Gang Gunslingers bring Old West action to the streets, joined by the Pinkertons in the event listing. After the 2026 festival the organizers posted a photograph with the line, “Did the Black Flag Gang finally become cowboys instead of gunslingers?”

“Gunpowder Man” plays on both days. Gold Mountain California News describes it as a live production about the danger, determination and human experience of building the railroad through the Sierra Nevada. The city’s announcement placed the 2026 performances at the historic Colfax Theatre. The newspaper placed them inside the Fruit Exchange Buildings on Railroad Street at 1 p.m. The organizers’ own post on Sunday read, “Gunpowder Man in the Fruit Exchange! Happening now... 1-145pm.”

Families find a free Kids Zone with crafts and games, Highland cows from Grizzly Mountain Minis, and baby goats from Sunny Days Farms. There are face painters, a balloon artist, craft vendors, and a quilt show. Food trucks park downtown, and a beer garden pours local craft brews. In 2026 the Wrecking Crew Bakery Cafe fed visitors, the Black Flag Gang, and the Union Pacific crews all weekend.

The weekend also honors the military. At 10 a.m. on Saturday the local Veterans of Foreign Wars holds a POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony. On Sunday, American Legion Post 192 opens its holiday collection for active-duty service members overseas. The city called the 2026 drive “Stuff the Train,” and the organizers called it “Stuff the Caboose for our Military.” Union Pacific opened it with a donation of shoes. The Colfax High School drum line played, and the Pack 192 color guard presented. Mayor Caroline McCully spoke, along with Peggy Ygbuhay, Union Pacific’s public information officer, and Ric Teteault, the American Legion commander.

Camp 20 becomes Colfax

The town had earlier names. Union Pacific’s page on Colfax says pioneers called the place Alder Grove. After gold was found in 1848, a camp grew up nearby. One night in October 1849, miners from Illinois renamed it Illinoistown, and according to Placer County genealogy the vote was “by acclamation and a bottle of whiskey!” By September 1, 1865, by the same account, the rails had reached Illinoistown, and Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax came to check the railroad’s progress.

The two sources disagree about who renamed the town. The festival’s history page says Colfax visited the Camp 20 construction crew in 1865 and assured them the government was committed to finishing the railroad, and that Central Pacific officials then renamed Camp 20 for him. Union Pacific says “star-struck citizens” did it. The festival’s page adds that an 1873 Congressional investigation into the Crédit Mobilier scandal named Colfax among the members of Congress who in 1868 were offered, and possibly took, cash and discounted stock from the Union Pacific Railroad. Colfax later became Vice President. A bronze statue of him stands in the town. By January 1866, Union Pacific’s account says, 54 miles of track were down, and the climb from Colfax into the Sierra went on with Chinese laborers among the 10,000 men on the line.

Other buildings in town come from the later railroad. The Southern Pacific Passenger Depot was built in 1908. It served Nevada County Narrow Gauge passengers until 1942 and Southern Pacific passengers until 1971. The restored depot now serves Amtrak travelers and houses the Colfax History Museum and the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center. Narrow Gauge No. 9, a Baldwin 2-8-0 built in 1914, delivered to the fruit sheds.

The Colfax Hotel was first called the Gillen Hotel. An ex-Southern Pacific conductor built it, and for its 1903 opening, San Francisco dignitaries came by special train to tour its 56 rooms and restaurant. Grace Stone bought the hotel in 1935 for $8,000. In a 1986 interview reprinted by the Colfax Area Historical Society, her grandson Jim Henry remembered most rooms being taken by railroad engineers and firemen. They were on call in Colfax to put helper engines on trains bound over Donner Summit. He also remembered that “the smell of her yeasty Parker House rolls permeated Colfax!” The hotel is undergoing restoration.

Speeders, an E9, and a move to September

The early festivals were run by the railroad and history societies. On September 26, 2009, the Colfax Area Historical Society’s newsletter photographed Anne Begin watching the model trains and Gertrude Paul at the quilt show, with her Dresden Plate quilt behind her. That year the Placer-Sierra Railroad Heritage Society ran motor cars on the Union Pacific spur. In 2010 the festival fell on September 25 and 26.

In 2011 the Portola museum brought its Western Pacific historic train. There were also speeder rides, a film festival, and the first annual transcontinental chautauqua, and the Sacramento Valley Live Steamers gave rides behind steam. Treasurer Peter Hills reported expenses of $6,191 against revenues of $5,054, a shortfall of $1,137. The society noted that the historic train “was a big hit with visitors.” A charter member, Lyle Brown, could not attend, but he gave cash and a railroad crossbuck for the raffle.

The 2013 festival ran October 5 and 6. The California State Railroad Museum brought Southern Pacific No. 6051, an EMD E9 diesel that began passenger service in Los Angeles in 1955. It is the only surviving Southern Pacific diesel built for passenger service. Union Pacific sent snow removal and maintenance equipment, with employees and retirees on hand to explain it. The heritage society estimated 5,000 guests.

In January 2014 the society’s president, Malcolm Frost, announced that the festival would move to September 13 and 14, “because it is National Railroad Safety Month.” That September, community sessions at the festival introduced the Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial Project, led by Steven Lee, a Bay Area entrepreneur, and its proposed memorial plans.

The organizers say the weekend has since grown into a year-round effort to preserve and share the community. Union Pacific’s page on the town says that Colfax children still “run excitedly toward every train that comes through town,” hoping for a wave from the engineer.