Qualla: Engine Number 5 and the Tunnel That Kept Its Secret

Engine Number 5 and the Tunnel That Kept Its Secret: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Nut Tree, CC BY 4.0. When the Nut Tree closed its doors in 1996, someone drove Engine Number 5 into the miniature railroad's tunnel and sealed the entrance. The little train that had carried Ronald Reagan, Shirley Temple, Julia Child, and champion boxer Max Baer sat in the dark for years while the property around it changed hands and deteriorated. But Vacaville had made a decision: the Nut Tree Railroad would survive. The city purchased the engine to ensure its preservation, and every developer who came courting the 71-acre Nut Tree property heard the same condition - you can have the land, but the train runs again.

Image: The Nut Tree | CC BY 4.0

Engine Number 5 and the Tunnel That Kept Its Secret: A Toy Shop Departure

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Nut Tree, CC BY 4.0. The Nut Tree Railroad began in 1953 as a narrow-gauge attraction for customers of Vacaville's Nut Tree Restaurant, a legendary roadside stop on the route between Sacramento and San Francisco. Riders bought their tickets at the Nut Tree Toy Shop, a colorful building that doubled a...

Image: The Nut Tree | CC BY 4.0

Engine Number 5 and the Tunnel That Kept Its Secret: The Passenger List

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Nut Tree, CC BY 4.0. The celebrities who rode the Nut Tree Railroad read like a guest list from California's mid-century golden age. Ronald Reagan rode the train; so did California Governor Pat Brown, his political rival. Shirley Temple, by then grown up and going by Shirley Temple Black, took the tr...

Image: The Nut Tree | CC BY 4.0

Engine Number 5 and the Tunnel That Kept Its Secret: Sealed In, Not Forgotten

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Nut Tree, CC BY 4.0. The Nut Tree's closure in 1996 ended a 75-year run that had begun as a roadside fruit stand on the Lincoln Highway. A family feud taken to court brought down the enterprise, and the property - all 71 acres of it - fell into limbo. Buildings were demolished one by one. For several...

Image: The Nut Tree | CC BY 4.0

Engine Number 5 and the Tunnel That Kept Its Secret: Back on the Rails

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The Nut Tree, CC BY 4.0. In July 2009, developer Westrust purchased the Nut Tree property and reopened the railroad that August, adding a carousel and children's park to what became the Nut Tree Plaza. The train now runs on a biodiesel engine - a concession to the twenty-first century that the original b...

Image: The Nut Tree | CC BY 4.0