Paul Hammond grew up in the Southern California city of Downey, sometimes referred to as the home of the Apollo program, the country’s lunar landing effort.
His father, Milton, an engineer, worked on the Apollo program and on occasion would take the family to the airport to watch airplanes take off and land.
Paul’s two brothers went into aircraft-related careers. Not surprisingly, when young Paul started developing his own interests, he also gravitated toward a career focused on transportation.
But Hammond went retro. He became enamored with trains, not planes.
His father, 78, was not surprised that his son Paul discovered rail.
“Paul was always interested in trains,” said the elder Hammond. “He could get his hands on trains. His interest was not just on the history of railroads but he also actually straightened out some track (at a railway museum). The main line was in danger of derailing trains. He did hands-on work.”
And this month, Hammond, 43, was appointed to serve as the new director of the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, where a half-million visitors stop in each year to learn about the history of railroading.
A turning point for Hammond’s career path came when as a Boy Scout he accepted an opportunity to do volunteer work stripping paint from a Los Angeles streetcar at a railway museum in Perris, Riverside County.
His interest continued for years. He learned restoration, became maintenance chief and eventually director of collections at age 29.
On the side, he had paid jobs. Hammond started as a waiter at Farrell’s Restaurant and then went to work for a publishing firm.
He became an editor and eventually began editing a railroad preservation magazine, which afforded him an opportunity to meet railroading people throughout North America.
“I was delighted,” Hammond said. “From that point it was no turning back. I was going to meet everyone in the field.”
Hammond received his Bachelor of Science degree in organizational communications from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
For the past decade he has worked as a key staff member at the Old Sacramento railroad museum and at the nonprofit museum foundation. He worked on marketing, community relations and funding programs.
The museum director must oversee the blue-collar job of restoration of locomotives in railyards as well as the white-collar task of marketing a major tourist attraction.
Last Wednesday, Hammond showed a state senator around the railroad museum, answering questions as their discussion was recorded by video for a cable TV show in the legislator’s district.
Then, after lunch, Hammond, wearing a coat and tie, was traipsing across a dusty field from his Old Sacramento office to the musty former Southern Pacific shops in the railyard.
There, he met with Albert J. Di Paolo, a railroad restoration specialist in a smudged hard hat and overalls. They discussed the details of getting rolling stock from the railyard to Cal Expo for an exhibition at the State Fair in August.
Hammond takes over duties formerly held by his boss, District Superintendent Catherine A. Taylor. She said Hammond is up to the job.
“At the museum you have the gritty part, the educational side, the political, the public visitation side of it,” said Taylor. “You really have to turn on a dime and speak to different audiences. Paul is a master at that.”
In his new role, which began July 1, Hammond will be responsible for management of the railroad museum, Sutter’s Fort and Railtown, a state historic park in Jamestown.
The job pays a range of $80,000 to $87,000 annually.
He will also handle future development of the long-planned Railroad Technology Museum in the railyards.
Several deferred maintenance projects have either started or will soon. With park bond money, two theaters at the railroad museum are being converted to digital projection and an old engine at Railtown that has starred in movies is being refurbished.
Also, an observation car used for the Old Sacramento excursion trains that run along the Sacramento River is being refurbished. The car will be air-conditioned.
Hammond, ever the rail promoter, said railroads are part of the future even in a time of space shuttles and low-emission cars.
“Railroads are going to offer a solution that is fuel-efficient,” he said. “Steel wheel on steel rail always has been the most fuel-efficient form of land transportation.”
Article by By Bill Lindelof – Bee Staff Writer
Originally Sacramento Bee – July 16, 2007
