In partnership with the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation, the California State Railroad Museum and Foundation are proud to announce a special event titled “All Aboard the Eastbound Train” that includes musical performances by the Great Wall Youth Orchestra on Saturday, May 7, 2022. A fundraiser to support the Purple Silk Music Education Program, the performances will showcase music appreciated by Chinese railroad workers and be followed by a documentary film on Chinese railroad workers, titled “Coming Home” produced by Min Zhou. The “All Aboard the Eastbound Train” special activities will take place inside the Railroad Museum’s East Theater at 1 and 3 p.m.
The Great Wall Youth Orchestra plays Chinese musical instruments and performs a variety of music including Chinese opera, an art form that combines storytelling, acting, singing, dancing, and martial arts and dates as far back as the 12th century. Many of the students are recent immigrants or first-generation Americans, and the orchestra offers a special connection between their origins and heritage and their life in the United States. Founded by Sherlyn Chew, the purpose of the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation is to teach Chinese music to K-12 students in Oakland.
Tickets to “All Aboard the Eastbound Train” include admission to the California State Railroad Museum and attendees are encouraged to explore the Museum’s Chinese Railroad Workers’ Experience that offers insight into the Chinese workers who built the western portion of the nation’s first Transcontinental Railroad. To complete the rail-related experience, event participants are encouraged to take an excursion train ride along the Sacramento Southern Railroad. Offering the region’s only historic and authentic train ride experience, weekend excursion train rides depart at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. each weekend day (train rides are not included with event tickets).
Tickets to “All Aboard the Eastbound Train” cost $35 for adults and $25 for youth (ages 18 and under) and are available at www.purplesilk.org. Weekend excursion train tickets cost $15 for adults, $8 for youths (ages 6-17), and ages five and under ride free, and are available at www.californiarailroad.museum/visit/excursion-train-rides. For more information about the California State Railroad Museum and Foundation, please visit www.californiarailroad.museum.
