California Central (Sacramento) Valley

Amtrak San Joaquin departing Corcoran, CA., with power on the rear of the train. I’ve ridden the San Joaquin a couple of times in the past, the equipment looked more beat-up this time than I remembered.

An abandoned grain elevator, near the Amtrak station in Corcoran, with an Amtrak San Joaquin headed south. Corcoran seems to be thriving, so I don’t know the history of the grain elevator that’s been abandoned for multiple years.

The courthouse opened in 1896 and served as courthouse until 1976; it now houses offices and retail space. I realize the palm trees are historic, but I’d eliminate some to better show off the building’s architecture :) Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_County_Courthouse_(California)

Downtown Hanford on Saturday morning. The downtown is well-maintained and surprisingly busy (the retail sections are behind me, I wanted to include that tree!)

I couldn’t find specifics on the buildings in this picture, but the company itself is the last family-owned flour mill in California and has been in business since 1887 and at the same location for a large part of those years. There’s a very nice history of the company in the Hanford Sentinel that describes how the company started out milling Central Valley wheat for multiple products but with competition from the big companies, has narrowed to being a significant producer of tortilla flour that is preferred by tortilla manufacturing plants across California. The article mentioned above was written in 2010, so I checked on the current status of the company and found it listed as current with the local chamber of commerce – and you could hear the hum of the mill (it’s close to downtown).

Opened in 1916 as the U.S. Post Office , used by the county from the early 1960’s until 1977, and now a bank.

Amtrak San Joaquin arriving in Corcoran, CA. This would have been train #714 that left the SF Bay Area (Oakland) at 11:36am -- faster than I could have driven it! From what I could see when the train left, there appeared to be about 10 passengers getting off in Corcoran. That no one was getting on is not surprising since the next stop (Bakersfield) is the end of the line.