In this episode of "California's Gold," Huell salutes the railroads by "riding the rails." Catch is, he won't be riding on an actual train!

First, Huell attends the annual U.S. National Handcar Races at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento and watches as teams race against the clock on a stretch of straight track. Riding on custom-made handcars similar to those used by early railroad workers, Huell also gets a look at and get a demonstration of some of the original old handcars. Next, he heads north to McCloud near Mount Shasta to attend a weekend outing sponsored by a group of people who restore the motorized "speeders" used by railroad workers for maintenance and track inspection. These "speeders" were the next generation of vehicles after the manually-operated handcars and come in all shapes and sizes. The group travels by caravan on tracks at speeds up to 30 mph through some of the most beautiful countryside in our state.