I ran across these photos on the web.
http://photography-on-the.net/...thread.php?t=1173973
The caption is in error, there is only six miles of the Sacramento Northern electrified at this time. The train is not actually backing up, the observation car is a control trailer and has a full set of controls to run the train in the back. This operation is in Northern California about 50 miles from San Francisco, but except for the windmills, the country side has changed little in the last 100 years, which is how old this line is.