After a really early morning wake-up call at 5:15 AM, we got the kids settled once more and managed to get another hours sleep before giving in to the insistence of the birds chirping outside and the flapping tongues inside. Once we were up I got the coffee going, took a shower, dressed and took the kids out before giving them their breakfast.Once the kids were taken care of and we had our breakfast, Tina did several small loads of laundry while I watched TV and read my Sherlock Holmes. By 10:00 AM we decided to visit the Orange Empire Railway Museum (http://www.oerm.org/) over in the town of Perris. We settled the kids, locked up and headed west on Florida Ave W eventually going under I-215, passing through some farmland and finally arriving at the Museum.
Orange Empire Railway museum is an 85 acre facility dedicated to preserving and displaying rolling stock, artifacts and documents of the rail transportation industry of the southwest US, specifically Southern California. The organization provides educational opportunities for the public on the technology, history and impact of the rail transportation industry in the West.After parking we walked the short distance into the facility and purchased our entrance tickets at the old depot. Since it was Saturday, the museum was running two trolleys, a streetcar and passenger train. Since the next departure was at 11:00 AM we walked around for a short time orienting ourselves to the various buildings.
Finally the stationmaster announced "All Aboard" for the Red Line streetcar, so we walked over to the boarding platform , mounted the steps and took our seats. A few minutes later we were off, gently heading down the line toward Perris. On the way Tina took a photo out the window with the camera pointed forward along the side of the car. After reaching the end of the line, the conductor/engineer disconnected the power pole at one end of the car then connected the one at the other end of the car for the return trip.
When we got back to the station we walked over to Grizzley Flats Engine house No. 6 Along the way we passed two Rio Grande baggage cars which house a century of toy and scale model railroad cars and locomotives and other historic items.
Once inside the yard house, we found the 3'0" narrow gauge steam locomotive called the "Emma Nevada". This locomotive is an 1881 Baldwin 'Mogul' 2-6-0, named for an 1800's opera star. Also in the building were passenger cars, freight cars and related artifacts from the 1880's. From there we walked back to Car House No. 1 which houses all the 3'6" gauge city streetcars and a small collection of horse cars dating from the 1870's, a San Fransisco Cable car and a Japanese streetcar from 1898. Also in the building are the Los Angeles "Yellow Cars" introduced in 1902.
Leaving Car House No. 1 we across the property to Car House No. 2 which has a collection of electric railway streetcars, suburban cars, interurban cars and locomotives dating from the 1900's. Also in this building are the Pacific Electric Railway "Red Cars".
From here we returned to the depot area where we boarded the City of Tucson Trolley for a narrated run around the perimeter of the property. Amazingly we were the only two people so we were treated to a very special trip. Our conductor/engineer, nicknamed "Hollywood", had just celebrated his 83 birthday and was still going strong. We made several stops where he told us stories of the various collections in the museum and life along the rails. At one point we passed a recreation of a hobo camp and he related how his brother "rode the rails" from New Jersey to LA during the winter of 1936 and nearly froze to death. Fortunately he survived to live for many more years in a warmer climate, heh, heh.Once we got back to the station platform we departed the trolley and made our way back to the car for the drive home. We had a late lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon in "Relax" mode, working on the photos, writing the blog and relaxing.
To see all our photos, click on:
1 comment:
The picture you shown of the 3' gauge RR Engine #1 is not the "Emma Nevada" narrow gauge RR engine. The name is "Chloe" that was owned by Ward Kimball that was part of his backyard RR when he was alive and all his 3' RR was donated to OERM, hence the name "Grizzly Flats" that was the name of his RR.
So what you said, who is Ward Kimball anyway? They dedicated the Perris California Metrolink Downtown Perris Transit Center after him. No, he was not a local celebrity. Most people would not know his name but almost everyone has seen his work. He was one of Disney's Nine-Old-Men.
Besides Jiminy Cricket and many other characters form Disney, he was responsible for the RR around Disneyland. Also Ward played a major part getting a Man on the moon.
Thanks for sharing such an important engine with a lot of history.
Bob
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