Festival to Roll With Vintage Rail Cars

The giant locomotives--once a familiar sight along the nation’s rail network--have vanished from the American scene, but they haven’t faded from the memories of those who rode the cars during the golden era of railroading. It is a period that has been preserved by the Orange Empire Railway Museum at Perris near Riverside which will be holding its annual spring festival next weekend.

Museum volunteers who spend hours restoring the rolling stock will be on hand to operate steam, diesel and electric trains for visitors to board as passengers. Train excursions cover a 2 1/2-mile track, and there is a one-mile loop line for the yellow streetcars that were a familiar sight on the streets of Los Angeles when this city had a transit system that was the envy of many others. The museum has 35 of the streetcars in its barns; the last was retired March 31, 1963.

“There were 130 of those streetcars sold to Cairo, Egypt, when Los Angeles ceased using them,” said Gary Starre, a local attorney and longtime member of the museum association.

“They’re still running them, and the Egyptian company has been most helpful in supplying us with spare parts when we’ve needed them.”

The rail sidings and adjacent barns contain nearly 200 pieces of railway rolling stock, the oldest a horse-drawn car from the 1880s. Walking along a line of freight cars and passenger coaches one pauses, with a sense of loss, by a Santa Fe caboose--for the caboose is destined to be retired, replaced by modern computer technology.

Nearby is a Union Pacific Railway Post Office car built in 1914, a reminder of the days when mail was sent across the nation by train. The trains would race along at 65 m.p.h. as mailmen sorted the letters. A mechanical arm, which is still attached to the door, would grab a bag of mail as the train came rumbling through a whistle-stop station. The Railway Postal Service went out of existence in 1977; the airplane had become the principal carrier of mail.

For real nostalgia, board one of the Big Red Cars that will be operating. This was the trademark that Pacific Electric registered for its fleet of swift interurban cars which linked the cities of Southern California.

The cars brought prospective buyers to newly opened housing tracts and carried them to work in downtown Los Angeles. You could take a car to the harbor to catch the boat to Catalina, and for a real treat when the line was extended to San Bernardino in 1956 you could ride east through miles of orange groves, pausing at Riverside’s Mission Inn for lunch. In the summertime there was the seashore. The red car carried you to Redondo Beach where there was a big pool and a dance hall. Swim in the afternoon and waltz across the polished floor in the evening.

Next weekend you will undoubtedly see Big Red Car number 498 coming down the track at the museum. Usually it’s filled with excited youngsters who have never ridden a trolley. It’s their grandparents who will remember. Number 498’s last scheduled run was on the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach line.

The museum is 17 miles south of Riverside on Highway 215. From Los Angeles, take the Pomona Freeway (60) through Riverside, exiting at D Street in Perris. At 4th Street turn right to A Street, then left on A to the museum. Hours both days are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults; children 6-11 are $3, 5 and under free. Admission includes all trolley and train rides.