We went over to wait to board the mainline train powered by Santa Fe FP45 98.
The train arrived and the four of us boarded the Union Pacific caboose for the mainline trip.
Elizabeth in the caboose, her first time in a cupola.
AC Adam and our new friends, the son having his first caboose ride.
The train was about to leave the station. Now views of our trip from the caboose.
These were the northbound views of the mainline trip.
Two views of our group today at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. From here I went to the Pacific Electric Car Barn.
Pacific Electric Center Entrance MU Suburban "Hollywood Car" 717 built by J.G. Brill Company in 1924.
Pacific Electric Birney Safety Car 331 built by J.G. Brill Car Company in 1918.
Yakima Valley Transportation Company 297 built by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1923 as Glendale & Montrose Railroad 22.
Bakersfield & Kern Electric Railway Double-Ended Single Truck City Car 4 built by Holman in 1900.
Pacific Electric Interurban MU Coach 1001 built by Jewett Car Company in 1913.
Bamburger Railroad single-ended double-trucked Interurban 127 built by Brill Car Company in 1932.
San Francisco Municipal Railway streetcar 171 built by J.G. Brill in 1923.
Pacific Electric tower car 00157, nee Pacific Electric 1730 built by the railway in 1915. Retired in 1957, it was acquired by the museum in 1958.
Pacific Electric Birney Safety car 332 built by J.G. Brill in 1918. It spent most of its career in Redlands, until rail operations were replaced by buses in 1936. The car was later assigned to the local lines in Pasadena and retired in 1941 when the local lines were replaced bus service. Fortunately, MGM Studios bought four of them where they starred in such movies as "Singin' in the Rain". A famous scene in the movie has Gene Kelly running across the roof of a Birney Car and jumping into convertible driven by Debbie Reynolds. Cars 331 and 332 were purchased by the Orange Empire Trolley Museum from MGM in the 1960's and brought to the museum in Perris, California.
Car 332 was leased to the Old Pueblo Trolley in Tucson, Arizona in 1985. 332 was restored to full operation by the OPT staff and operated for the first time in 1991. During the restoration, 332 was painted into the former Tucson Rapid Transit cream and green paint scheme and renumbered car 10 to reflect one of the Birneys that ran in the 1920's in Tucson. The OPT opened for service on April 17, 1993. PE 332/OPT 10 operated in Tucson until March 1995, when it was returned to the museum. Since the cars return, it still masquerades as Tucson Rapid Transit 10.
I went outside and heard a trolley whistle coming near.
Los Angeles Railway PCC 3001 went by my photo location.
Next came Los Angeles Railway 1201 with Bob Alkire operating the car.
Also aboard was Elizabeth and AC Adam. Next I walked over to the Car Barn 4 which was opened for me.
Union Pacific E8A 942 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952.
Ventura County 2-6-2 2, nee Cascade Timber Company 107 built by Baldwin in 1922. Cascade Timber ceased operations in 1942 and 107 was sold to the Ventura County Railway, which connected the Naval Construction Battalion supply base at Port Hueneme, California, with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Oxnard.
Re-numbered 2, the locomotive underwent some modifications and was then sent to Southern Pacific's Bayshore Shops near San Francisco in 1947, overhauled and extensively rebuilt, including replacing the worn-out wooden cab with a salvaged metal one. It retired some time in the 1950's and was placed into storage. It then went through a couple of private owners and steamed occasionally in the late 1950's and early 1960's and, for the last time at Port Hueneme in February 1972. In November 1973, after sale to the museum, it was shipped to Perris on two flatcars and led excursion trains before being rebuilt and returned to steam in 2006.
Soo Line business car 54 "Mt. Rubidoux", ex. private owner, exx. SOO business car 54, nee SOO buffet-lounge 1704 1917 built by Barney and Smith in 1914.
Pacific Electric Interurban MU Coach "Blimp" 418 built by Pullman in 1913 as Interurban Electric Railway 344. It was sold as United States Marine Corps 344 in 1942 and sold as Pacific Electric Railway 4614 in April 1944. It was rebuilt in 1947 as 418 and became Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority 1528 in 1958. It was retired in 1961 and went to Orange Empire Railway Museum where it was restored as Pacific Electric 418.
Pacific Electric steeplecab 1624 built by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1912.
Pacific Electric Center Entrance MU Suburban "Hollywood Car" 655 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1924.
Southern Pacific wooden caboose 570 built by the railroad in 1924.
Pacific Electric office car 1000 built by Jewell Car Company in 1913.
Tonopah & Tidewater box car 111 built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Eastern in 1885.
Hill of Howth Tramway 2 built in Dublin in 1959.
Pacific Electric Officers Car 1299 built by Pullman in 1912.
Santa Fe Railway post office car 60 built by Pullman in 1924.
San Diego & Arizona Eastern baggage-coach 175 built by Pullman in 1915.
Santa Fe maintenance-of-way coach 194284, ex. coach 1137, nee 10-2 sleeper "Bison Peak" built by Pullman in 1926.
San Diego Electric Railway PCC car 528 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1936.
Pacific Electric 498 built by Pullman in 1913.
Union Pacific E8A 942.
Santa Fe baggage-coach 2602 built by Pullman in 1923. I went and found Bob and Elizabeth to show them Car Barn 4.
Bob and Elizabeth.
Myself and Elizabeth. After they toured Car Barn 4, we went back up to the station where we found AC Adam and all visited the gift shop. We then left but had one last stop to make in Perris.
The Santa Fe Perris station built in 1892. We drove to the Riverside Live Steamers but with the lines much to long and really only one train carrying passengers, we returned to Santa Ana with a stop at The Habit for lunch. After that I drove them back to the Santa Ana station where I put Bob and Elizabeth on Pacific Surfliner 579 to Los Angeles, then AC Adam on Pacific Surfliner 580 for Solana Beach. I then returned home.
5/28/2012 I arose and made a round-trip down to San Juan Capistrano on Pacific Surfliner 562 and 763. After that I went and saw "The Avengers" with a Norfolk Southern freight train in the beginning of the film. I came home, had lunch then finished the story before Winston Walker and his daughter Christy arrived at 2:30 PM and we drove to Fullerton to meet Bob and Elizabeth, who came down on Pacific Surfliner 580 and AC Adam, who rode up on Pacific Surfliner 579. We all went to Knowlwood's for the Train Travel Meetup Group get-together and everyone had a good time. I returned to Santa Ana to work the rest of the school year, minus one day, before I left for the 2012 NRHS convention in Cedar Rapids.
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