Metrolink finally announced that their new Perris Valley Line would open on June 6, 2016 and upon studying their new schedule and comparing it with my work one at Heninger Elementary School in Santa Ana, the only train that I was able to take would be Train 734 at 1:00 PM which arrived at South Perris at 1:55 PM. On the return, it would be Train 735 at 2:45 PM, getting to Riverside at 3:35 PM. I planned to work until 11:40 AM as usual then drive home, meet Robin Bowers at my house and we would drove to Riverside and buy our tickets there. My only new mileage would be the new connecting track, but it has been years since I was last on that piece on railroad, whereas it would be new from the BNSF mainline to South Perris for Robin.
Our TripI worked at Heninger then drove home, finding Robin waiting for me and I gave him a Trainweb T-shirt as he now had a website hosted by that company. We drove to Riverside with no traffic delay and parked.
We used the Metrolink ticket machine and I tried 'South Perris' but there was no match in the "S" section, so I tried "P" and South Perris was found there. I helped Robin get his ticket, we picked up the new timetable and special Metrolink Matters newsletter about the opening of the Perris Line then took the elevators up and over the pedestrian bridge to the east platform, where our Metrolink train was waiting with all doors closed.
First Union Pacific 8242 East went through Riverside.
Metrolink 734, which would take us to South Perris on this first day of service. We boarded the bicycle.
The author. We departed, travelling east so I was on new trackage.
My new mileage ended for now when the train reached the BNSF mainline.
Santa Fe Riverside station built in 1927.
The train proceeded up the BNSF mainline to the new connecting track where my new mileage would start.
When we reached the mainline to Perris, my new mileage was over.
Sugarloaf Mountain.
Passing a remaining orange grove from the agricultural past of Southern California.
The train's first stop was at Riverside Hunter Park/UCR. We sat here waiting on time.
The very rocky hills along the route.
Box Springs Mountain.
Climbing the Box Springs grade.
Looking south towards Riverside.
Sugarloaf Mountain.
Continuing to ascend the Box Springs grade.
Looking back into the San Bernardino Valley.
Box Springs Mountain.
Nearing the top of the Box Springs grade as the train neared the Perris Valley.
The next stop was at Moreno Valley/March Field station and again, we sat here waiting on time.
Mount Russell.
March Air Force Base.
March Field Air Museum.
Mount Russell and the Bernasconi Hills.
Loking west.
The Bernasconi Hills.
The Perris Rock Castle, erected during 1928 and 1929 by Mr. and Mrs. J.L Ragsdale who operated an oil distribution business and service station at Third and D Streets in Perris. The Ragsdales drove their Model T Ford Truck to Whitewater (between Palm Springs and Banning) where, from the desert washes they selected 30 tons of river rock, each stone chosen for texture, design, color, shape and size. They then loaded the boulders by hand aboard the Model T truck and hauled them to the highway where they were picked up and transported to the building site by Fred Hare Trucking Company of Perris.
Perhaps a slight idea of the blisters and the backaches this labou produced may be gained from the knowledge that the lower base of the walls of the building are six feet thick; and that there was a surplus of these boulders left over after construction. The surplus stones were in great demand and were purchased by a number of local residents for such uses as patio enclosures and fireplaces. By the time the home was completed and ready for occupancy, the country was in the throes of the Great Depression, resulting in the Ragdales selling the property a few years later for $6,500. uring the depression it was auctioned off for $6,500 – now worth over a million dollars. The Castle has had several owners in the past eight decades but has always remained a private residence. The Elickson family lived in the Rock Castle from approximately 1953 until 1961. A Mr. and Mrs. Kriege bought the Castle around 1981-1983. Fred Kriege was a commercial airline pilot and a hot air balloon distributor for Raven Balloons. Then in July 2001, the Rock Castle sold for $920,000.
The next stop was Perris-Downtown station. Yet again, we sat here waiting on time.
The Perris Santa Fe station built in 1892.
The tracks of the Orange Empire Railway Museum that come into Perris.
The Bernasconi Hills.
The Perris Airport.
Hills to the south.
The station's new parking lot.
We had arrived at the South Perris station and now had a fifty minute layover.
The train reversed to the storage yard.
A sign about the new service to the Perris Valley.
The only shelter here out of the hot sunshine.
Our train at the storage yard just to the east of the station.
The signal for the storage yard tracks.
Looking back west towards Perris.
Metrolink 7735 arrived to take us back to Riverside and an Los Angeles County Sheriff scanned our tickets on the return journey and Robin and I enjoyed our ride. We passed the BNSF local on the way back on their own set of tracks and then once back in Riverside, we detrained and I drove us to the Habit in Santa Ana where I picked up my dinner then watched about a period-and-a-half of the Stanley Cup game with my Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the San Jose Sharks 2 to 0 before I left for the Orange County Railway Historical Society meeting. A phone call from Christy Walker told me my Penguins won 3-1 in Game 4 and with one more win, they would become Stanley Cup champions. I returned home and called it a night; it had been a great first day trip on the new Perris Valley Metrolink line.
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