The busses were waiting and the three of us boarded the first one. They left together and when we arrived, I made a beeline to the tent where lunch was being served. No one was there so it was self-service and being second in line paid off. I made up my plate and ate it quickly so I could ride the 2:00 steam train. There were no drinks at this point. I finished and found the line wrapped around the corner of the tent and went beyond. I walked over to the front of the steam train finding my dear friend, Carl Morrison, who just happened to be out at Perris this afternoon.
Pacific Electric Center Entrance MU Suburban "Hollywood Car" 717 built by J.G. Brill Company in 1924.
Ventura County 2-6-2, built by Baldwin in 1922 on the point of our steam train. I boarded the third car for my round trip to 7th Street in Perris.
The line for the PRS lunch. At 2:00 PM, the steam train whistled off and we were on our way.
The PCC car heads down Alpine Drive.
A child commented that this looked like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.
This was as far as we came on this trip.
A picture on the return trip. I detrained and walked back to the normally off-limits Car Barn 7 for my first look inside of it and the collection within.
OERM S-12 844, formerly Southern Pacific 1543, built by Baldwin in 1953.
United States Navy VO-1000 8 built by Baldwin in 1945 as United States Navy 2.
United States Army 45 ton switcher 7441 built by General Electric in 1942 Now to walk inside!
Union Pacific E8A 942 built by EMD in 1952.
Southern Pacific U25B 3100 built by General Electric in 1963, which was first numbered as Southern Pacific 7508, then became Southern Pacific 6708 during the railroad's 1965 general renumbering.
Pacific Electric 314 built in 1930 in St Louis.
Southern Pacific RSD-12 2958 built in 1961.
Department of Transportation MRSD-1 1975 built by Alco in 1942 as United States Air Firce 8018 and later became Department of Transportation 015.
United States Air Force 44 ton switcher 8580 built in 1944.
Two pieces of equipment under restoration.
Santa Fe wooden caboose 1421 built by American Car and Foundry in 1923.
Pacific Electric wooden caboose 1970 was originally a Lake Shore & Michigan Southern caboose. It was built in the 1910s in the LS&MS shops.
American Potash & Chemical Company E-513 built by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton in 1955.
A steel observation car.
Santa Fe drover's caboose 918, built by Santa Fe in 1929, which I toured.
An unknown passenger car.
A wooden box car under going repainting.
The view outside!
Santa Fe FP45 98 built by EMD in 1967 under restoration.
The Restoration Area of Car Barn 7.
New Jersey Transit Cab Car 5113. I then took the shuttle train from Car Barn 7 to Car Barn 4.
Pacific Electric 498 built by Pullman in 1913.
Pacific Electric Blimp 418 built by Pullman in 1913.
Sacramento Northern electric locomotive 653 built by General Electric in 1928.
Pacific Electric Premier Business Car 1299 built by Pullman in 1912.
Dublin Ireland Double Deck Tram GR 2 built in Dublin in 1959.
Pacific Electric Hollywood Car 655 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1924.
Pacific Electric MU Coach 1001 built by Jewett Car Company in 1913.
Santa Fe cattle car 25840, Santa Fe Refrigerator Car 49131 and Tonopah & Tidewater Box Car 111 built circa 1885. I next went inside Car Barn 2.
Pacific Electric box motor 1624 built by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1912.
Hutchinson & Northern Steeplecab 1 built by General Electric Company in 1921.
Yakima Valley Transportation Baldwin-Westinghouse Electric 297 built by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1923 as Glendale & Montrose Railroad 22.
Pacific Electric Birney Safety Car 331 built by J.G. Brill Car Company in 1918.
Key System Articulated Bridge Unit 167 built by Bethlehem Steel in 1937.
Old Pueblo Trolley 10 which is really Pacific Electic 332 built by J.G. Brill Company in 1918. Now I would ride the loop streetcar.
Los Angeles Railway PCC 3001, built by St. Louis Car Company in February 1933, was the car I rode around the loop on.
Los Angeles Railway Type B "Huntington Standard" 525 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1906.
Los Angeles Transit Lines Type P-3 PCC 3165 built by St Louis Car Company in October 1948 and Los Angeles Railway 5 Ton derrick 9225 built by Los Angeles Railway in 1912
Los Angeles Railway Rail Grinder 9350 built by the Los Angeles Railway in 1925. From this Car Barn we headed north with one stop to make on the way there.
Los Angeles Railway PCC 3001 built by St. Louis Car Company in February 1937 was the first PCC type car delivered to Los Angeles. In the Grizzly Flats Railroad Building I found the following.
Grizzly Flats Railroad 2-6-0 2 "Emma Nevada" built by Baldwin in 1881. The Grizzly Flats began in Ward and Betty Kimball's San Gabriel back yard. Ward, who was then an animator for Walt Disney Studios and avid railroad enthusiast, decided to buy the last passenger coach from Southern Pacific's narrow gauge subsidiary, the Carson & Colorado Railroad. With a friend's prompting, he then bought 2-6-0 2, once named “Sidney Dillon”, which had operated on the Nevada Central since 1881. Ward renamed this steam engine "Emma Nevada" after a famous opera star of the late 1800s.
Union Pacific 2-8-2 2564 built by Baldwin in 1922. Produced for Union Pacific subsidiary Los Angeles & Salt Lake, as 3725, it was renumbered 2725 in 1922 and operated on the east end of the line between Salt Lake City, Utah and Caliente, Nevada. In 1923, it moved to another Union Pacific subsidiary, the Oregon Short Line, where it was renumbered 2564 and spent the next forty-eight years hauling passenger and freight trains. Now I would walk ouside the property and set up to photograph the 4:00 PM run of the steam train.
My photo location. At 4:00 PM I heard the steam whistle and I hoped that the sun behind the clouds would work with me. I saw the smoke coming my way and was ready to catch the action.
Ventura County 2-6-2 2 put on a excellent show of steam at my private photo runby. From here I walked back to the Museum's book store and bought "Shortlines of the Intermountain West" by Jim Shaw then returned to my bus and started to look at my new acquisition. A gentleman said the driver was going to open up bus three and I went there to get out of the cold breeze which had picked up in front of our next big storm for the next two days. I did some Sodoku puzzles as I waited for our bus to fill up. Once we were full they let us return to the Perris Metrolink station. You could either get off the bus here or stay in the warmth of the bus until the train arrived. You all know I got off the bus.
The Perris Express back to Los Angeles.About five minutes later I heard the Metrolink horn then the crossing gates went down and the train was on final approach from South Perris.
The Perris Express returned to the Perris station. I boarded the same bicycle car but sat at the table on the other side of the car. Cell phones are great for telling your friends what car you are in when they are on a bus coming to the train. Once everyone had returned to the train, including Chris and Robin, the Perris Express left Perris at 6:00 PM or 15 minutes early and we headed back up to Highgrove making no stops until we arrived there to wait for Metrolink 860 to clear out of our way. We only slowed down near Esperanza as we had passed Train 4, the Southwest Chief, just east of the Horseshoe Bend in Santa Ana Canyon. We made no other stops and arrived at LAUPT at 7:50 PM, which was an hour and fifty minutes from Perris to LAUPT versus two hours and twenty minutes for a regular Metrolink train. We had lived up to our name, the Metrolink Perris Express.
A special thank you to the Pacific Railroad Society, Orange Empire Railway Museum and our five great bus drivers, all of whom made this an excellent trip. We walked over to Track 12 to wait for Pacific Surfliner 592 to open their doors. They opened my door and scanned our tickets before we boarded and I sat with Kirkle Rama and we caught up with things before he detrained at Fullerton. I sat with a tired Robin the rest of the way to Santa Ana where we ended this excellent Perris Express Trip.
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