Orange Empire Railway Museum: The Little Museum That Could

With every passing year, I less and less subconsciously make my birthday "no big deal."  In the end, it works out far better for me; instead of one celebration, my birthday is spread out into a whole bunch of mini parties, getaways, dinners, and adventures.  The most recent birthday celebration came last weekend in the form of a trip to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA as the guest of my sister, brother-in-law, and cutest nephew in the world!  ALL ABOARD!

Orange Empire Railway Museum (and boys' reformatory from the looks of the fencing)
I think I have gotten this kid two engineer caps but both were lost
 by the time he actually made it out to see the trains. 

Founded in 1956 by a group of ambitious, rail-loving high school students that were upset by the demise of rail transit (trains and streetcars) in Southern California, the Orange Empire Railway Museum has survived nearly 60 years and has grown to 100 acres!

The music may be a little lackluster, but this video 

has neat old footage of the streetcars' retirement.

Recognize the headlight?

The OERM features everything from giant, 1880's steam engines, to streetcars from the the 1920's, to modern diesel locomotives from the 1950's.  We rode on a 1921 green car, a 1930's yellow line car (originally used for inner city travel) and a red car (used for interurban travel) from 1913 called "Blimpie."  This particular red car was brought down from San Francisco to Los Angeles and carried steel workers from downtown Los Angeles to San Pedro during WWII.  During the war years there were so many dock workers, ship builders, etc. that several streetcars were connected to form light rail transport trains.  An interesting note is that San Pedro has revived a small portion of the red car line which we were able to ride that last year.

The museum acquires  pieces through auction, personal sales, and donations.
They have so many pieces in the collection that some are still waiting in
line for restoration.

The yellow car ready for duty at the Pinacate Station

The fare meter on the streetcar
Depending on the time of day an the distance the passenger rode, the
conductor (from any point in the cabin could turn the dial to indicate the
appropriate fare.

In direct disobedience to Ordinance No. 71, 031, we got chatty with our motorman and he explained that the museum's current focus is actually the acquisition of Pacific Electric cars but, truthfully, we were there for more than just streetcars.  Trains are in our blood; our great-grandfather was an engineer on the Santa Fe for his entire career and our great-aunt worked for the company as well.  Not only that, but we had an unyielding "Thomas the Tank Engine" fan in our midst.

In honor of our family history, we did our best
engineer impersonations.

I guess options are pretty limited when you're trying to rhyme with "Pacific."

Even the stretchiest of imaginations couldn't possibly allow for me to be classified as a train buff or even a train enthusiast, but the fact is that I do like trains.  I can't leave Disneyland without riding the train around the park at least once and I usually try and sneak  ride in on Casey, Jr. too.  The great part about OERM is that it is run by volunteers and there excitement for the trains is palpable.  It turns what is actually kind of a ho-hum experience into something that sparks a desire to be more creative, to be more mechanical, and to be more involved.  A person who was very involved in the museum was one of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men," Ward Kimball.

Major pieces from Kimball's collection are some of the mueum's finest examples of early railroad history.  Grizzly Flats Railroad was Ward Kimball's backyard railroad and our tour guide said that Kimball was the real influence behind Walt Disney's own railroad mania.

Ward Kimball -a train buff through and through he had full scale,
 miniature, scale model and electric trains
(Source)

Chloe, a narrow-gauge steam locomotive

The Emma Nevada

The OERM volunteer explained that Ward Kimball did not just donate the trains, he also volunteered his time.  Until the time of his death in 2002, Kimball visited the trains and worked on their maintenance.  It is said that he painted the female figures on the Emma Nevada and even applied more modest apparel for them once they became part of the museum.

We tried to get more information but this guy
couldn't help us; he had a splitting headache.

No matter what, it all comes back to Disney, doesn't it?  As always, there is ever an appropriate Disney cartoon to suit the occasion.

"The Brave Engineer" (1950)

It was my grandparents who brought me to the Orange Empire Railway Museum more than twenty years ago.  Revisiting was a cool opportunity to not only relive some of those memories but also to create new ones with my favorite person on the planet.  Since my grandparents are interred very close by, it was nice to ride the emotional train full circle and visit them on our way out.  They, for me, were the originators and the arbiters of wacky tacky, and to them I will ever be indebted.

You've reached the end of the line! 

Orange Empire Railway Museum
2201 South A St
Perris, CA
(951)943-3020

www.oerm.org


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

p.s.  One last reminder to enter our GIVEAWAY; it ends tomorrow, November 30, 2012 at 12am PST.  GOOD LUCK!!!

I'm an Oom-Pah-Pah Papa!!!

Is it ever too soon for second helpings of schnitzel?  I think nicht.  Not so very long ago we explored the wacky tacky wunderbar-ness of Old World Village in Huntington Beach.  We determined that it was high time to discuss her older sister - Alpine Village in Torrance.

This is about as artsy as I get...
you can see my reflection in the automatic doors.

As with Old World Village, Alpine Village was started by German immigrants looking to bring a bit of Bavaria to the California coast.  Opened in 1968, the history on this place is difficult to determine as none is provided on the website and my research abilities are weak.  Much like Old World, Alpine Village is host to a market, restaurants, a chapel, and various businesses and shops.  There are, however, several differences between the two locations.  Alike in spirit, the villages actually have no connection beyond being havens to all things German.  Because Alpine Village is home to a daily swap meet, it is much more populated and therefore possesses none of the creepy-cool factor that is so prevalent at Old World.  In fact, every storefront that we passed was open for business and beckoning for us to enter with their air conditioning (yep, no joke, it was April 1st and the temperature was 90 degrees!!)

The market is much more expansive than its Huntington Beach counterpart and the aisles were filled with hungry shoppers.

The signs were very cool.

The bakery looks impressive but really, bleh...

The fleische counter puts Old World's to shame just by sheer volume.

I thought McDonald's invented the fish/cheese combo with the Filet-O-Fish.
Boy, was I wrong!

Just horsin' around.

Alpine Village's chapel doesn't hold a prayer candle
to the chapel at Old World, but it is quaint.

A few of the store shingles

The Alpine Inn is home to a weekly dance that we have yet to attend.
Sounds fun!

Mary found a pebble-mosaic art piece at the swap of which she was very proud.
Actually, we have found some killer deals there in the past.

Overall, Alpine Village is a must-see but it is much more engaged in reality than Old World and is therefore, not as much fun.  Because we didn't find as much mystery or excitement as we had hoped for at Alpine Village, we needed to get our adventure fix elsewhere.  I had heard tales of a "sunken city" in San Pedro and determined that it had to be our next destination.  Truthfully, Mary had been there before and made it sound so exciting that I just wanted to be "in the know."  I was expecting a Goonies-level adventure - ORV's, Baby Ruths, Truffle Shuffle, the whole bit.

The "No Trespassing" sign quickened my pulse and
kept me on the lookout for Data, Sloth and One-Eyed Willy.

To reach the "sunken city," one must climb over a short wall and wriggle underneath a fence.  Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a picture of said fence.  Needless to say, Mary was wrong and I could fit under the fence!

Truth be told, the "sunken city" (I continue to use quotation marks advisedly), is really just a small number of homes that once stood on the cliffs above the ocean but could no longer be supported by the terrain.  All that is left of the homes is cracked foundations.  The area is really a beautiful place and provides lovely views of the ocean and Catalina Island.

Remnants of the homes

No treasure, no pirates, nothin'...

The large, flat slabs of concrete are an obvious canvas for graffiti artists

The foundations also provide a great place to climb and play.

We were about to leave San Pedro when we noticed a trolley car and without a second thought, we hopped aboard.  The beautiful trolleys are careful replicas of the original 1909 Pacific Electric railcars that once covered a vast area of Los Angeles County.  We were thrilled to be riding a "Red Car" but soon found out that the trolley was really just a leisurely ride to nowhere.

Cool sign of the day!

Alpine Village

833 West Torrance Blvd.

Torrance, CA

(310)323-6520

alpinevillagecenter.com

The Port of Los Angeles Waterfront Red Car Line
Harbor Blvd. @ The Port of Los Angeles
San Pedro, CA
sanpedro.com/spcom/redcar
Operates Friday-Sunday 12-9:30 p.m.

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny