Operated by the Feather River Rail Society, the Portola Railroad Museum (www.oz.net/~samh/frrs/index.html) offers a run-a-locomotive program on museum grounds (under the close supervision of an instructor). The theme of the museum is an operating small railroad locomotive facility. It is set upon a 37 acre Western Pacific diesel shop and has 39 locomotives and 98 freight and passenger cars. Unlike some other museums, visitors to Portola, in Plumas County, are encouraged to climb up in the cabs of locomotives, to sit in the engineer's seats, and to browse through the many cabooses and passenger cars that are on display.

Southern California

Railroads have operated in the Santa Maria Valley since the 1800s. The Pacific Coast Railway, which connected San Luis Bay to San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, and Los Olivos, built branches extending east to Garey Ranch and Palmer, and west to Betteravia and Guadalupe. By 1911, the Santa Maria Valley Railroad (SMVRR) was extended from the Betteravia area to Roadamite in the hills near Sisquoc where an oil refinery was located. Today, rail fans can visit the Santa Maria Valley Railway Historical Museum on weekends, from 1:00pm - 4:30pm

The Western America Railroad Museum (http://www.barstowrailmuseum.org/) in Barstow houses displays in an authentic railroad depot with indoor displays of railroad artifacts, artwork, timetables, uniforms, tools and various other types of railroad items. Outdoor displays of rolling stock, locomotives and general railroad operating equipment offer opportunity for visitors to see, up close, railroad equipment normally viewed from a distance.

Goleta Depot (http://www.goletadepot.org/) was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1901, at the time of the completion of SP's Coast Line connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. Like hundreds of other railroad stations once scattered throughout the nation, Goleta Depot served both the railroad and the local community. And, like the typical railroad depot of rural America, Goleta station performed a variety of functions, handling freight, express, passengers, and communications. Today, its museum is a showcase of train memorabilia.

Orange Empire Railway Museum (www.oerm.org) operates a museum railway where visitors can ride on the classic streetcars, passenger trains and other equipment of Southern California's railroad past. Located in the city of Perris, it's billed as the West's largest collection of railway locomotives, passenger and freight cars, streetcars, interurban electric cars, buildings and other artifacts. Much of the Orange Empire Railway Museum's collection can be ridden on weekends, when rides are offered along with tours.

The Lomita Railroad Museum (www.lomita-rr.org) was the first of its kind west of Denver, Colorado. Built in 1966, the museum proudly displays vintage steam locomotives, cabooses, tank and wood box cars.

The San Diego Railroad Museum (www.sdrm.org/), operated by the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association, offers train memorabilia and train rides a pleasant 50-mile drive east of downtown San Diego. The museum's popular "Engineer for a Day" allows rail fans the opportunity to climb into the right hand seat of a Diesel locomotive, be given an overview of how a locomotive works, and actually operate the locomotive under the guidance of the qualified instructor during a 90-minute excursion into the California Countryside at Campo and Miller Creek.

California's Railroad Legacy

Railroads, together with ocean-going shipping and other modes of transportation, have made California into the world's fifth-largest economy. It all started with the lonesome whistle of a freight engine, and given today's environmental and energy concerns, travel and freight trains are re-emerging as more sustainable forms of transportation.

All Aboard!

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