Southern California Railway Museum

Formerly Orange Empire Railway Museum

Preserving Southern California railroads, streetcars, interurbans, transit systems, and the history of the people who saved them.

Overview

The Southern California Railway Museum, commonly abbreviated SCRM, occupies a 100-acre campus in Perris, California. Its collection spans streetcars, interurbans, steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, narrow-gauge equipment, passenger and freight cars, modern transit vehicles, railroad structures, archives, and supporting infrastructure.

Its collection documents many of the forms of rail transportation that shaped Southern California, making it a central museum page for Southern California railroad and transit history. The site is in Perris.

Quick Facts

LocationPerris, California
Historic NamesOrange Empire Traction Company; Orange Empire Trolley Museum; Orange Empire Railway Museum; Southern California Railway Museum
Founding Preservation TraditionsOrange Empire Trolley Museum and California Southern Railroad Museum
Historic SiteFormer California Southern Railroad and Santa Fe right-of-way south of Perris
CampusApproximately 100 acres
Major StrengthsPacific Electric; Los Angeles Railway; narrow gauge; steam; diesel; modern transit; archives
Operating ExperiencesTrain and trolley rides; demonstrations; special events; preservation programs
Notable DieselSanta Fe SD45-2 No. 5704 (1973, bicentennial paint)

Origins of Railroad Preservation in Southern California

A Transportation Industry in Transition

The museum’s origins lie in the rapid technological and economic changes affecting American rail transportation after World War II. Steam locomotives were being replaced by diesels, street railway and interurban systems were converting to buses, and passenger railroads faced growing competition from automobiles and airlines.

Southern California railfans increasingly recognized that photographing and riding the remaining equipment would not be enough. Representative locomotives and cars would have to be purchased, relocated, stored, and protected if any were to survive.

Ira Swett and the Electric-Railway Community

One important influence was Ira Swett, an early historian and publisher specializing in electric railways. Swett began publishing the Interurban News Letter in 1943 and later produced books documenting streetcar and interurban systems. His Sunday-evening gatherings brought local railfans together to study electric-railway photography and history.

Southern California Division of the Electric Railroaders’ Association

The Southern California Division of the Electric Railroaders’ Association, or SC-ERA, was chartered on March 21, 1950. Its first meeting took place on April 16 at Ira Swett’s home, with thirteen charter members. The organization absorbed the earlier Interurban Electric Railroaders and became an important center for electric-railway preservation.

Saving the First Streetcars

Travel Town as Temporary Storage

SC-ERA’s first successful equipment acquisition was Los Angeles Transit Lines F-class car No. 1160. The organization purchased the car in 1953 for $200 plus sales tax. Volunteers constructed a short section of track at Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park, and No. 1160 arrived there on August 7, 1953.

  • Los Angeles Transit Lines line car No. 9351
  • Los Angeles Railway car No. 525
  • Experimental car No. 2601
  • Power car No. 9209
  • Flatcars Nos. 9614 and 9615
  • Los Angeles Railway No. 1201
  • Pacific Electric No. 1001
  • Los Angeles Transit Lines No. 1559

Travel Town provided vital short-term storage, but it was not intended to become the permanent home of an operating trolley museum. Cars were packed tightly into a temporary storage area rather than displayed or operated as a unified collection.

The Freeway Threat

The arrangement became precarious when construction of the Ventura Freeway threatened to isolate the stored equipment. Museum founders understood that once freeway work and associated changes at Travel Town were complete, removing the cars could become extremely difficult. This danger accelerated the search for a permanent operating site.

Orange Empire Trolley Museum

Orange Empire Traction Company

Fourteen SC-ERA members met on March 23, 1956, to discuss creating a separate preservation organization. They selected the name Orange Empire Traction Company, inspired by Pacific Electric’s historic Orange Empire Trolley Trip through the Inland Empire.

The organization used a numbered project system to manage incorporation, acquisitions, site searches, restoration, and other activities. California granted its nonprofit charter on July 20, 1956.

On December 6, 1958, the organization changed its name to Orange Empire Trolley Museum. The new name more clearly described a nonprofit preservation institution and avoided confusion created by the commercial-sounding “traction company” name.

California Southern Railroad Museum

Mt. Rubidoux Chapter of the Pacific Railroad Society

A separate preservation movement developed in the Inland Empire. The Mt. Rubidoux Chapter of the Pacific Railroad Society was organized in December 1955 and chartered in January 1956. Its members shared the usual railfan interests in excursions and meetings, but also intended to establish a museum preserving mainline railroad equipment.

This preservation effort developed into the California Southern Railroad Museum. Its interests emphasized steam locomotives, conventional mainline railroad equipment, passenger and freight cars, and Santa Fe-related history.

Early Mainline Preservation Work

The Mt. Rubidoux Chapter refurbished Union Pacific steam locomotive No. 6051 in Riverside’s Fairmount Park and supported efforts to preserve Santa Fe No. 3751 and the E Street depot in San Bernardino. No. 3751 was later returned to operating condition, an outcome made possible by its earlier preservation.

Establishing the Museum at Perris

A Historic California Southern Right-of-Way

In December 1957, the Mt. Rubidoux Chapter leased an abandoned strip of railroad right-of-way south of Perris from the Santa Fe Railway. The route had originally been part of the California Southern Railroad, an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe subsidiary whose line connected San Diego with the Santa Fe system.

OETM obtained a sublease from the California Southern Railroad Museum and began moving its collection from Travel Town to Perris. This gives the museum site historical significance independent of the equipment displayed there and creates direct links with Perris, Menifee, Temecula / Murrieta, Fallbrook, National City, and San Diego.

The First Equipment at Perris

The first museum equipment reached Perris on February 22, 1958, when Los Angeles Transit Lines flatcar No. 9614 was trucked to the property. A neighbor used a skip loader to dig a temporary unloading ramp, and enough track was built to hold two cars.

One week later, San Diego Electric Railway PCC No. 508 arrived directly from San Diego. For three months, the flatcar and PCC stood on their short section of track amid surrounding potato fields.

Early Expansion

  • Pacific Electric wire greaser No. 00150
  • Pacific Electric tower car No. 00157
  • Kaiser Steel caboose No. 1904
  • British Columbia Electric Railway No. 1225
  • San Francisco Municipal Railway No. 162
  • Pacific Electric Blimp No. 314
  • Five passenger shelters from the former Pacific Electric Bellflower Line

OETM purchased an adjoining eight-acre parcel from John and Betty Oller for $3,500 in April 1958, then acquired two additional acres, creating the museum’s initial ten-acre property.

Moving the Travel Town Collection

Track construction and the recovery of rail from a former Pacific Electric spur allowed the remaining Travel Town equipment to be moved to Perris beginning in February 1959. Over approximately six weeks, nine cars were trucked from Griffith Park to the new museum site, transforming an empty right-of-way into a functioning preservation center.

Two Museums on One Site

OETM and CSRM remained independent organizations but cooperated closely at Perris. Their members shared property, labor, infrastructure, and operating opportunities. One organization specialized primarily in electric railway equipment, while the other pursued steam and conventional railroad preservation.

An early proposal described the cooperative operation as the United Railway Museum, bringing together the Orange Empire Traction Company, the Mt. Rubidoux Chapter of the Pacific Railroad Society, and the Railway Historical Society of San Diego. The first formal meeting took place at the Perris Justice Court on June 22, 1958.

The two preservation traditions were eventually consolidated under the Orange Empire Railway Museum name. The institution was later renamed the Southern California Railway Museum, reflecting the breadth of its collection and mission.

Ward Kimball and the Grizzly Flats Collection

A major benefactor of the museum was Ward Kimball, the Disney animator, railroad preservationist, and founder of the Grizzly Flats Railroad. Kimball donated the narrow-gauge locomotives Chloe and Emma Nevada and contributed funding to provide suitable housing for the collection.

The museum’s Grizzly Flats Engine House preserves and interprets Kimball’s railroad collection and associated artifacts, linking SCRM with Walt Disney, the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, Los Angeles Live Steamers, Disneyland Railroad, and early Southern California railroad preservation.

Equipment Collections

SCRM preserves a diverse railway and transit collection. Its holdings include Pacific Electric equipment, Los Angeles Railway vehicles, narrow-gauge locomotives and rolling stock, steam and diesel locomotives, passenger and freight cars, modern transit equipment, maintenance-of-way equipment, railroad infrastructure, archives, and interpretive artifacts.

Pacific Electric Collection

Hollywood Cars Nos. 626, 637, 716, and 717

Museum founder Walter Abbenseth purchased four surviving operable Hollywood Cars after passenger service through Watts ended in 1959. He later donated them to the museum.

Pacific Electric No. 717

No. 717 has become one of the museum’s signature Red Cars and a familiar public representative of the Pacific Electric story.

Pacific Electric Blimp No. 314 / LAMTA No. 1533

No. 314 was one of Pacific Electric’s faster Blimp cars and was selected for preservation while still in comparatively good condition. Walter Abbenseth and Ray Ballash acquired the car and moved it to Perris in October 1958.

Pacific Electric No. 418 / LAMTA No. 1528

No. 418 represents the less-common 1913 Pullman-built group of Blimp cars. Preservationists selected it partly because of its condition and surviving mechanical components.

Pacific Electric No. 498

No. 498 is another important surviving Blimp car and remains an active restoration and preservation subject within the museum collection.

Pacific Electric No. 1001

No. 1001 is the sole surviving member of Pacific Electric’s original Ten-class cars. It had been converted for track-grinding service before Walter Abbenseth purchased it for preservation and initially stored it at Travel Town.

Pacific Electric No. 1299

No. 1299 represents Pacific Electric safety-car development within the evolution of smaller, economical electric passenger cars.

Pacific Electric Birney No. 10

Birney Safety Car No. 10 provides a contrast with Pacific Electric’s larger interurban fleet and helps explain compact urban street-railway operation.

Pacific Electric No. 530

No. 530 was built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1909 as part of Pacific Electric’s “Medium Fives.” After retirement in 1934, its body was sold and used as a cabin in Crestline. The museum rescued it in 2007, and it awaits restoration.

Los Angeles Railway Collection

Los Angeles Railway No. 1201

The City of Inglewood originally displayed No. 1201 in Centinela Park after the abandonment of Line 5. Vandalism quickly damaged the car, and the city donated it to SC-ERA. It was moved to Travel Town and later to Perris. Components salvaged from scrapped sister cars at the South Park Shops became part of its preservation.

Los Angeles Railway No. 525

No. 525 was acquired in April 1955 and stored at Travel Town before being moved to Perris in 1959. It remains an important representative of Huntington-era Los Angeles streetcar design.

Los Angeles Railway No. 1450

No. 1450 is historically important as the final H-class car retired from regular service.

PCC Cars

  • No. 3001
  • No. 3072
  • No. 3100
  • No. 3165

No. 3100 has undergone significant repair work following a motor-generator failure, while the museum continues evaluating options to return it to operation.

Funeral Car Descanso

Descanso is believed to be the only surviving funeral streetcar preserved by a railroad museum in the United States. Built in 1909 as Paraiso, the car was later renamed Descanso. After donation in 1940, it was moved to Summit on Cajon Pass and used as a bunkhouse and railfan gathering place.

It reached the museum in 1967 by way of the future Southern Pacific Palmdale Cutoff and was restored in 1991.

Ward Kimball Narrow-Gauge Collection

Chloe

Chloe is one of the museum’s best-known narrow-gauge locomotives and a defining artifact from Ward Kimball’s Grizzly Flats Railroad. It represents both railroad history and the development of Southern California railroad preservation.

Emma Nevada

Emma Nevada was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1881 for the Nevada Central Railroad. Ward Kimball acquired it in 1938 and transported it from Battle Mountain, Nevada, to San Gabriel. Kimball and his associates completed a major restoration around 1942.

A new restoration effort began in 2022. Museum volunteers removed major components, addressed corrosion and age-related damage, and fabricated special tools and replacement parts in the museum machine shop. It was the first restoration of similar magnitude since the Kimball-era work.

Steam Locomotive Collection

Ventura County Railway No. 2

Ventura County Railway No. 2 is a regionally significant steam locomotive in the collection. It represents Southern California short-line railroading, industrial freight service, steam-era operations, and Ventura County railroad history.

Vintage Diesel Collection

Santa Fe FP45 No. 108

Santa Fe No. 108 was built by EMD in 1968. The locomotive uses a V20 EMD 645 turbocharged diesel engine rated at 3,600 horsepower. Its full-width passenger-style carbody identifies it as a cowl unit. It was built for passenger service with a steam generator and later reassigned to freight service after Amtrak began operations.

Santa Fe donated No. 108 to the museum in 1996. A major restoration began in 2013 and was completed in 2018. No. 108 is a signature diesel artifact in the collection.

Santa Fe No. 560

Santa Fe No. 560 was built by Fairbanks-Morse in 1957 and is associated with the shortened H12-44M design sometimes nicknamed the “Shoebox.” After Santa Fe service, it worked at a Texas scrapyard before the museum acquired it in 1988. Restoration began in 2020 and was completed in 2024.

Santa Fe No. 5704

Santa Fe No. 5704 is an EMD SD45-2 built in 1973. It was one of five SD45-2s painted in a special bicentennial scheme in 1976. BNSF donated the locomotive to the museum in 2021; after a cosmetic restoration to its bicentennial paint, it arrived at Perris in May 2025 and ran under its own power again in April 2026.

Union Pacific No. 942

Union Pacific No. 942 was rescued from a scrapyard in Colton through a fundraising campaign. Union Pacific assisted in returning it to operating condition, and it was repainted into its current appearance in 2012.

Southern Pacific No. 3100

Southern Pacific No. 3100 represents Southern Pacific diesel history within the museum collection.

Modern Transit and Commuter-Rail Collection

San Diego Electric Railway PCC No. 508

San Diego Electric Railway No. 508 was the second piece of equipment placed at the Perris site, arriving directly from San Diego one week after flatcar No. 9614 in 1958.

Recent restoration work has included interior cleanup, door-edge work, window installation, seat mounting, and preparation for an eventual return to operation. Its importance combines San Diego streetcar history, PCC technology, the founding of the Perris museum, and active restoration.

San Diego Trolley Nos. 1003 and 1008

Cars Nos. 1003 and 1008 represent the rebirth of modern rail transit in San Diego and the beginning of the contemporary San Diego Trolley era. They create a direct interpretive connection between older electric railways and the return of light rail to Southern California.

Los Angeles Metro No. 114

Los Angeles Metro No. 114 represents the modern Los Angeles Metro Rail era and provides a direct comparison with the museum’s Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway equipment.

COASTER No. 2105

COASTER F40PHM-2C No. 2105 was part of the five-locomotive fleet that inaugurated COASTER service in 1995. After retirement, the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum transferred it to SCRM. It arrived at Perris in May 2025 and is preserved as a non-powered control unit. See COASTER / SPRINTER.

Archives and Fred Harvey Exhibit

The Thomas F. Grose Archival Facility houses the museum archives, interpretive resources, and the Fred Harvey Exhibit. The Fred Harvey Exhibit, operated by the Harvey Girl Historical Society, interprets Fred Harvey, Harvey Houses, Harvey Girls, Santa Fe passenger service, railroad dining and hospitality, and tourism in the Southwest.

Operating Railway Experience

SCRM is an operating railway museum rather than a static collection. The museum runs trains and trolleys on scheduled weekends and offers opportunities to experience historic transportation in motion. Trained volunteers serve as operators, conductors, attendants, restoration workers, and infrastructure maintainers.

Operating equipment and restoration status vary; not every preserved vehicle is currently operational.

Why the Museum Matters

SCRM preserves both railroad history and the history of railroad preservation. Its significance comes from the rescue of Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway equipment, temporary storage at Travel Town, the freeway threat, development of OETM and CSRM, the move to the former California Southern right-of-way, Ward Kimball and the Grizzly Flats collection, operating railway programs, restoration of historic and modern rolling stock, and Fred Harvey interpretation.

Related Railroads

Related Locations

Related Museums

Gallery

Photo gallery coming soon.

  • Museum grounds and former California Southern right-of-way
  • Early equipment moves to Perris
  • OETM and CSRM history
  • Pacific Electric Hollywood Cars and Blimps
  • Pacific Electric Nos. 717, 1001, 314, 418, 498, and 1299
  • Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars and PCCs
  • Funeral Car Descanso
  • Ward Kimball Collection
  • Chloe and Emma Nevada
  • Ventura County Railway No. 2
  • Santa Fe Nos. 108, 560, and 5704
  • Union Pacific No. 942
  • San Diego Electric Railway No. 508
  • COASTER No. 2105
  • Modern light-rail equipment
  • Fred Harvey Exhibit and archives
  • Operating trains and trolleys
  • Restoration shops and volunteer work

Western Rail Archive Notes

The museum preserves not only the vehicles that built Southern California, but also the history of the people and organizations that saved them. The chronology from SC-ERA and early preservation to OETC/OETM and CSRM, Travel Town storage, Perris, Orange Empire Railway Museum, and Southern California Railway Museum is the backbone of this page. Operating schedules and equipment status can change; check with the museum before visiting.

Archive Status

Page StatusCategoryTypeGallery
Foundational ArticleMuseumsRailroad MuseumIn Development