First visit to Orange Empire Railway Museum

My wife found out about the Orange Empire Railway Museum so we decided to take Wesley there to see some trains. The first thing we did when we got there was ride in one of the passenger trains that was being pulled up and down a straight piece of track at the front of the property. Wesley was probably a little less than a year and a half old at the time, and he seemed more interested in watching the trains than riding on them.

When we got off the train ride, we saw an old Pacific Electric Red Car sitting all alone. Apparently OERM have a lot of the Red Cars but I can only remember seeing two of them while we were there.

We found out that a tour had just started and we eventually joined them in one of the hangars. Soon after, we had to step out to change Wesley’s diaper so I think we missed the end of that hangar and the beginning of the next one. After we caught up to the tour group again, Wesley started crying and I had to hang back with him so as not to annoy the others on the tour. I don’t know if the tour guide talked about this next pic, but it was a neat interesting engine.

As we left that hangar and walked to the next one, there was a little area with tank cars and box cars. The tracks were covered in weeds and it looked like it could have been an abandoned siding in a distant town.

As we got to the next hangar I found a long, yellow locomotive staring at me. It was a Union Pacific locomotive #942. That was the first time I’d seen a locomotive that long and it was rather impressive.

Then I noticed something hiding behind the Union Pacific engine – it was a steam engine being worked on!

There were a couple of guys on a lunch break who were working on the steam locomotive, and we got to climb up into the cab and look around.

I don’t remember what railway the locomotive belonged to, and I don’t think I was paying much attention to the tour guide as I was too busy staring at the locomotive. As we left that hangar, a Southern Pacific Switcher (#1474) was moving out on the rails – apparently you can pay to control the locomotive for an hour. Maybe someday when Wesley is older we will have to try that out.

The last hangar we visited was the Grizzly Flats enginehouse. Just inside the door was a small locomotive, the Chloe (#1), previously owned and donated by Ward and Betty Kimball. I think it’s the same gauge as the trains at Disneyland but I could be wrong.

Overall it was a fun outing and we definitely plan to go back as OERM rotates out the trains viewable to the public. Apparently there was a steampunk railroad event a few weeks ago that we missed (which would have been awesome!). There is also a Thomas event that Wesley would likely enjoy, so whenever that comes back around we have to check it out (for Wesley of course).