KID STUFF : Museum’s Rail Festival Celebrates the Trains That Still Can

There’s a lot of noise lately about the joy of public transportation, but, really, how misty-eyed can you get about a bus?

Yet for pure romance, some folks say there’s just no beating the train. Whether it’s the rumbling, hissing majesty of a steam locomotive or the whine of an electric streetcar, there’s something magical about a train that carries it beyond the realm of mere transportation. On Oct. 26 and 27, families are invited to discover, or rediscover, those charms at the 12th annual Fall Rail Festival at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris.

The museum, run almost exclusively by volunteers from five counties, including Orange, is home to one of California’s largest collections of rail equipment. On most weekends, the vehicles rest quietly on the museum’s 60-acre site. But during the museum’s twice-yearly public festivals, many of them roar, clatter and whir to life, ready to shuttle visitors to a bygone era. Between rides, visitors may also enjoy live entertainment such as bluegrass and country bands, a bagpipe group and clowns. A collection of antique cars will also be on view. All activities are included with admission ($6 to $8; under 6 free).

The Orange Empire Railway Museum was founded in 1956 by a small number of electric railway enthusiasts eager to preserve the last remnants of that vanishing breed (the Pacific Electric Railway, which peaked in the mid-1920s with 1,600 miles of track in four counties, made its last run in 1963). At this weekend’s event, a fully restored 1911 Pacific Electric Red, the oldest electric streetcar in the collection, will shuttle visitors on a half-mile circular track.

The museum collection now has everything from a 1901 Irish double-decker trolley to late-model diesel trains. According to Kenn Lewis, a museum volunteer for the past 12 years, one of the highlights of this weekend’s event will be rides aboard the venerable Ventura County Railway No. 2, a 1922 steam locomotive pulling several cabooses and open passenger cars. The 15-minute trip will carry visitors back and forth between the Perris depot and the edge of town.

Steam locomotives were pretty much a thing of the past by the mid-1950s, having been sidetracked by the diesel engine. But if you really want a ride through history, climb aboard a caboose, Lewis said.

“Cabooses are disappearing from American railroads,” said Lewis, who added that before the advent of automatic brakes, the caboose carried the brakemen, who, at the engineer’s whistle signal, would run across the top of the train and set the appropriate brakes. “From a railroad’s point of view, they’re not going to haul a caboose if they could pull another car that could bring in revenue. So really they’re a part of history.”

Most of the stock in the collection was donated or sold as junk and was in poor condition when it arrived. As time and funds permit, members painstakingly restore the vehicles. They divide themselves into specialty crews according to expertise, whether it is steam engines or diesels, electric trolleys or cabooses, said Lewis, a member of the steam crew.

To refine their skills, the volunteers, who include about 1,500 men and women from San Diego to San Bernardino counties, draw on practical experience (some are current or past railroad employees), printed materials and museum-sponsored classes. It can be demanding work. For example, to assure passenger safety and to adhere to stringent state regulations on boiler safety, the steam crew must virtually disassemble and rebuild the steam engine every few years.

There’s more to the job than grime and broken fingernails, however. On festival days, the volunteers get their time in the spotlight, suiting up in period uniforms to work as engineers, brakemen and brakewomen, attendants and crossing guards on the trains.

If you can’t make it out this weekend, the Orange Empire Railway Museum will have its next public festival in early April. The museum is open every weekend and also on some weekdays by appointment.

What: Fall Rail Festival.

When: Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 26 and 27, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Orange Empire Railway Museum, 2201 South A St., Perris.

Whereabouts: Take the Riverside (91) Freeway to Highway 215. Exit on 4th Street. Go west to A Street and turn left.

Wherewithal: $6 to $8; under 6 free.

Where to Call: (714) 657-2605.