Train Fare : Historic railway in tiny Fillmore gives chance to let scenery roll by

Brunch on an historic train as it winds through scenic countryside, sampling cabernet at a local winery, a restful night at a sweet little bed and breakfast.

If that sounds like the Napa Valley, an eight-hour drive north, it isn’t.

Welcome to Fillmore, a quiet little unpretentious farm town of about 13,000 people an hour’s drive northeast of Los Angeles. Here the Fillmore & Western Railway Co., a six-car scenic train pulled by 50-year-old diesel engines, seems to have become the main attraction. Its downtown open-air depot shares the tree-lined town square with a sparkling new, but distinctively old-style City Hall. And at the sound of the train whistle, adults turn to watch, and kids clamber up a wooden fence adjacent to the track. Stores and restaurants sport miniature train sets in their windows.

My husband, Mike, and I decided to try Fillmore & Western after reading about its new owner, Dave Wilkinson, who has operated the train since 1990 but purchased the railway only a year ago. His weekend runs through the Santa Clara River Valley from Fillmore to Santa Paula and back have been attracting 100 or more riders for the 20-mile, three-hour round trip (including a stop in Santa Paula). Our sons--2 and 4 years old--loved the idea of riding on a train, and we decided to sign up for the ultimate experience: brunch in the private club car, built in 1929 and known as Car 409.

When we called ahead for brunch reservations (required for any meal aboard the train) and asked about lodgings, we were referred to Fillmore’s first and only bed and breakfast, the Artists’ Barn, a 100-year-old redwood barn where area artists used to gather in the 1930s and ‘40s to paint with their colleagues. A Ventura County Historic Landmark, the remodeled barn now has two guest rooms, plus the owners’ quarters.

Arriving Saturday afternoon, we found our accommodations quaint and cozy, with large comfortable beds and an attached sitting room with a fold-out bed for our kids. The bath had the kind of bright yellow and dark maroon tile one sees in old San Francisco houses. We had access to the kitchen and a large common room, which was in need of comfortable sitting chairs.

But the Barn isn’t for everyone. As my husband put it, it feels as though you’ve come to stay with your great aunt: homey and comfortable, but a little intimate.

Fillmore has limited dinner choices; you pretty much have to like Mexican restaurants or coffee shops. We tried Vallarta’s on California Highway 126 and got friendly service and a tasty Mexican meal, cooked without lard. Afterward we strolled down Central Avenue, admiring the brick sidewalks that were added after the 1994 earthquake. The storefronts are smart, many with new awnings. The city looks so much like middle America in the 1930s and ‘40s that movie crews often use downtown for their sets. (Studios have used the train, too, for more than 120 films and commercials, according to Wilkinson.)

The theater on Central Avenue was showing “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” a little too scary for our kids, so we walked over to Segovia’s for ice cream. It’s a family soda fountain and billiard hall with pinball and other arcade attractions for kids.

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Next morning, we waited with the gathering crowd at Central Park. A red caboose, permanently stationed outside City Hall, serves as the Fillmore & Western’s ticket booth. The 11 a.m. Sunday morning train blew its whistle and pulled into the outdoor platform right on time. Most of our fellow passengers seemed to be tourists, but we also met some locals. We were making the trip with two friends, who had driven up that morning from Santa Barbara.

As we boarded, conductor Steve Phares and brakeman Jim Treloar, both in full livery, greeted us. Phares directed us to Car 409, where we stood on the rear platform, sipping champagne and watching the orchards and farmhouses pass slowly alongside us. Our sons were mesmerized by the train and its trappings.

There are several ways to go: Riders can choose a murder mystery dinner train for $68 a ticket, a train that stops in an orchard for Saturday night barbecue for $44.50, regular scenic weekend rides for $14, or as we did, brunch in the private car for $250 for four adults. For the Saturday- and Sunday-morning scenic rides, you can board in either Fillmore or Santa Paula.

After champagne, our server escorted us in from the platform and adjoining sitting room to the car’s private dining room, where she served Caesar salad and fruit dishes. Wilkinson, who had given his regular chef the day off, proved a talented cook: The main-dish shrimp was tender and the rice well seasoned.

Walking from one end of the train to the other, we passed through two passenger cars built in 1929, where riders sat in small groups on facing upholstered benches. The dining car is not in service for daytime trips, but riders sat around some of the tables, eating chili dogs and chips from the snack bar in the next car. The snack bar shares a car with the gift shop, which sells everything from train whistles to model trains. The last car on the train was an open air flat car, with benches for passengers to sit outside.

Arriving in Santa Paula, we walked around town for a while, then returned to Car 409, where a dark-chocolate cake was waiting, with coffee, for dessert.

At the end of the nearly three-hour trip, we walked the short distance from the station to Fillmore’s new winery, opened six months ago in a new white stucco building on Santa Clara Street just east of City Hall. There’s no charge for tasting at the Giessinger Winery, where winemaker and owner Edouard Giessinger pours 13 varieties, including three specialties: a trebbiano, an Italian white wine similar to a chardonnay; a light and smooth cabernet franc; and a zinfandel.

Back at the depot, we said goodbye to our friends and had a last look at the train before we headed for home. We’ll come back for another ride before long (my son reminds me that his birthday is coming up in January); that’s something we could never do in Napa Valley.

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Budget for Four

Artists’ Barn B&B;, one night: $75.00

Dinner at Vallarta’s: 24.60

Ice cream, Segovia’s: 3.60

Train, private car w/brunch: 250.00

FINAL TAB: $353.20

Artists’ Barn B&B;, 416 Bard St., Fillmore, CA 93015; tel. (805) 524-1216. Fillmore & Western Railway; tel. (800) 773-TRAIN.