(Apologies to Mel Blanc and those immortal words from the “Jack Benny” radio show – “Train now leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga!”)
Well, if you are one of those who says that when Roger has a railroad story, that you don’t read his column (and I know you do), then you would be doing yourself a disservice by skipping this one.
It is true that there will be railroads involved, but it was a very interesting and amusing long four days. And entertaining, too! So, sit back with that favorite morning beverage, and enjoy the tale as it unfolds.
Now as a precursor to this, I had the pleasure of getting not one, but two lovely injections of Cortisone in my right arm on Thursday the 11 th. Hence the short but sweet column last week, For something that is supposed to relieve pain (and it has, finally) it left me only able to do the one-finger typing bit. But I promise I am making up for it today.
Starting off, Jeff Ferris, Dasha Clancey and myself all made the pilgrimage to the Oakland International Airport early on the morning of Friday the 12 th of November. With Jet Blue’s usual speed and efficiency, we arrived at the classic Long Beach terminal, retrieved our luggage, Alamo rental car (a white Chevy Impala) and headed north on Lakewood Blvd in search of a hearty breakfast. Once that task was completed we headed for our first stop of the trip in San Pedro.
With a little imagination, you can see this as the Disney Magic…
Now this may seem an usual destination, but next year it will be one that many families will make their choice as the Disney Cruise Line docks here. The Disney Magic will call this it’s temporary homeport for a series of seven-night cruises to Mexico from May through August. And it looks like these will be extremely popular. Many sailing dates have been sold out for some time now.
Another ship, I have mentioned in a previous column, the S.S. Lane Victory, is berthed just east of the Cruise Terminal here. I had visited her before in San Pedro and was glad to see her now with a more prominent and better marked location for visitors.
But for us, this time, the attraction here was the chance to ride on the Port of Los Angeles “Red Cars”. At one time, it was the transportation choice of many people to ride from points in the LA Basin to board a ship here. Whether for a long cruise or just the day trip to Catalina, many people rode the “Red Cars” of the Pacific Electric here.
On the original Pacific Electric right of way, passengers travel from the Cruise Terminal to the Ports of Call Village and beyond…
The Port invested $10 million dollars into the project to create the mile and half operation. Currently, there are three “Red Cars” available for service. Most often seen are the two replicas of the 500 series Pacific Electric cars. Where the originals were wooden bodies, the new cars combine modern safety and convenience. Seating 48 people, and including space for handicapped accessibility at each stop, the offer a great way to enjoy the short ride.
The interior of the 500, complete with wooden walk-over seats.
Also aboard are vintage advertisements such as this one for the Folding Brownie camera.
The gem of the line is the one actual Pacific Electric car, #1058. You may recall seeing the car in a number of films, including “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. Anyone remember the line, “Look out for the Red Car!” as Roger and Eddie escape from the weasels with the help of Benny the Cab? This was that Red Car.
The 1058 sunning herself at the line’s temporary car house.
In their day, the 1000 series class cars were the biggest wooden cars to operate on the P.E. and only two of them survive today – both at the OERM in Perris (where our story will eventually get to). The 1058 is actually a 900 series car that was badly damaged in an accident. Purchased by trolley enthusiast Richard Fellows, it was mounted on rubber tires and was used in many movies, parades and events around the LA basin. When he passed away, a number of car bodies he owned were sold, including the 1058. The Port hired Railway Preservation Resources to oversee the restoration of the 1058 for rail service as well as the construction of the two 500 series replicas.
All in all it made for a great time in San Pedro. A leisurely lunch followed our Red Car visit at Utro’s Café right next to the Ports O’ Call Village stop. We even ended up visiting a local shop that we had seen a car card advertisement for on the 1058 – The Naughti Mermaid. A nice little gift shop and she has a good selection of Reyn Spooner shirts among other things.
Jeff, Dasha and I eventually headed east with no particular plans, other than ending up in Yucca Valley, eventually. That’s where we were spending the night (at the Super 8 Motel). Working our way down the freeways, we ended up eastbound on the 91. As it wasn’t too late in the day, we thought why not visit Downtown Disney? With a showing of “Incredibles” at the AMC Theaters, and dinner at Hook’s Pointe, we managed to do quite well before getting back on the highway after all of the Friday night commute traffic had died down. Just in time to watch fireworks from the happiest parking structure in Orange County, too!
Hey! Radio controlled miniature Jungle Cruise boats at the Disneyland Hotel! Right down to the loading dock and offices!
Saturday morning, we slept in. After getting up so early on the previous day, it was a welcome change of pace. That’s a good description for the rest of the day, too. Joshua Tree is in the high desert of Southern California. It’s home to the National Park of the same name.
The Joshua Tree & Southern Railroad Museum is a combination of small scale railroading and full sized railway equipment. Jeff, Dasha and myself have been helping here for the last few years as volunteers at the Museum’s “Dinner in the Diner” events. It’s a chance to show what it was like aboard a railroad dining car. In this case, it’s from 1927 and was once part of the Denver & Rio Grande operating between Salt Lake City and Denver.
Chef Rita Allan and her helpers did a fine job! Meals for almost thirty people.
“Dinner In The Diner, nothing could be finer…”
The small scale railroading has several sizes to choose from. That includes a “G” scale or garden railway, the 7 1/2 inch gauge and then the 15 inch gauge railroad. The latter is still very much a project in progress with a large bridge being built as the starting point for a very ambitious railway.
There was plenty of action over on the 7 1/2 inch railroad during the week end. These steam locomotives may be small in size, but they are every bit as functional as their full size brothers. Here are views of three locomotives in operation on Saturday.
A fine sunset in the high desert!
One of the most popular children’s television properties around the world in the last few years has (and continues to be) “Thomas The Tank Engine”. Railroad museums and tourist railroads have also discovered that appearances by this little blue locomotive are wildly popular with the public. So much so that “Thomas” is found visiting all across the country throughout the year. This particular visit was to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California.
Thomas at the ready for another trip!
Train rides with Thomas are the main attraction and start early in the day. In fact, things at the Museum began at 7:30 a.m. as opposed to a normal day beginning operations at 11:00. Rides continued all day long right up to the last departure at 4:30 p.m. and the train was full almost every trip.
Photographs with Thomas were very popular.
OERM may be known by some of our readers as the new home for some of the equipment of Ward Kimball’s “Grizzly Flats Railroad”. The Grizzly Flats car house does double duty during this event as the home to the Thomas retail store with all kinds of items for sale.
The Grizzly Flat Car House as the Store.
Streetcar rides proved popular with visitors as well.
For this day, we were aboard a 1956 Union Pacific sleeping car, the “National Scene”. This was part of the display at the Museum’s Car House 4, and was reached by riding a train of cabooses pulled by an electric locomotive. Even though cabooses may be gone from freight trains of today’s modern railroads, they still have lots of fans who enjoyed the ride aboard a traditional red caboose!
The Caboose Train ready to depart Car House 4.
Roger in the uniform of a Pullman Porter in front of a Santa Fe passenger diesel locomotive.
The day ended at 5:00 p.m. and things were pretty much done for the night soon after. As most of the Museum folks will be back there again this weekend (and yes, tickets for the Day Out With Thomas are still available!), they beat a hasty retreat. We joined a few of them for a fine dinner at Amigos Tres in downtown Perris.
Now originally, we had planned to meet up with a few folks in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning. The purpose was to show off a private railroad car to someone who is interested in chartering it for an event. That car, the “Pony Express” is based in LA and will be just right for this group with a trip down to San Diego and then back.
That was just the kind of trip it was supposed to have made on Saturday while we were out a Joshua Tree. But due to a derailment at the Los Angeles Union Station on Friday night, the car had to be placed in the middle of a train set, rather than on the rear, as would be the usual practice. That was fine as the charter would still be able to run. What complicated things a bit was that due to this and the derailment still being cleaned up, the car could not be removed from that train set once it got back to Los Angeles.
Why not, you may ask? Well dear readers, the train that the car returned on doesn’t end in Los Angeles that night. It continues on to Santa Barbara and little more to a place called Goleta. And that is just what it did — complete with the “Pony Express”! Car owner Stan Garner called me and told me the tale. It didn’t stop there, however. Just like “Charlie on the MTA” (as so notably sung by the Kingston Trio), it seemed that Stan and the “Pony” were stuck on the train. Sunday came and went and there they still were. Monday morning came and Stan was enjoying a fine breakfast of Quiche Lorraine, fresh fruit and a nice cup of coffee rolling along in his private railroad car, heading south along the coastline.
Amtrak finally did take pity on him and the car got switched out of the train set that afternoon in San Diego. He managed to make it back to LAUPT later that evening.
This all was amusing, but it meant that our plans to head downtown were somewhat unnecessary. Hey, it means for the second time in three days, we all got to sleep in late! Wow! Such a bonus!
And as fate would have it, while looking for the most reasonably priced (a.k.a. cheapest) room in the area, it turned out to be directly across the street from…
You guessed it! (Or you read my Ruminations Extra on Wednesday…) Disneyland.
Thanks to very light traffic on the 91 we managed to arrive in Anaheim about 8:30. And as Disneyland was open until 11, I bid Jeff and Dasha farewell, apologized for being anti-social and made my way to the Park, arriving just after the fireworks were done for the night. A good excuse to try out the digital camera and the little tripod!
The Emporium and the Main Street Christmas Tree.
The Matterhorn and construction at the top.
The entrance to DCA from an interesting vantage point.
So, here we are Monday morning…
I’ll recap a bit from the Extra here.
So bright and early we were up Monday. It was one of those rare days with a warm morning and the mythical San Gabriel Mountains were even in view, complete with snow capped peaks. After a brief moment of consideration, my companions decided that we should enjoy a Disneyland visit instead of making the trek to downtown.
After a quick nosh at the La Brea Bakery, we entered the Park and wandered down Main Street. Dasha is a big fan of Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” so we thought we would see what time Ariel would be at her Grotto to greet guests. Turned out that would be 12:30 p.m. so we had a bit of time. We went off to take in the “Indiana Jones Adventure” (The snake still looks fake.) Nice to see most of the effects back up and running. Also noted the new procedure that insures that each guest takes in the pre-ride film showing seat belts instructions, carry-on item storage and assorted safety warnings.
By the time that was finished, it was time to head back across the park to Ariel’s Grotto. Passing in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, we stopped to take in the ongoing restoration. While watching some folks at work on what appear to be the finishing touches, I thought I saw a familiar face walk by. Right I was; as Matt Ouimet and another Cast Member with a name tag of Steve said “Hello” to an Outdoor Vending Cast Member at the same location. Matt and Steve stopped for a moment to look at the Castle and then continued off on their walk. “Neat”, I thought. Nice to see him out and about as I’ve heard he’s someone very interested in seeing what is happening for himself.
So, we continued on and joined the short line of guests waiting for Ariel at her Grotto. It wasn’t long and Dasha soon had her moment for a photo and a chat.
A quiet moment with a favorite friend…
Now while I’m taking this photo, I’ve noticed that Monorail Blue is coming slowly around the Matterhorn headed for the Tomorrowland Monorail station. Just about the time I’m pushing the shutter button, I hear a loud pop, and Monorail Blue comes to a stop. So taking another quick photo of Ariel and Dasha, I walk over to join Jeff in seeing what has happened on the beam. We hear the pilot come on the public address system on the cars and let the passengers know that they are temporarily stopped for an unknown technical difficulty.
Monorail Blue stopped on it’s way to the station.
Less than two minutes later, the pilot announces that they will be pushed into the station in a few moments, as it appears that the electricity has been lost. Right they are, as in a great display of Disney efficiency, the Monorail tow tug comes to a top behind the train so that the tow bar can be attached.
The Monorail Tow-Tug, ready and on the scene…
While I’m busy taking photo’s of the tug and the Monorail as it is readied to be pushed into the station platform, Dasha is greeted with a “Hello” from Matt as he passes by, headed east under the beam. Of course, I never noticed this. She tells me about it after I’m all done and put the camera away…
From here it was off for a ride on the Disneyland Railroad, something Dasha says she has never done before. Well, we set that one right!
Yes, it is the Fred Gurley. That’s the DRR #3, the 2-4-4T (not the #4, Ernest Marsh, which is a 2-4-0 with a tender.)
Thanks to everyone who reminded me last time!
That’s what I get for writing on the fly…
We rode from Tomorrowland to New Orleans Square. Disembarking from the train, I spotted Disneyland Tour Guide Edmundo getting a group ready to board while we exited.
Edmundo and his group between near the Haunted Mansion.
A ride on Pirates of the Caribbean is always a favorite, so we made our way along Royal Street. I noted that the shop, “Le Mascarade de Orleans” was open again, as it had been shuttered earlier in the year. A quick visit revealed it has become a pin trading location with the usual variety. Too bad, I always enjoyed it as a hat shoppe, and even purchased some favorites there including a dashing grey top hat! Ce’ la vie…
Le Mascarade de pins?
After Pirates, we stopped for a bite of lunch at the Stage Door Café. Thankfully, they haven’t switched to the McDonalds fries just yet. But a burger is still just a burger here, too. It’s been a while since I had such mundane fare at the Park, so it was actually an amusing change of pace.
Haunted Mansion Holiday, good as ever!
We enjoyed this year’s Haunted Mansion Holiday and headed back to Main Street for some last minute shopping before heading off on that most dangerous of journey’s – the Southern California Freeways!
That was a great moment here as three fantastic Cast Members at Main Street’s Disney Showcase took very extra special care to see that twenty Christmas ornaments are especially wrapped to safely survive the airplane flight home. That was a great bit of Disney “Magic” and it just topped off a wonderfully unexpected day at the Park.
From right to left, these great Cast Members shared a special bit of Disney Magic – Gel, Teddy and especially Jo-Ann!
Thanks again for the wonderful help!
So there you have it. Or do you? I’ve saved a few things to share, so you’ll just have to check back later, won’t you?
It was a great four days in Southern California and just packed with good weather and interesting times. So much so that I’m doing it again next month, just in time for Disneyland’s Candlelight events! Stay tuned…
Thanks again to everyone for your support of the American Red Cross. It’s great to know that your help makes their efforts go that much further when folks in trouble need assistance.
And if you’re in a generous and or appreciative mood, drop me a buck or two using the Paypal Donation Box or the Amazon Honor System links from my bio page here! I’m putting it to good use, honest!