Pacific Railroad Society, Inc.

04/10/2025

Purchase tickets on the Pacific Railroad Society webpage:

https://www.pacificrailroadsociety.org

02/25/2025

We are planning on taking our 1956 Pullman Car, the National Forum, to San Diego on April 13, 2025. Several things need to happen before we can confirm the date, such as the new Amtrak schedule, and the latest work dates on the Coast Line tracks. The National Forum also needs an Air Brake test, the Air Conditioning serviced, battery water levels filled, axle bearings lubed, stencil the new air date, and fix a handful of minor cosmetic items. We need your help to make all this happen before April 13. If you can donate time or funds to make this happen, please do it now.

01/01/2025

This YouTube video episode called "Visiting the American Story - San Dimas..." The first segment of this video is a complimentary piece on the PRS Pacific Railroad Museum. It features our Treasurer Scott Nielsen.

Visiting The American Story - San Dimas Railroad Museum - McDonald's Museum - Classic Car Builder

12/09/2024

Join PRS and R&LHS this Tuesday (December 10) for "Four Amazing RDC Rides", a virtual Zoom program presented by Harvey Laner.

Between 1949 and 1962, a quantity of 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, most being retired by the 1980s. Harvey Laner presents his video program featuring four rail operations that employed RDCs late in the unique car’s history: Trinity Railway Express, Portland & Western, Cuba, and BC Rail.

How to join our meeting:
On your computer’s internet browser, go to: RailMeeting.org (that will take you to the Zoom meeting room).
Password: 3450
Doors open at 7:15 pm (Pacific Standard Time).
Our meeting begins at 7:30 pm, on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. (Using international time, that’s at 03:30 UTC on Wednesday.)

We recommend visiting RailMeeting.org before the meeting to download the most recent version of Zoom software.

12/05/2024

The Pacific Railroad Museum (at 210 W Bonita Ave--in the heart of Grinchville!) will be open beginning at 10am this Saturday, December 7 for the Holiday Extravaganza! Stop by the Museum to learn more about railroad history amid the holiday festivities. We can't wait to welcome you! 🚂⛄️🎄

12/03/2024

On this Giving Tuesday, we'd like to remind you what you can give to Pacific Railroad Society this holiday season. PRS is a nonprofit, volunteer-run historical organization that relies on folks like you for donations of your time, money, and/or special skills to preserve railroad history in Southern California!

A monetary donation to the General Fund supports all Society functions, including publication of Wheel Clicks, excursions, special events, meeting costs, insurance, postage, and other necessities not covered by membership dues. Donations to specialized funds allow you to direct your gift to National Forum maintenance or the Pacific Railroad Museum.

If making a donation or purchasing a membership is not within your budget this year, we hope you will consider supporting the Society by attending or sharing our virtual programs, visiting our Museum in San Dimas, or volunteering your time at one of our many events (look for information about the San Dimas Holiday Extravaganza soon)! With your support, PRS will make 2025 a big year for membership and public engagement--especially by restarting our famous in-person rail excursions! We'd love to hear your feedback, especially why PRS is important to you.

Visit us online at https://www.pacificrailroadsociety.org/give to make a donation this Giving Tuesday.

11/22/2024

This photo of Denver & Rio Grande Engine # 268 was taken in July 1960 by William Homan before it was moved to the Gunnison Pioneer Museum in 1964.

11/22/2024

Two photos of the Pasadena, Calif. Santa Fe train station, taken in February 1961 by William Homan.

11/22/2024

Three photos of the Descanso, (Pacific Electric Funeral Car) when is was located at Summit, Calif (top of Cajon Pass) in 1959. Now located at OERM in Perris, Calif. Photos by William Homan.

11/22/2024

Not sure what year this photo of the Lake Elsinore train station was taken. Probably around 1959. Current photo from Google maps. Historic photo by William Homan.

11/22/2024

Here are some photo of the Summit station (top of Cajon Pass) in California. Taken in 1959 by William Homan

11/11/2024

This is a 25 minute video on YouTube showing "High Speed BNSF Train Testing on the Pasadena Subdivision with Six Axle Power!" The Pacific Railroad Museum figures prominently during the middle part of the video.

BNSF ran their second and final high speed test train on the Pasadena Subdivision to test the crossing shunts to see if they will correctly activate without ...

11/09/2024

Join R&LHS and PRS TONIGHT for "Illinois Terminal - The Documentary" on Zoom in just a few short minutes! This program, produced by Harvey Laner is a detailed look at one of America’s great interurban systems.

Illinois Terminal grew out of William B. McKinley’s, 1900 purchase of the Danville Street Railway & Light Company to transport coal to his power plant there. Follow along the journey of the Illinois Traction System from its inception in 1904 to its final passenger service in 1958.

The program draws heavily on the very rare, exceptional quality movie footage of railfan cinematographers William C Janssen, Dr Howard Blackburn and Ray Vecchi, with footage dating back to the mid-to-late 1930s. There is also a cameo appearance of movie footage filmed by Harvey Laner in 1957 in the final days of St. Louis-Granite City Bridge Car service. Special thanks go to Dale Jenkins, President of the Illinois Traction Society who provided invaluable support in the production of this program.

How to join our meeting:

On your computer’s internet browser, go to: RailMeeting.org (that will take you to the Zoom meeting room).
Password: 3450
Doors open at 7:15 pm (Pacific Standard Time).
Meeting begins at 7:30 pm TONIGHT Friday, November 8, 2024. (Using international time, that’s at 03:30 UTC on Saturday.)

10/17/2024

Special Interest Event! Join our friends at the TCA Western Division (Train Collectors' Association Western Division) on Saturday, October 26 for their October meeting on Western Trains. The meeting will be held from 10am-2pm at the Arcadia Community Center 365 Campus Dr., Arcadia, CA, 91007. Pacific Railroad Society's own Andrew Novak is presenting his program "Santa Fe in the Golden State", a rail-fan’s view of ATSF trains from the 1970s to the merger with Burlington-Northern in 1995. His presentation starts at 11:00 am.

Free parking is located in the front parking lot. TCA's toy train repairman will be back this month, so bring your ailing toy trains for a visit with the train doctor! TCA members & their families are admitted free (please wear your current membership badge). Non-members are welcome to attend one (1) TCA Western Division train meet per year, free of charge. We encourage those interested to join Western Division as soon as possible. There is no charge to use the trading tables for sellers, but you must be a member in good standing of the Train Collectors Association in order to sell. Reserve a trading table by sending an email to [email protected].

Learn more about TCA Western Division at their website www.tcawestern.org

10/09/2024

Join R&LHS and PRS TONIGHT for The Films of John McCourt: Southern California's Inter-City Passenger Trains virtual program at 7:30pm!

Decades before smartphones were invented for railfans to record train videos, John McCourt (1927-2023) used his motion picture camera that required exposing train scenes with manual lens focusing onto color film. Remember when film required processing by a developer? Mail to Kodak or drop off at your convenient Fotomat drive-thru booth at a local shopping center. During the final year before Amtrak, John traveled onboard several Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, and Union Pacific passenger trains with his movie camera. He also captured many off the train scenes of their former passenger trains passing by many locations and stopping at several stations.

These films include many trains and routes that were not adopted by Amtrak and were discontinued. We will also witness how these trains appeared in the early years of Amtrak’s oversight. We will also see how the former Santa Fe Railway’s line appeared in Pasadena during early construction of the I-210 Freeway before track realignment. Watch for vintage business signage for an era long gone by.

John McCourt passed last year and was a member and director of The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Southern California Chapter.

How to join our meeting:

On your computer’s internet browser, go to: RailMeeting.org (that will take you to the Zoom meeting room).
Password: 3450
Doors open at 7:15 pm (Pacific Daylight Time).
Meeting begins at 7:30 pm, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. (Using international time, that’s at 02:30 UTC on Wednesday.)

We recommend visiting RailMeeting.org before the meeting to download the most recent version of Zoom software.

09/12/2024

Join PRS and R&LHS online September 13 (this Friday!) at 7:30pm for an exciting update to Santa Fe in the Golden State, presented by Andrew Novak!

First presented in May 2022, Wheel Clicks editor, Andrew Novak, is back with a revised version of his program about the famed Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe in the state of California. Known for their first class passenger trains and high-speed freight service, Santa Fe’s main line ran from Los Angeles to Chicago.

For this program we will focus on the railroad’s lines in the state of California. This program features Santa Fe from the 1970s up to the time of the merger with Burlington Northern in 1995 creating the BNSF. The show includes mainline action, branch lines, and both freight and passenger. There is also a short selection of Santa Fe depots. All eras of paint schemes are covered from Warbonnet to Kodachrome of the failed SPSF merger. Most of the images are pre-1995, however a few BNSF photos will also be included. Several new photos have been added since this show was last presented in 2022.

A must see for any Santa Fe fan.

How to join our meeting:
On your computer’s internet browser, go to: RailMeeting.org (that will take you to the Zoom meeting room).
Password: 3450
Doors open at 7:15 pm (Pacific Daylight Time).
Meeting begins at 7:30 pm, on Friday, September 13, 2024. (Using international time, that’s at 02:30 UTC on Saturday.)

We recommend visiting RailMeeting.org before the meeting to download the most recent version of Zoom software.

08/29/2024

A good cause, worth a share.