Planes, Trains, & Automobiles is a classic John Candy movie and one that I’ve watched repeatedly. So when I saw that the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation had a planned day trip named just like the movie, I really wanted to go.
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but they listed the museums in Riverside that they would visit and I took their itinerary and took the tour on my own!
The 1st stop was March Field Air Museum near Moreno Valley. This museum sits along the active runway of March Field Air Reserve Base and is home to over 100 years of aviation history. The museum was established in 1979 and today houses more than 119 aircraft–from a replica of the Wright Brothers Plane to modern jets and drowns, and everything in between.
The 2nd stop was one of my favorite museums, the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris. This museum was founded by a group of teenagers in 1956 who wanted to preserve the electric streetcars that they had grown up riding. What began with a collection of 10 streetcars has grown to a 100 acre museum that houses 240 railcars, trolleys, locomotives, and more.
The 3rd and final stop was the Motte Historical Museum in Menifee. The museum started with the purchase of 1926 Chevrolet Touring in 1951 for just $15 by John Victor Motte. Soon after, the Motte family began amassing an amazing family collection of cars that is today housed in barn originally built to sell the family’s produce. The collection spans cars from the 1910s to the 1950s.
