In the city of Perris in Riverside County, there’s a museum where you not only learn about history, you can ride it. The Southern California Railway Museum was founded in 1956 by a group of teenagers who grew up riding the railways that once connected Southern California.
In the mid 1950s some of those railways started shutting down and the railcars were being trashed. So the teenagers, with the help of some older siblings, developed a plan to save some of those railcars.
they incorporated as a non-profit and started buying trolleys for their scrap value at $200 each. they started their collection with 10 cars and initially housed them at the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park, but they moved to their permanent location in Perris in 1958.
The museum currently covers over 100 acres and the collection has grown to 240 railcars, trolleys, locomotives, and many more. The highlight of the museum is getting to ride the cars that inspired those teenagers over 60 years ago; who ensured that other generations of riders could enjoy them.
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