Western Pacific Railroad Museum

96122 Portola, CA, United States of America (USA) (California)

The Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola is home to North America's largest and most complete collection dedicated to telling the story of one railroad. It is also one of the few places where you can experience rail history in a truly "hands-on" way. Come sit in the cab of the world's largest and mightiest diesel locomotive, climb aboard passenger cars from the California Zephyr, and take the throttle of a real locomotive under your control.

There are many railroad museums all over the United States and Canada. Some are elaborate affairs of polished brass, carpet and theater lighting. Ours is a little different. The Western Pacific Railroad Museum may look more like your average railyard to the uninformed and that's for good reason. We wanted it that way. While the fancier museums are very enjoyable and highly recommended to visit, the Feather River Rail Society, operators of the Western Pacific Railroad Museum, invites their guests to experience railroading in a "Hands-on" environment, just like taking a walk into your local railyard. Experience the various jobs in the railroad industry by riding in the caboose like a "Brakeman", oversee a restoration project with the "Mechanical department", or even pull the throttle on a REAL diesel locomotive yourself!


Wikipedia 2012:

Museum collection

The museum holds in its collection thirty-three diesel locomotives, one electric locomotive, one steam locomotive (under restoration and on display), eighteen passenger cars (including four from the famous California Zephyr train),numerous freight and maintenance cars and sixteen cabooses. They offer excursions and a "Run A Locomotive" program during the summer. The WPRM has one of the larger collections of early diesel era locomotives and freight cars in North America. The museum is often considered to have one of the most complete and historic collections of equipment and materials from a single railroad family. The WPRM is a "hands-on" museum that allows visitors to board and explore locomotives and cars in their collection.

Among the significant pieces in the WPRM collection are Western Pacific 805-A, an FP7 model passenger locomotive that pulled the California Zephyr]; Southern Pacific Railroad's (SP) number 4450, nicknamed "Huff", an EMD SD9 diesel locomotive; WP 2001, the first GP20 model locomotive (an early turbocharged diesel)]; WP 501, an early switch engine and the first diesel purchased by the Western Pacific; Western Pacific 0-6-0 steam locomotive 165, an oil burning switch engine built by ALCO in 1919; WP 37, a 200 ton rail-mounted crane, two track clearing snowplows (one wedge type and one rotary); and several rare, early 20th Century freight cars. Also located at the site are the Portola Diesel Shop built in 1953 and an interlocking tower from Oakland, California, currently stored unrebuilt. The Western Pacific Hospital, built in 1911 and one of the few remaining railroad hospitals in the country, was part of the museum until it was destroyed in an arson fire on September 7, 2011. The WPRM prides itself on maintaining several of their road diesels in mainline operating condition and is well-known for making occasional movements on Class I railroads using their own historic motive power.

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