Juan Perez: With 91. 9 KVCR News, I’m Juan Perez. Sited in the City of Perris is the Southern California Railway Museum, which is full of knowledge of California’s railway system that dates back to the 19th century. I had the opportunity to interview one of the many managers of the museum, Sarah Harty.
Sarah Hardy: My name is Sarah Hardy. I am the division manager for visitor experience with the Southern California Railway Museum. The main goal of the railway museum is to preserve rail history for future generations. The museum was founded in 1958 by 14 young men who were big rail fans, and they saw all of the street cars in Los Angeles starting to be retired, and they felt a call to action to preserve these so they started collecting them on their own and then incorporated as a nonprofit on June 10, 1956 I believe, and their goal has just been to save streetcars from being scrapped, restoring rail cars back to their former glory, and being able to operate them is a huge part of our mission as well, to be able to share that with the general public.
Juan Perez: One of the main ways the museum shares its history is with what seems to be endless amounts of activities for families to take part in. I enjoyed watching the many trains go by and learning all about their background as well as exploring their collection of train cars.
Sarah Hardy: The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday during the week, we offer guided tours, and we have volunteer docents who take you around our property, which is 110 acres. It's the largest Railway Museum in the western United States. If you are a rail fan, this is a really excellent opportunity to experience the whole of the collection. And we have things that range from, you know, 1880s narrow gauge steam and rail cars all the way up to more modern 2015 light rail vehicles. So we really span a great variety of rail cars. The museum itself is free to enter, and we just charge for those guided tours or for riding on the trains and trolleys. We also do day out with Thomas every November and Polar Express in December, so there's always something going on at the museum. We also have other events, like Perris appreciation day that we do in September, and we partner with a lot of local businesses to help put them in the spotlight at these events as well. So we really like reaching out to the community and forming those kind of partnerships for our events.
Juan Perez: The core strengths of the museum are the community and the people who are willing to give their time to see the museum prosper. With over 150 active members, progress never seems to stop.
Sarah Hardy: The museum is like a 99% volunteer powered institution. Our volunteers do pretty much everything. They are the ones responsible for the restoration and the maintenance of the collection. They are the ones when you come to ride the trains and trolleys. They're the ones that are driving them. And then we also have volunteers who help doing other things that are maybe less glamorous, like weed abatement, grounds maintenance.
Juan Perez: Preservation is the Museum’s main goal, and the volunteers demonstrate that with their consistent achievements. I close out the interview by asking Sarah Harty about the most recent achievements by the museum’s volunteers and how their selflessness has made an impact on her.
Sarah Hardy: Initially, what drew me to this position was just the dedication of the volunteers and the skill set that they come with. The restoration work that is done at the museum is absolutely amazing. The most recent restoration project that was completed was the Fairbanks Morse 560 locomotive, and that was led by the museum's previous volunteer diesel foreman, Dave Althaus. And this project not only did it like restore and preserve a unique piece of rail history, it's only one of two of these types of locomotives left in existence, but they did such an amazing job that it was actually recognized by the Heritage Railway Association and won an award for outstanding restoration achievement. So the work that they do and the skill that they bring to the museum is amazing.
Juan Perez: The museum brings about real change that goes beyond Southern California. With it being a collective effort, you too can help with the preservation of railway history, ranging from providing tours or by being a part of the restoration team by going to socalrailway.org and become a part of an amazing team. From 91.9 KVCR News, it’s Juan Perez.
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Juan Perez is a 4th year UCR Student majoring in Political Science/International Affairs. He worked with KVCR during the Winter Quarter of 2025 through the R’Course POSC 190.