Daddy's Summer Vacation-former Photo TR, current epic fail

[fatdaddy]

Ok, so this next few set's of pictures is from last weekends Rod's and Rail's event at Orange Empire Railway Museum. It's grown much larger in the past few years and i actually ended up with a lot more pictures than i anticipated. So, I broke it up best i could and will be posting it in smaller reports.

 

OERM 6/12/10

 

I am making this separate because i think that it needs some explanation, I'm sure the train enthusiast here know all about it, but the story behind it makes it interesting for us theme park enthusiast too. I'll try to keep this to the actual factuals and please feel free to correct me, a lot of the information varies from source to source.

 

Grizzly Flats

 

Ok, this is the barn that houses Grizzly Flats railroad that was donated by late Disney animator Ward Kimball, who had a the narrow gauge line in his "back yard", and would regularly have "steam ups" for family and friends. Ward is often credited as the giving Walt Disney the inspiration for the Disneyland railroad. Which by the way, Walt had the Carolwood Pacific Railroad in his back yard, a miniature railroad which ward also helped him build. The New Orleans station at Disneyland is also modeled after Ward's Grizzly Flats Station, which oddly enough was created using an old Disney movie set. The No.5 train at Disneyland, name after Ward Kimball and is to my knowledge the only train on the line that has a disney character (Jiminy Cricket) on it. Just to clarify, theres a lot more the the whole Disneyland Railroad story, but remember this is about Grizzly Flats, might have to do a report on Carolwood Pacific.

 

(Grizzley Flats.)

 

Emma Nevada

This was the Kimball's first train purchased in 1938, which they restored and painted to look like the earlier more decorated trains of the late 1800's. It was first fired up in 1942 and ran til the early 50's when it started experiencing mechanical problems. I was told that it is still serviceable and may be made to run again in the future.

 

(Emma Nevada)

 

Coach No.5

This was the rolling stock for the Emma Nevada. Purchased for just 50 bucks, the Kimballs painted the exterior, but left the interior authentic. It was actually purchase before the Emma Nevada.

 

(Coach 5)

 

Chloe

This is chloe, which was named after the Kimball's daughter. At the point when they brought this train into service Emma Nevada had started to fall into disrepair, and besides that the neighbors were complaining about he coal smoke. So Chloe, which was wood burning and had been totally rebuilt and redesigned to look like an older style steamer, became the replacement for the Emma Nevada. Chloe had its own rolling stock custom made at Grizzly Flats. The Chloe continued to run at the Kimballs Grizzly Flats until 2006.

 

(Chloe)

 

There was also a turntable added to Grizzly Flats prior to Wards passing.

 

(The turntable.)

 

Ok, hope somebody got something outta that, still to come, the car show part of the event, the entertainment, some crafts, and of course the train museum itself. Trust me it's only half as boring as i make it sound and twice as exciting as watching water boil.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[fatdaddy]

OK, as i said, this stuff is from Rods and Rails, which just happend to be going on during the time I chose to visit. It was an odd mix of hot rod fans, rail fans, even a christian biker club. This is the car show part of the report, this is an annual event, so if it looks interesting, plan on checking it out next year or check their website for other events happening throught the year. The actual event is free, gotta pay to ride the trains and trolleys, but no admission or parking fees and there was lots for the kids to do without spending a cent.

 

OK here goes.

 

(Pictures from the car show.)

 

Ok, thats it for the car show and jokes at Jeff Johnsons expense, shouldn't we like give him a nickle like every time someone makes an "old" joke. More to come.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[brilinjo]

are you sure Marty & Doc Brown aren't hiding in there?

[fatdaddy]

^LOL, funny you ask, because i just watched that movie this weekend and saw the Delorian yesterday at Universal studios. Get outta my head Michael J. Fox!!!!

 

OK, here some of the entertainment they had for the event, or at least what i saw of it. So, there was actually more stuff going on than i took pictures of, even a christian rock band, which i avoided. I thought their music might purify my Pepsi and it would burn when i drank it. There was some kinda classic rock on the christian stage, A really terrible Elvis, the Beatles, or think they were supposed to be the beatles, sure couldn't tell from thier singing and they told really bad jokes, in really bad british accents. The main thing i saw was the puppet show, I've seen this guy before and although i don't dig his show, his puppets are pretty cool.

 

Ok, just a few pictures, don't worry im getting to the trains and some other fun stuff.

 

(Some cool puppets.)

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[dandaman]

 

LOVE this!

still remains one of my favourite Disney shorts. This + Grizzly Flats + subsequent BTTF reference makes this one of my favourite TR's to date.

[fatdaddy]

^Thanks for the link, couldn't remember the name of that cartoon, really enjoyed it.

 

Ok, as you already know this all happened at Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, Ca., but I still haven't shown you much of it yet. So, here are a few pictures of the place, don't be fooled by the name museum, it's mostly barns full of trolleys and trains.

 

Their policy is that if the door is open you can go in, pretty much there aren't a lot of workers, so you can just kinda roam around freely and go in any open building. It's a pretty huge place and you could probably spend an entire day taking pictures and exploring, i have a membership and there are still places i haven't fully explored. Ok, so if you like trains or trolleys, or are into historical stuff, go check it out.

 

Heres some pictures, bad captions included of course.

 

(Pictures of the OERM grounds.)

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[dandaman]

Mikado! Holy crap those things are huge!

[fatdaddy]

^That would have made a great caption.

 

OK, Pacific Electric Red Car, this is actually what is known as a Hollywood car, because of thier initial service in Hollywood. They are standard guage, which means they can run on a regular train track. Ok, a couple pictures.

 

(PIctures of the Pacific Electric red car.)

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[fatdaddy]

A few pictures of the craft area they had.

 

(crafts)

 

Ok, thats it for Rod and Rails at OREM. Now, after this we went to the March Air Field Museum, so stay tuned for some airplanes. Only thing i regret not getting a picture of was the astronaut ice cream, which was actually good for being ice cream flavored chalk.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[the ghost]

This was pretty cool, altough Im not gonna lie, I though this was something at DCA and it confused me until I read it cause I was thinking "DCA has no train." I wish my parents had been like this, I love doing stuff like this, but my parents are not touristy/park people.

[brilinjo]

I said "coasters" and here they are, I'm counting this as 4 credits.

 

OTSR or lap belts?

[bgwfreak777]

http://www.charlottetrolley.org/meet-the-vintage-cars.html

 

If you ever get to Charlotte, we have a working trolley line again.

 

It shares the line with the light rail, but only runs part of that line.

 

I love old railroads and trains.

 

One of the old Carowinds trains is out in Cali somewhere at one of those working museums. It was the one that Michael Jackson purchased, then never used because it was the wrong gague train for his ranch. I think it was called Melodia.

[dandaman]

He actually teaches blacksmiting

 

...Well, that doesn't seem very nice.

[fatdaddy]

^Blacksmithing, blacksmithing...thanks for catching that, blacksmithing, he teaches people to be blacksmiths.

[fatdaddy]

Checked out that trolley link, cool, and I totally forgot about the red car thing at DCA, wonder what model red car they will use.

 

Ok, so after we did OERM we did March Field Air Museum. Big indoor museum hangar, big outdoor area full of airplanes. Theres a simulator, a little arcade and hotdog cart on the weekends.

 

Ok here goes.

 

(Pictures of the displays inside the hangar.)

 

Ok, thats it for inside the hangar, airplanes coming up.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[bgwfreak777]

 

Permission to buzz the tower?

[fatdaddy]

OK, here are the planes, no rollercoasters and i didn't get a picture of the simulator, but these are pretty awesome.

 

(Pictures of planes.)

 

Ok, finished with airplanes, gonna try to get up the rest of last week tonight. Miniature trains from Riverside Live Steamers, ponys at Griffith Park, and Universal Studios.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[fatdaddy]

Ok, Riverside Live Steamers, these are miniature trains, kinda like what Walt Disney had in his back yard. This is supposed to be the only place in the nation that runs exclusively steam engines, others allow trains of other power types to run. The park, Hunter Park, was donated by Joe Hunter who originally owned it, and was responsible for putting in the tracks back in the late 50's.

 

Ok, heres pictures.

 

(Pictures of miniature live steamers.)

 

OK, hope that looked like fun to someone. Oh and the trains are free if i didn't mention that, just donations. Ok, on to other things.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[bgwfreak777]

 

For some reason this reminds me of Dr. Strangelove.

 

You can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

[fatdaddy]

Gonna do some uplaods tonight, had to watch Ultimate Fighter last night ,and of course fathers day today. Going to Knott's, so I will try to get that up too.

[fatdaddy]

First i just wanted to say thanks for anyone who's looking, and probably I am going to shorten up these report's pretty soon. Not too many here seem interested in this kind of thing. So, where as, i was trying to give more complete reports, i think ill just put in the stuff i like and leave out all the details. So, instead of "here's this place and all it has to offer", it'll be "here's this place and what i did".

 

I think a lot of people get warpped up in the whole coaster thing and forget to check out all the other stuff that's going on at a theme park, not to mention in the city around theme parks. People tend to go right down the middle or parks and miss all the stuff the gives a park character. Thats why i think it's so cool that Robb always has little side trips on his coaster tours to places you might not otherwise go. After all, Walt Disney was inspired by Merry Go Rounds, pony rides and trains, to build Disneyland.

 

Ok, so heading to Universal Studios Hollywood, i decided to make a stop at Griffith Park to let my daughter ride the ponys. Being as this was during the week, only the ponys and the train were open, but if you stop on the weekend you can ride the carousel.

 

ok pictures.

 

(Pictures of the miniature train at Grifith Park.)

 

Had a little time so I thought I would get a jump on uploading, Ok, later ponies and Universal.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[fatdaddy]

Ok, gonna kill this bug, it's already on it's back twitching, so, i figure I'll step on it and put it out of its misery. Pretty much this was a gamble, I wasn't sure this would be of interest to anyone in the first place, but i thought i would just take a chance. I actually had several days of reports to post, including Knott's and Universal, but it's kind of a pain in the ass to do. I did the math and this is pretty much an epic fail, not to mention a huge waste of my time. So, if anyone liked this i would encourage you to post your own "Dad" summer vacations stuff and keep it going.

 

[edit] As you can see, nobody posted anything and i took out the pictures.

Edited July 25, 2010 by fatdaddy

[RCFreak]

Sorry to see you stop your TRs, but I understand how much of a pain in the behind the huge ones can be without much response. I just want to say that I did enjoy them as a local as you showed some places I would never go to, like all the train stuff, it's nice to see in pictures, but nothing I would ever try to get to on my own.

[bgwfreak777]

I've been enjoying them. And you have had 1400 views, so it's not like noone is reading it.

[atem122]

Oh. my. god. I totally remember that Griffith Park train from when I was like 5! It used to be one of my favorite things to go to. That and Travel Town, man. Thanks for bringing back a childhood memory of mine!