Visit the Western Pacific Railroad Museum
The Western Pacific Railroad Museum preserves the history of the Western Pacific Railroad by collecting trains, railcars, documents, photos and information. As you walk the industrial lot you’ll feel the nostalgia of the locomotive era with its vintage steel train cars in an array of colors and condition. Whether freshly painted, rusted, or fading, these relics of the past are beautiful time stamps to the Industrial Revolution of steam engines and iron production.
To Get There
Address: RG3F+GG Portola, California
Parking: Free to park
Entrance Fee: $10 Adults, $5 for ages 5-18, kids under 4 are free
Closed for winter
The History: Western Pacific Railroad
The Western Pacific Railroad was created in 1903 to break the Southern Pacific Railroad monopoly with a direct competing route from Salt Lake City, UT to Oakland, CA. It was in existence from 1903-1982 when it merged with the Union Pacific Railroad.
It ran both passenger and freight trains. It also hosted the California Zephyr, an award-winning transcontinental luxury train.
This collection boasts one of the largest collections of diesel locomotives in the world.
You can go inside these cabooses and see what the interiors looked like.
I love seeing all the original signage like this “WP Cushion Protection” and “Pacific Fruit Express.”
Below shows a snow plow at the front of the train.
Do you know any other things to do in Portola? Please leave them in the comments below.
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