Saturday, March 26, 2022

Travel Town, July 1961

Today I am happy to present a series of slide scans from Travel Town, located in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. You know, the park where Walt sat on a bench watching his daughters while they rode the merry-go-round, dreaming of a place where people of all ages could have fun. I have covered Travel Town on this blog before, but for those who don't know, Travel Town Museum is a railway museum dedicated on December 14, 1952, and located in the northwest corner of Los Angeles, California's Griffith Park. The history of railroad transportation in the western United States from 1880 to the 1930s is the primary focus of the museum's collection, with an emphasis on railroading in Southern California and the Los Angeles area.

First up is this saddle tank locomotive; Travel Town has three saddle tank locomotives in its collection, but I was unable to determine which one this is. The museum's collection has changed over the years, but I'm sure I am just missing something. Luckily I could find information about all of the other trains!


Motor car No. 401 was built by the Edwards Motor Car Co. of Sanford, NC and put into service October 1926 by the Tucson, Cornelia & Gila Bend Railroad of Ajo, AZ. The motor car operated regularly until December 31, 1947 and was finally donated to Travel Town in Los Angeles, California.

The motor car traveled over 783,000 miles while in service, running between the copper mine at Ajo and Gila Bend, a distance of 43 miles. The car was powered by a six-cylinder White gasoline engine that was installed in November 1943, replacing the original after 17 years of service.

During 1963 the motor car was traded to Mr. Lindley Bothwell for two Los Angeles trolley cars. Acquired by Short Line Enterprises in 1975, the motor car was restored and operated in Virginia City during the 1976 season as the Washoe Zephyr No. 50. The motor car was moved to Jamestown, California and stored until it was moved to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in spring of 1988. The motor car is now owned by the museum.

The No. 50 received a new 75 HP Cummins diesel engine during the spring of 1997. The diesel engine replaced a 75 HP White gasoline engine. The White engine was installed about 1943, replacing the motorcar's original Continental engine.

In 1999, the motor car received a new fluid drive transmission, and, before participating in Railfair '99 at the California State Railroad Museum, was painted to reflect its appearance on the TC&GB.


I love this oddly-shaped Electric locomotive Electra built in 1902 in Sausalito by the North Shore Railroad. It was used during the cleanup after San Francisco's 1906 earthquake and fire. It was eventually purchased by the Pacific Electric Railroad and used as a work locomotive and switcher until 1952.


Here is the old locomotive #664 from the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The 2-8-0 (Consolidation) type steam locomotive was builder's number 17187 of 45 locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1899 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The original number was #891, but it was renumbered #664 in 1900. In 1910, it was loaned to the Pecos & Northern Texas Railway for 12 months, but then returned to the AT&SF. It was used for freight trains on AT&SF's Northern, Southern, Panhandle, Plains and Gulf Divisions, and was still in active service, before it was donated to the museum in 1953. 


A pair of old trolleys or streetcars sit silently, decades after they'd outlived their usefulness. The one to the right is probably from San Francisco; in 1952 Travel Town founder Charly Atkins asked the Mayor of San Francisco for a cable car to display, but was told, with an apology, that cable cars could not be sold or given away. Three years later, a solution was found: A cable car was placed on loan as the center piece of the 1953 International Flower Show in Los Angeles. Afterwards, it was moved on permanent loan to Travel Town.


While I went to Travel Town several times as a kid, I didn't remember that there were aircraft on display. Wikipedia confirms that there were some though: The museum transferred its military aircraft collection to other museums in the late 1980s into the 1990s. The Vought F7U-3 Cutlass was traded to the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Two aircraft, the Airborne early warning and control Lockheed P2V-3 Neptune and Grumman F9F-2 Panther, were traded to a museum near Fresno, California in 1992. A small rocket similar to the German V-1 flying bomb was transferred to Vandenberg Air Force Base. A German World War II airplane engine was returned to its owner in 1988.


I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Travel Town!

19 comments:

  1. Major-
    I spent many happy hours as a child 'riding the rails' of Travel Town; and as you know from photo documentation, celebrated at least one birthday party there.

    And ladies - love those cool shades-!

    Thanks for the memories, Major.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The 1902 Electra really is a strange-looking thing. Sounds like it was used as a sort of 'tug boat', pushing/pulling train cars around to link up with other cars.
    I suppose its odd shape served some practical purpose.

    Nice photos of Travel Town, Major.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I visited Travel Town a few years ago, and remember seeing that one streetcar. It was still sitting out in the elements, and was not faring too well as a result. I was surprised to see that they had built a roof over some of the trains, offering them a little more protection.

    It's nice to see that they had a designated area for dogs to get loaded.

    ReplyDelete
  4. In grade school we took a field trip to Griffith Park and Travel Town was one of the parts of the day. In Griffith Park we toured the "old LA Zoo" which was WAYYYYYY cooler than a new Zoo (which is still there, and appears in the opening credits of "Three's Company") We toured empty cages, and ramshackle trails through the park. It was a "ghost zoo". Which I loved. There was one monkey cage there that still had monkeys in it...so we looked at them for a bit (perhaps they didn't like the new glamour zoo down the road?). Then we went to Travel Town (which I honestly didn't expect...I thought we were going to spend a day at a park...with boring trees and grass...and heaven forbid: sports or something like that!) Travel Town was amazing, and although I'm not one of those extremely hard core train guys, I appreciated it and still have a love for trains (I'm on an Amtrak tomorrow...) I think we had a box lunch there and then got back in the bus and our bus driver drove us over the hill into Hollywood, where we went past the Chinese Theatre, and other movie studios, and various other famous locales that I had only seen in pictures. THAT was the best part of the ENTIRE day. Although I lived in a suburb of LA, I might has well lived on the moon. Marineland was close: so we went there. Boating, beaching, Catalina: all there. Going to a "city" was a big enormous huge deal. Decades later I did move to downtown Hollywood, and I still prefer the aging relics and broken down buildings to the new and fresh. Thanks for the memories this AM Major!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love Travel Town. It's a great place to take a family or go with friends.
    And next to it is Walt's Barn Museum. and L.A. Live Steamers. I have some wonderful memories in that area of Griffith Park.

    I figured that 1902 Electra was used as a work locomotive and switcher.
    Thanks, Major.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Used to visit Griffith Park and the Zoo a lot when I lived in LA. It was only for 2 years but never made it to Travel Town. Sorry I missed it. Looks interesting. Who doesn't love locomotives.
    JG, as per your comment in the previous post about being cool, the cool has definitely worn off. The sideburns were a phase. I think I was about 53 in that photo. It was a fun day.
    Thanks Major.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Here’s some interesting things I never knew about.

    Like Bu, I’m not a serious train fan, but I do love them and gladly spend time riding when I can, and enjoying displays like these.

    We visited the Sacramento Rail Museum several times when the kids were small, but it was closed for the plague last year when we went by.

    I think it’s interesting how love of old trains seems to intersect with love of old Disneyland. The Venn diagram is almost a circle. Wonder why?

    Thank you, Major for these pics. I’m looking forward to Chuck’s comments, and maybe Steve DeGaetano will drop in.

    JG

    ReplyDelete
  8. Way to put me on the spot, JG…

    Tried to do some digging on that first tank locomotive but just flat-out ran out of time. I am in desperate need of a haircut and am on standby to testify in a hearing over Zoom on Monday, so it simply cannot wait. Maybe Steve will be able to chime in.

    The airplanes in the last photo from right to left are a Vought F7U-3 Cutlass (a 1950s performance nightmare that never saw combat), a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (a WW II US fighter featured in Flying Tigers, Tora! Toad! Tora!, and Pearl Harbor), a Grumman F9F-2 Panther (a Korean War-era carrier fighter featured in The Bridges at Tokyo-Ri, which is included with Amazon Prime right now), and a, uh, um, another airplane with a four-bladed propellor that looks familiar but I just cannot place and will probably lose sleep over tonight.

    TM!, I think that sign probably says “BUS LOADING AREA,” but I’m not sure what they would load the buses on. Maybe dogsleds?

    And speaking of buses, there’s a Crown Coach bi-level A-779-11 Supercoach in Tanner Gray Line livery in the background of the third photo. Tanner Gray Line ran tour buses across Southern California, and you can find vintage brochures and postcards pretty easily on the collectors’ market. As expected, anything with the word “Disneyland” on it automatically makes prices jump significantly higher.

    Incidentally, I now believe the bus I was have trouble identifying in the Parking Lot on March 16th was a Tanner Gray Line A-779-11 as well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ...and I see that Autocorrect has engaged in its nefarious deeds again. "...Tora! Tora! Tora!..."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey everyone, thanks for your fun comments! I'm about to head out for the entire day, but plan to respond to comments when I get home later tonight!

    ReplyDelete
  11. If anyone is interested, I just posted some photos I took at Travel Town, during a 2013, and a 2017 visit. Here's a link to "current" pics of the Pacific Electric car, the A.T. & S.F. engine, and the San Francisco cable car:

    (Scroll past the first photo, for the Travel Town pics!)

    Travel Town Photos - 2013 & 2017

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tokyo!, I'm not surprised the streetcar wasn't faring too well. In fact, It's miraculous, sitting in the park like that, that it got any fares at all! ;-)
    I like your drunken dog joke.

    Chuck, I'm sure the sign says "BUG LOADING AREA". Not sure if they mean insects or VWs, though.

    Tokyo!, Thanks for the link. It's heartbreaking to see that cable car reverting back to Nature like that.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The electric locomotive is known as a "steeple cab." Probably because it looks like a church steeple. Pretty common design.

    The tank engine, I believe, was a Southern Pacific engine. I think this was the one Paul Boscahn, who rebuilt Disneyland's Ward Kimball locomotive, was volunteering to restore about 16 years ago. I don't know the status of that project.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ah, here it is:

    https://traveltown.org/projectsupport/southern-pacific-219/

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nanook, I have still never been on the miniature train at Travel Town, I feel like I want to do it, but then I’d look like a fool with all of the small children near me!

    JB, like you, I wonder WHY that Electra is shaped the way it is. So strange!

    TokyoMagic!, when I moved back to the Valley, I was going through a tough time adjusting, so I made myself go out and do stuff often, and on one of those days I went to Travel Town. It was kind of neat to walk around and look at everything at my own pace, but I did feel bad that so many of the trains were literally rusting away.

    Bu, I’m kind of surprised that my grandparents didn’t take us to Travel Town more often, since it was not that far from where they lived. But I only recall going once as a child. I probably wondered why all those trains were “parked” there. You know, not a bright kid. I’ve seen the empty Griffith Park Zoo enclosures, it’s neat that they are still there after all these years. I’m not a hard core train guy either, but my appreciation for trains in general, and the Disneyland trains specifically, has increased a LOT over the years. And come on, who doesn’t love a big old train? If Marineland was close to where you lived, then you were “off the beaten path” back then. I remember it seemed like it took forever to get to Marineland. Maybe just because I was squirmy.

    K. Martinez, I finally visited Walt’s Barn a few years ago - it was one of those rare years when we’d had a lot of rain, so this was the first nice sunny weekend in a while, and the place was an absolute madhouse. I need to go back and hopefully see it when it’s not so crazy.

    DrGoat, I still love any excuse to go to Griffith Park, or the L.A. Zoo, or even the Gene Autry Museum. Travel Town is definitely a unique experience, especially if you luck out and go there on a weekday when there aren’t so many people there. There’s a weird “frozen in amber” feeling to the place.

    JG, I would say that the love of trains is a boy thing, but I’ll bet there are plenty of girls (even girls with cooties) who like trains too. I went to the Orange Empire Railway Museum, and met friends TokyoMagic! and K. Martinez there, it was a good time. I’d love to go to the museum in Sacramento, or any other train museum, to be honest!

    Chuck, ha ha, yes, JG put you on the spot. I’m glad you got a haircut and did not shame your family with hair that goes over your collar. Or worse, SIDEBURNS. Thank you for the WWII (etcetera) airplane IDs, my older brother probably could have named them, as he was a serious student of aircraft from that era. Ha ha, “Tora! Toad! Tora!”. A completely different movie. “We have awakened a sleeping giant toad!”, said Admiral Yamamoto. I love that you are so into vintage buses, and admit that they do have a distinct charm. Is that Crown Coach really “bi level”? I don’t judge. As long as it is happy. And you are right about things with “Disneyland” on them automatically fetching higher prices, eBay scammers try to take advantage of that fact all the time.

    Chuck, best autocorrect ever.

    TokyoMagic!, thank you for the link to your blog post and beautiful photos! Why didn’t I comment back then? The answer is probably: DRUGS.

    JB, I have never seen a loaded bug, and don’t ever want to. I’m too young and innocent. I wish I had a genuine San Francisco cable car. And a pony.

    Steve DeGaetano, say, I’m starting to think that you know a lot about trains! I still don’t quite understand why those “steeple cab” electric locomotives needed to be shaped like that - do you know? Thanks for the info on the tank engine, I don’t know why I couldn’t find info when it was right there on the Travel Town website. It’s exciting to learn that the 219 will be operational someday!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Major: steeple locomotives were fairly common on early electric locomotives. The sloped “steeple” hood developed because most early electric locomotives were used as short run or for switching service and the slopped front gave better Visibility in coupling and uncoupling. The benefit of not having a tender ( to supply coal, wood or oil) allowed the locomotives to evolve with a center cab and didn’t require the crew to turn the locomotives around. The New York central and Pennsylvania railroad operated some large elegant passenger used steeple locomotives. In Europe steeple locos were very common in Germany , Austria and Switzerland as many mountain lines were all electrified. Some of the most powerful and elegant steeple locomotives included the famous German “Crocodile” electrics of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Most were rebuilt after or during WW2 and operated into the 1980’s on some European lines. The AEG Steeple locomotives are stubby versions of the example at Travel Town and are still used on some tourist railways and until the 1990’s some built after WW1 were still in use on some small industrial railways.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ah, now the shape makes sense! Thanks for the info, Mike.

    ReplyDelete
  18. JB, I agree....it completely heartbreaking to see the cable car out there in the open, rotting away. I wonder how much it would have cost just to build a roof over it? I'm sure money is a big issue, though. I went to a railway museum in Japan, and it was completely indoors.

    I should have been able to come up with "BUS," for that sign, but I really couldn't think of what the complete word might be, and was only able to see the lower half of the word, "DOG."

    Major, that post is from 2009 and originally only included the first photo. That is sort of my "go to" post, that I use to add "photos of interest." They'll stay there for a while, but then eventually will be replaced with other photos. I was just surprised to discover that I had taken pics (and fairly recently), of three of the same vehicles from your post, and I wanted to share them.

    ReplyDelete
  19. See, I was right. Chuck knew all about the planes AND the buses.

    Steve fills in the blanks on the trains.

    Thanks Chuck and Steve.

    JG

    ReplyDelete