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!