Tag: orange-empire

Today, I spent the day as a “Thomas Host” during Day Out With Thomas at OERM. What this involves is helping load a group of between 30-100 Thomas attendees into your car, talking to them during the ride and keeping them safe, and helping them unload, and doing over and over and over again, every half-hour, with a few breaks. Here are my observations of the day:

• The capacity of the train was much larger today. Last night three of the cars (capacity about 45 each) were swapped out for some newly received commuter cars from Montreal that hold 100. This resulted in last minute changes in loading and unloading procedures. The cars themselves are nice, if a bit spartan.
• The schpiel was the usual reminders to stay seated, keep your body parts and siblings inside the car, etc. At time I felt like an airline attendent (apologies in advance to pradagirl), as I directed the people, with arm motions, to exit out the rear and to the right.
• There were numerous times when I was confronted with an upset little tyke. It is amazing what going up to them, bending to eye level, and saying “I know what you need… a distraction.” Just going up to them and talking to them about needed a distraction in a funny voice often did the trick!
• It was amazing how loud the cars were. With a normal foamer railfest crowd, you get quiet and questions about the age of the cars. With the crowd, it was applause as Thomas pulled out the station, lots of excited kids, and constant Thomas background music. But this is a good thing… I think (although it was odd going to sleep with the Thomas theme still running through my head).
• One of the fun thing about rail festival is oogling watching the ladies. At the normal rail festivals, you often get the single girlfriends of foamers. At Thomas… it was moms. Now, you know you’re getting old when you see ones that look good to you… and then a little kid comes up and goes “gramma!” Sigh. [No, I didn’t touch. Looking is one thing. My wife and I have the rule: you touch, you die]
• We did get a chance to meets some friends… totally by accident. I’m walking through the car next to mine (I was in F, and the N end of E had folks standing up and walking around, and the attendent was at the other end), and suddenly I hear “Daniel”. It was our friends Larry (Troll) and Brenda and their children. They hung around afterwards, and we had a delightful dinner.
• Often, on the cars, I would ask the guests if they were having fun, enjoying the museum, and point them to things they might like to do. I go up to one such mom and dad, with 2 yo in tow. The dad is wearing a T-shirt from the CTMS Solstice Festival (and I’m friends with the founder of CTMS)… so I ask them where they are from. They say they live and work in “El Segundo”. So I ask them where they work. They both say “Circle A Ranch” (which is where I work). So I discover we all work together, and are all into board gaming. I think we’ll invite them up the next gaming day.
• Talking to some of the other volunteers, one of them referred to the guests as “Walking $20 bills” (no I don’t remember who said it). I think that’s pretty crass. If you treat the guest well, they may join and turn out to be worth much more. If you treat them badly, they will say bad things, and possibly even be a net loss of potential attendees. I always try to be nice to our visitors — for many, this is the first time, and they do keep coming back.
• Also in our loading area there was one of our railroad museum cats. He spent the day sitting in the sun, bemusedly watching the visitors, collecting occasional scritches and hearing all day “oooh, a kitty!”.

All in all, a fun day. Now I’m beat (for I also drove home). Now to go get my stuff together for work tomorrow…

Yesterday was the first day we worked at Thomas this year. By “we” I mean myself and gf_guruilla; NSS&F was entertaining her cousins. It was evidently a sold-out day. All I can vouch for is that the museum was crowded.

My one shift was in the Middleton cars. This is an interesting collection. A majority of it was accumulated by a man named Evan Middleton. Evan used to run the Toy and Miniature Trains shop at Knotts Berry Farm in the 1950s and 1960s, before the big rides came. When he retired, he bought two ex-Rio Grande cars and turned them into a museum. So there’s lots of toy trains, toys and china from the early 1900s, family mementos, train memorabilia. This collection has been added to over the years; for example, there is one complete case of hand-built PE and LARy cars. So I was having fun looking at the collection and trying to explain it to the guests.

Today I’m a Thomas host. This consists of escorting a group of Thomas attendees onto a passenger car, serving as car attendent, then escorting them off. It is about 20 minutes of riding, 10 minutes of escorting, and 30 minutes of downtime per hour. All day. GFG is working in the bookstore, and NSS&F is working in the kids tent. The nice saving grace, as opposed to past festivals, is that we should be done a little after 5:00p-5:30p — with past festivals, I was often a car attendent for the last train back from Perris, often not getting off shift until 6:30p-7:00p.

Well, my shift starts at 7:30a, and we’re ½ away from the museum in Moreno Valley. Time to wake up the crew, repack, and head back down to Perris. If you’re in the area, come on by and say hi (if the event is sold out, I think you can still by general admissions to the museum without Thomas).

They’re two, they’re four, they’re six, they’re eight
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and green and brown and blue
They’re the really useful crew

Yup, it’s that time again. Thomas the Tank Engine is making his annual visit to scenic Perris, California, specifically to the Orange Empire Railway Museum on the weekends of November 10-12 and 17-19. I invite you to come out and visit Thomas.

We’ll be volunteering at the museum on November 11 and 12. If you come out to spend a Day Out with Thomas that weekend, please come by and say “Hi”. Alas, our assignments this year are not that varied. On Saturday, November 11, I’ll be a host out at Middleton the last shift, and gf_guruilla will be working the giftshop (NSS&F will be entertaining her cousins). On Sunday, November 12, I’ll be a Thomas Host all day, gf_guruilla will be at the gift shop, and NSS&F will be a host in the kid’s area. I know they are still looking for volunteers to help–if that interests you, comment here or drop me an email, and I’ll get the appropriate folks in touch with you.

Orange Empire is located at 2201 S. A Street in Perris. It is easily accessible from either I-215 or Route 74, and is about ½ hour S of Riverside. C’mon by and say “Hi”. You might also get to meet the illusive larymotrmn; I’m sure he’ll chime in here with his schedule. Hopefully, it won’t be as cold as it was in November 2004.

We’re back from the rail festival. How was it, you ask?

• The only LJer there that we saw was larymotrmn.
• Attendance was low. Way low. I’m not sure if Spring Railfest will take this form again.
• Even though I’m home, I’m still feeling the rocking of the rails.
• But it was still fun. NSS&F got in four boardgames in Town Hall, did our car attendant stints (9am to 3pm today).
• Although the hotel was nice, we really didn’t sleep well. I’m exhausted and looking forward to my own bed.

Next Saturday is SoCal Ren Faire. I’ll try to arrange a get together; perhaps we can get a bunch of LiveJournal folks to meet up (I was thinking of just naming an easily known location (such as the washerwomen) and a particular time).

I love Perris in the summer when it sizzles…
I love Perris in the winter when it drizzles
I love Perris every moment…
Every moment of the year.
I love Perris….
Why, oh why, do I love Perris?
Because my trains are here.

Yup. It’s that time again. This weekend is the Spring Train and Trolley Festival at Orange Empire Railway Museum. This is a two-day festival of train and trolley rides, special exhibits, music and entertainment. It will also feature the Ventura County No. 2 steam engine, just returned from a five year restoration. Tickets at the gate are $16 for adults, and $10 for children, and the ticket price can be applied towards membership. I should point out that this is a great organization with a bunch of really great people; after you’ve gone and volunteered for a few years, they become like family (think of it as a FerroEquine Faire).

gf_guruilla, NSS&F, and I will be volunteering at RailFest, and we invite you to come on over and introduce yourself. We’ll be there Saturday from 3:00pm on. gf_guruilla will usually be found at the membership and information desk (except for last shift Sunday, at the bookshop). I’ll be found on Saturday on Train 52, the Middleton Siding Caboose Train (ATSF 999020). Sunday I’ll be on Train 51, the Passenger Train: SP 2144 first shift, UP 542 second shift, and the Shasta Daylight third shift.

Come out and say “hi” (and my apologies to Cole Porter).

Not this weekend, but the weekend after this (i.e., April 22 and 23), will be the 2006 Train and Trolley Festival at Orange Empire Railway Museum. This is a two-day festival of train and trolley rides, special exhibits, music and entertainment. It will also feature the Ventura County No. 2 steam engine, just returned from a five year restoration. Tickets at the gate are $16 for adults, and $10 for children, and the ticket price can be applied towards membership. I should point out that this is a great organization with a bunch of really great people; after you’ve gone and volunteered for a few years, they become like family (think of it as a FerroEquine Faire).

gf_guruilla, NSS&F, and I will be volunteering at RailFest, and we invite you to come on over and introduce yourself. We’ll be there Saturday from 3:00pm on. gf_guruilla will usually be found at the membership and information desk (except for last shift Sunday, at the bookshop). I’ll be found on Saturday on Train 52, the Middleton Siding Caboose Train (ATSF 999020). Sunday I’ll be on Train 51, the Passenger Train: SP 2144 first shift, UP 542 second shift, and the Shasta Daylight third shift.

So make your hotel reservations now (we usually stay in Riverside, but there’s also lodging in Perris, Moreno Valley, Sun City, and Hemet), and come out and say “hi”.

…you see in your Yahoo Bulk mail a message titled “Massive PE Patch Sale”, and you click to see what it is because you always like Pacific Electric patches… only to be disappointed when they talk about performance enhancement…