Railroads & Locomotives Tourist Railroad Profiles Western Pacific Railroad Museum profile

Western Pacific Railroad Museum profile

By Lucas Iverson | February 8, 2023

| Last updated on April 19, 2023

Here at one of the Western Pacific’s last diesel locomotive shops is a great collection of rolling stock.

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Western Pacific Railroad Museum logoHere at one of the Western Pacific’s last diesel locomotive shops is a great collection of rolling stock. The focus is on one of the West’s most beloved railroads, Western Pacific, which traveled through beautiful mountain scenery and hosted the legendary California Zephyr. The setting couldn’t be more appropriate at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum.

Choices

The 37-acre site of the Western Pacific Railroad Museum displays more than 100 pieces of equipment. Three former Western Pacific streamlined diesels call the museum home, as do locomotives from the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific. Western Pacific 0-6-0 No. 165, a steam switcher currently being restored, is the only steam locomotive in the collection. Rolling stock includes passenger cars, boxcars, cabooses, and maintenance-of-way equipment. The museum is hands-on, so you can climb into cabs and hop onto cars.

When to go

The museum is open noon to 4 p.m., Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April into September and select days after that. On summer weekends, caboose rides through a pine forest on a 1-mile loop of track make for a fun train trip. Pumpkin trains run in October and Santa trains in December.

Good to know

Visit in August for the annual Portola Railroad Days festival, which includes train rides, food, music, and a parade.

Worth doing

Close by is Lassen Volcanic National Park, where you can see hydrothermal features such as boiling mud pots, steaming ground, and roaring fumaroles.

Don’t miss

Run a locomotive through the museum’s program that puts you in the engineer’s seat.

Getting there

Portola is located in the Feather River Canyon between Sacramento and Reno. From the west, take I-80 to Highway 89 and go north to Highway 70, which runs into Portola. From the east, take Interstate 80 to Highway 395 to Highway 70.

Location: 700 Western Pacific Way, Portola, CA
Phone: 530-832-4131
Website: wplives.org
E-mail: info@wplives.org

See more California tourist railroads you must visit.

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