The Poway–Midland Railroad is a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

in Old Poway Park in

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city had a population of 48,841 as of the 2020 United States census. Poway is part of San Diego's East ...

. The group "Poway–Midland Railroad Volunteers, Inc." operates the railroad and was founded in 1991 as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

dedicated to the restoration, operation and maintenance of antique railroad equipment. Excursions are run each weekend (the 1st and 3rd weekends of each month using a 1907 Baldwin

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

, except in January or February). The line has 11 total pieces of railroad equipment. This operation is unusual in that it has a

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges ...

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

. The Poway–Midland Railroad is owned by the City of Poway and operated and maintained by the Poway–Midland Railroad Volunteers, Inc.

Preserved equipment

*1907 Baldwin Steam Locomotive *1956 Fairmont Speeder *1906 San Francisco Cable Car

Historic timeline

*May 1991 – Initial meeting *Nov 1991 – Incorporation of the PMRR Volunteers *Sep 1991 –

Boxcar A boxcar is the North American (Association of American Railroads, AAR) and South Australian Railways term for a Railroad car#Freight cars, railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simpl ...

arrives on site *Apr 1993 – Trolley arrives on site *Jun 1993 – Track work completed *Jul 4 1993 – Old Poway Park dedication *Jul 4 1993 – First passenger carried behind speeder *Sep 1994 – First locomotive passenger run *Jul 1996 – Record passenger haul (2,500) *Jan 1997 – First woman fireman qualified *Oct 1997 – San Francisco Cable Car arrives *Jul 4 2002 –

Turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

dedicated *Oct 2004 – Barn expansion dedicated *Oct 2009 – Depot dedicated (new ticket office, train shop, and museum)

Statistics

*Total passengers: 425,336 (As of 1 November 2006) *Total volunteer hours: 74,492 (As of August 2006) *1,866 passengers July 4, 2005 *1,829 passengers Train Song Fest 2006 *1,732 passengers Christmas in the Park 2004 *1,422 Rendezvous 2005 *

Operation Lifesaver Operation Lifesaver is the largest rail safety education organization in the United States. It was founded by the Union Pacific Railroad in the early 1970s. History In 1972, the Idaho State Police, then-Governor Cecil Andrus and the Union Pac ...

program presented to 20,000+ viewers *40–50 Operations Lifesaver presentations annually *397 active members

References

External links

Official Poway–Midland Railroad website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poway Midland Railroad Heritage railroads in California Poway, California 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in the United States Transportation in San Diego County, California Tourist attractions in San Diego County, California

Preserved equipment

Historic timeline

Statistics

See also

References

External links