For the second weekend of no trains on the Pacific Surfliner route, on the Saturday, Robin Bowers and I decided to do Tom's Farm train first then go to the Goat Mill Railway Orange County Model Engineers train afterwards. Tonight I would be seeing "Jethro Tull The Rock Opera performed by Ian Anderson" at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood with Chris Parker. Robin arrived at my house after 9:00 AM and I drove us to Tom's Farm out in Glen Ivy south of Corona. We found the railroad but bought our first of three sets of train tickets for the morning.
Tom's Farm Brief HistoryHis parents said that Tom wanted to be a farmer from the day he was born in Kansas City, Missouri. When he turned five, they let him work at his father's produce stand. And the rest, as they say, is history.Tom moved west in the early 1970's and leased some land in Lake Elsinore to house his first produce stand. He did so well that the owner of the land decided to covet it for himself and sent Tom packing. Driving home to Anaheim, slightly brokenhearted, but with his boundless energy, strong work ethic and unwavering integrity still intact, he found an idyllic spot in Temescal Canyon, right below the Cleveland National Forest. He named his place Tom's Farms. The produce was fresh and the people were friendly. People came from miles away and Tom's Farms became a favorite destination stop for travelers.
Tom eventually bought the land and the place grew and grew. In 1974, Tom opened a 3,500 square foot produce stand. In 1977, a hamburger restaurant was added and the opening of Interstate 15 in 1978 provided easy access for visiting tourists. Today, the property has grown to include a variety of shops, restaurants, and attractions for family entertainment.
Staying true to Tom's original core values, the produce is still fresh, the people are still genuine, and visitors are always welcome. Tom wouldn't like it any other way.
My visit and rideThey opened the storage shed, a covered bridge and I saw the train inside.
The train inside the shed while the crew checked the gauge of the track.
Once the track was checked, the train headed out of the shed heading south.
The train is returning from the south loop.
The train went by my photo location. We then boarded the train.
The train was almost ready to leave.
We started our first trip.
We headed to the covered bridge over Temescal Creek.
The inside of the Covered Bridge has unique transportation items on the one side. We came back into sunlight where my camera stopped working. Once we detrained, I took out the memory card, took the lens off the camera body then removed the battery. Doing all these things returned my camera to life so we bought another set of tickets for our second run on the train.
The south loop track as we headed out of the covered bridge.
A moose on the hill.
A bison to the right.
The train heads into the south loop curve.
A white rhinoceros off to the right.
Looking back from where we came. Now enjoy the views from the south loop curve.
The train took the south loop curve.
A white rhinoceros off to the right.
Horses at the hay bales.
The train took the curve to get us off the south loop and through the covered bridge to the north loop on this railroad. We returned to the station then bought our last tickets of the day for one more train trip.
The train at the station. This trip had just Robin and I on board.
Exiting the covered bridge.
Heading to the south loop curve.
A gorilla along our route.
Coming off the south loop curve.
Heading north on the south loop.
Our train is heading to the Covered Bridge.
At the north loop about to enter the station area. We thanked our crew then made one last stop at Tom's Farm.
Koi Fish and turtles are in the pond. We said good bye to Tom's Farm and drove to Costa Mesa to our next stop of the day.
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