Robin Bowers had never been to Fillmore and due to the weekend of limited train service south of Santa Ana, we decided we would go since it was Fillmore Railfest and they would be running their steam engine. I bought tickets online, to be picked up at cill call at the Fillmore station, and we were all set for the Sunday 10:00 steam train ride behind Fillmore and Western 2-8-0 14, originally Duluth & Northeastern 2-8-0 14. Robin picked me up at 7:00 AM and we drove to Fillmore, parking in the Fillmore City Hall lot and started to look around.
Fillmore and Western Railway HistoryThe Fillmore and Western Railway is a railroad owned by the Fillmore and Western Railway Company. The company operates on track owned by the Ventura County Transportation Commission. The majority of F&W rolling stock was acquired from three major studios: 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros and MGM. The rolling stock and right-of-way are frequently used for the filming of television series, motion pictures and commercials and as a locale for private and commercial still photography. Visitors to Fillmore often see filming activity as well as sets and support equipment at the company's rail yard and along the tracks between Santa Paula and Piru.
The F&W has been used in more than 400 movie, television and commercial shots. Movies shot on the railroad include "Throw Momma from the Train", "Three Amigos", "Seabiscuit", "Get Smart", "Rails & Ties" and "Race to Witch Mountain". Television series "CSI", "NCIS Los Angeles" and "Criminal Minds" have used the railroad for location shooting. The railway also featured in the documentary series "Mystery Diners" as "itself".
The railroad also operates a year-round tourist train and offers numerous special events, including the Railroad Days Festival, the Pumpkinliner, Christmas Tree Trains, the North Pole Express and the Day Out with Thomas. The normal schedule involves weekend excursions, dinner trains, murder mystery trains, barbecue trains and shopping excursions to nearby Santa Paula.
HistoryThe track is a standard gauge railroad constructed in 1887 by Southern Pacific Railroad through the Santa Clara River Valley in Ventura County, California. This line was originally part of the Southern Pacific's main line between San Francisco and Los Angeles before a shorter route was built through the Santa Susana Mountains in 1904. State Route 126 follows roughly the same route from Ventura to Santa Clarita. The track was used extensively by Southern Pacific as late as the 1950s to haul citrus from packing houses at the communities along the Santa Clara River. In 1989, the branch line that connects at its west end to the Union Pacific at Montalvo in Ventura was purchased from Southern Pacific by the Ventura County Transportation Commission. The eastern end of the line now terminates in Piru as storm damage in 1979 severed the eastern end of the line to Saugus in Los Angeles County.
Short Line Enterprises was a company that provided railcars for use in movie productions. They came to Fillmore in 1991 to use the rail line and eventually added tourist and dinner trains.
Fillmore and Western F7A 100, ex. Maryland Midland 100; exx. Winchester and Western 100; exxx. Rails Diversified 410; exxxx. Metra 410; exxxxx. Chicago and North Western 410; nee Chicago and North Western 4068A.
Fillmore and Western F7A 101, ex. Maryland Midland 101; exx. Winchester and Western 101; exxx. Rails Diversified 413; exxxx. Metra 413; exxxxx. Chicago and North Western 413; nee Chicago and North Western 4083A.
Fillmore and Western GP35 3501, ex. Arizona and California 3501; exx. Conrail 2262; exxx. Penn Central 2262; nee Pennsylvania Railroad 2262.
Movie prop "steam" engine used in the 2013 film "The Lone Ranger" as "Jupiter".
Fillmore Southern Pacific station built in 1887.
Two small diesels ride the Fillmore turntable.
Fillmore and Western RS-32 4009, ex. Chrome Locomotive 4005, exx. Southern Pacific 4009, nee Southern Pacific 7309 built by American Locomotive Company in 1962.
Fillmore & Western GP35 3502, ex. Arizona Central 3502, exx. Conrail 2339, exxx. Penn Central 2339, nee Pennsylvania Railroad 2339, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1965.
Disney "Lone Ranger" Movie Replica 4-6-0 148.
Fillmore and Western 2-8-0 14, nee Duluth and Northeastern 14, built by Baldwin in 1913.
West Horizon Railway fake unit used in the movie "Inception".
Southern Pacific caboose 1119 built by the railroad in 1942. I picked up our will call tickets then saw Bob Riskie who joined us in a photo line.
Fillmore and Western 2-8-0 14 backed out of the storage yard. I took off running down to the next grade crossing.
I caught this picture of the steam engine.
Fillmore and Western 2-8-0 14 then crossed over to its train track.
Fillmore and Western S-6 1059, ex. Ventura County 9, exx. Southern Pacific 1226, nee Southern Pacific 1059, built by American Locomotive Company in 1956.
Fillmore and Western 2-8-0 14 backed to its train.
Coupling up the engine to our train. I then saw that Chris Parker had made it to Fillmore and joined the line for train boarding and soon Robin, then Bob and Chris arrived.
The last car was loaded first then the train was backed into the station so the rest of us could board. The four of us rode in the open car behind the steam engine. This was going to be fun!
The train departed Fillmore.
We went past those slumbering diesels.
Then by those passenger cars in storage.
Looking back toward Fillmore.
Chesapeake and Ohio dome car 1851 "Chamberlin Dome" built by Budd in 1948, currently "Starlight Romance".
Southern Pacific Business Car 99 "Houston" built by Pullman in 1926.
Salt Lake, Garfield and Western S-6 DS4, nee Southern Pacific 1040, built by American Locomotive Company in 1955.
Ventura County S-6 11, ex. Southern Pacific 4641, nee Southern Pacific 1277, built by American Locomotive Company in 1955. I saw this locomotive on a sugar beet train returning to Anaheim in 1976.
Movie props.
Amtrak coach/dormitory 39923 built by Budd in 1963 as Santa Fe 549.
The train took the first curve east of Fillmore.
We went in and out of the fake tunnel which is made out of containers.
We came to the CA Highway 126 grade crossing.
We have left the Fillmore city limits.
Four truss bridges in a field.
The train runs through unique countryside on this beautiful Sunday morning.
The railfans were out and about this morning.
Through the orange groves, never around them!
A very beautiful view. We stopped and detrained for a photo runby. I made a photo line and had twelve people in my line with a clear sight line of the train. First was the reverse move.
The reverse move. Now the photo runby!
The photo runby during which Fillmore and Western 2-8-0 14 put on an excellent show of steam. From here the train returned to Fillmore where we all detrained and then got Tri-Tip sandwiches and ate them at a table. Robin and I then drove out to Fish Hatchery Road and set up for the caboose train on its return to Fillmore.
Our caboose photo runby just for the two of us. We returned to Santa Ana fighting the traffic on Interstate 5 but made it home by 2:20 PM, ending another excellent railfan adventure!
| RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE |