Make Tracks to the Santa Clara Depot and See the Model Trains
“This is a cool, free museum that will delight anyone fond of trains,
–Yelp
Visiting the Museum
A little known gem in Santa Clara is The Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History. In it the South Bay Historical Railroad Society sbhrs.org operates more than a museum in the old Santa Clara Depot. To the delight of all visitors, SBHRS maintains onsite a model train layout that fills a cavernous room.
Visitors enter the museum through a sliding door where baggage and freight once were kept. Children of all ages promptly turn left and head for the huge layout.
My five year old grandson, Ian, accompanied by his father Patrick was no exception.
Meanwhile, being a lifelong rail buff (more about that later), I stayed behind and enjoyed the display of old rail equipment.
Once a common sight, I hadn’t seen a wigwag crossing signal with its swinging arm, bells, and flashing light for decades.
Today only 17 wigwags remain in operation in the US, 14 of which are in California. In fact, citizens of Point Richmond battled the BNSF Railway in court to hang on to theirs.
Also on display are a semaphore-style signal, handcar for a work crew, signal lanterns, marker lights, and signs.
The museum includes historic buildings outside the depot. They include a shed for storing speeders (tiny vehicles used for track inspections and maintenance), the Santa Clara Tower, and a tool house.
Those interested in seeing these historic buildings should contact SBHRS for information.
Model train layouts are an idyllic refuge from the complexity and tensions of real life. They contain no wrecking yards, homeless encampments, alkie bars, or prisons.
Like with actual cars in the past, the rolling stock that circles the layout are free of graffiti. Traditional logos, shields and slogans on the sides if cars are fully visible. “Be specific, ship Union Pacific.” “Western Pacific rides like a feather.”
Train Watching
My grandfather, whose father was a narrow gauge engineer on the Denver & Rio Grande Western out of Salida, CO, introduced me to trains in Orange County, back when citrus groves and rail side packing houses were ubiquitous.
Gramp regularly took my brother and me to a dead end road overlooking the Santa Fe tracks and the Santa Ana River.
There, well past Dick Nixon’s boyhood home in Yorba Linda, and among the jack rabbits, tumble weeds, and cactus, we watched freights and passenger trains roar by en route to San Bernardino and Cajon Pass.
We always waved to the engineer and the brakeman in the caboose. The train left the smell of diesel, which to this day has a sentimental association for me.
Train watching stuck with me. Years later I frequently took my three boys to a dead end road in the Niles district of Fremont to see Union Pacific freight trains cross the trestle over Alameda Creek.
My greatest thrill as a rail buff was visiting my friend Larry Shields in the Niles Tower, who manned it while working for Union Pacific. Because the tower is almost flush with the tracks, passing freight trains made a thunderous racket. Larry liked to quip, “If that train hits us, we’ll be buried in shoe boxes.”
The tower at Niles gave way to an electronic control center for routing trains and is long gone. The Santa Clara Tower, while inactive, provides a memory of how rail traffic once was directed.
My boyhood love of trains continues well into adulthood. On two occasions I purchased a Eurail Train Pass and rode first class around the Continent. In the US, I have taken numerous cross country trips on Amtrak.
The Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History in the Santa Clara Depot is staffed by volunteers and the hours of operation are limited. Be sure to check their website for current hours.
