Travel Town Museum is a railway museum dedicated on December 14, 1952, and located in the northwest corner of Los Angeles, California's Griffith Park. The history of railroad transportation in the western United States from 1880 to the 1930s is the primary focus of the museum's collection, with an emphasis on railroading in Southern California and the Los Angeles area.
History
In the late 1940s, Charley Atkins, a Recreation and Parks employee, and some rail enthusiasts came up with the plan that a full-size steam locomotive would be an attractive addition to the miniature railroad ride at Griffith Park. The City of Los Angeles Harbor Department had two small locomotives destined for scrap that seemed to be suitable for this purpose. These locomotives had worked at a quarry on Santa Catalina Island, California, carrying stone to be used building breakwaters for the Port of Los Angeles. With the support of former Recreation and Parks Department General Manager George Hjelte and Superintendent of Recreation William Frederickson, Atkins initiated contacts with major railroads in California to ask what equipment they could donate. At that time, the steam locomotive era was drawing to a close, and Atkins found a good response. The earliest locomotives were made accessible for children to climb on them. Travel Town was inaugurated on December 14, 1952, in an area used as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. The locomotives were accessible day and night until fencing was installed in 1955 to prevent vandals from breaking glass windows and gauges. A Union Pacific Railroaddining car donated in 1954 was available for birthday parties. The park's narrow gauge Crystal Springs & Southwestern Railroad operated two locomotives from Oahu on of track beginning in 1955, but these locomotives were later returned to Hawaii for display. In 1965, Travel Town's exhibits were regrouped and the park was rededicated. Today, Travel Town is in a state of new growth and development.
Railway collection
The railroad museum portion contains 43 full-scale railroad engines, cars and other rolling stock.
Exhibits
Motor vehicles
Railway Express Agency, 1945 International Harvester Co. & York Body Corp. Model K-5 Express Delivery Truck.
Additional railway museum collections and examples
Track Construction - Examples of three periods of track construction, and wheels on axle.
*Log sleepers nailed to rail. Earliest method.
*Sleepers, uniform and square cut wood soaked in creosote preservative and surrounded by ballast, spiked to 'T' rail which is joined with fishplates.
*Concrete sleepers, spring clipped to rail which is joined with welds.
Track switches - Various examples of switch points methods, frogs and switch stands/signals.
Train excursions
Tickets can be purchased to ride the Travel Town Railroad, a gauge miniature railway for two circles around the museum grounds. This railway originally ran a train known as the Melody Ranch Special, which was once owned by Gene Autry. Its namesake originates from the Gene Autry film Melody Ranch. The passenger coaches are now covered and the original steam engine has been replaced with Courage, a chain-driven internal combustion motor housed within a façade representing a steam locomotive. This railroad is one of three miniature railway train rides within Griffith Park. The others are the gauge Griffith Park & Southern Railroad and the gauge miniature railway at the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum. The latter is independently operated.
Exhibit room
Artifacts, documents, and ephemera are on display such as menus and chinaware, recollections and timetables, regarding the history of railroading in the United States.
Main exhibit hall
Houses additional transportation examples and exhibits.
The "Little General" locomotive demonstration engine.
Viewing platform for the East Valley Lines model railroad club N scale layout.
East Valley Lines
Located behind a roll-up door in the main exhibit hall, the East Valley Lines Model Rail-Road N Gauge Club operates their extensive layout.
Appearances in media
Travel Town is near many television and movie studios, which has prompted those production companies to include scenes requiring railroad equipment to be shot at Travel Town since it opened. A small sample of the thousands of Travel Town's screen appearances is represented below:
Adam-12 Episode 101 "Eyewitness"
Columbo "Identity Crisis"
CHiPs Episode 109
Dallas Season 10, Episode 19 "High Noon for Calhoun"
The band Foreigner's music video "Cold as Ice"
Knight Rider Episode 36 "Diamonds Aren't a Girl's Best Friend"
Quantum Leap Episode 48 "A Hunting Will We Go"
Royal Crown Revue's "Watts Local" music video was shot in several locations.
Six Feet Under Season 4 Episode 8 "Coming and Going"
Ghost Whisperer Season 5, Episode 9 "Lost in the Shadows"
