When Death Rode the Rails

As far as I can read history, death ALWAYS rode the rails until the Federal government stepped in. And yet some people still question any form of regulation! I wonder how many of them would never had been born because death rode their grand-daddy's rails one night.

Don Merz

@dkdkrd, well you see something new everyday. Having grown up in Southern California, I was unaware of this trolley. Did it run in San Diego County? Los Angeles? Riverside? San Bernardino? I would be interested in what you know...

John

Never heard of that trolley before now.  Was it used for funerals and made stops at various cemeteries in town?

The early days of passenger travel were quite perilous.  From cinders catching things on fire, rails slipping apart, bridge failures, and head on collisions.  It was a risky adventure at best.

OK...  I thought the Descanso (nee "Paraiso") was better known.

So here's a brief history...

Descanso Link

In its day, many of us could've indeed said, "What a way to go!" 

I can only imagine the final ride was accorded the same respect of onlookers and traffic as today's vehicle procession.  And a slow peal of the trolley bell ("'For whom the bell tolls?") coupled with the soft percussion of steel wheels on steel rails to the cemetery would've been the very best dirge imaginable.....IMHO, of course.

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Any help in finding identifying a kit/model in O scale would be helpful.

Thanks for looking.

KD

I believe there was a brass modle of the Descanso on HO. I have never seen anything on O scale. Can you identify any of the people in your photo?

Thank you sir! As near as I can tell, the car is currently just down the road from me at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum in Perris Ca! They also have Ward Kimball's engine and car collection, which I've seen on many visits. I will definitely look for the Descanso when the museum opens up again. I will post pics of its current state when allowed access again.

John

@John Meyncke posted:

Thank you sir! As near as I can tell, the car is currently just down the road from me at the Orange Empire Railroad Museum in Perris Ca! They also have Ward Kimball's engine and car collection, which I've seen on many visits. I will definitely look for the Descanso when the museum opens up again. I will post pics of its current state when allowed access again.

John

It is, indeed, at the OERM....which is even more puzzling re the apparent lack of a model/kit.

I mean, lots of models and kits are generated from....what?....old BW photos, a couple of drawings, aging memories (?), etc., etc..  Then there's the actual...often restored...prototype sitting in a museum somewhere....and no model/kit available?

Of course, who can argue with imaginations and interpretations of the long gone and scarcely documented?  A new model/kit based on an actual existing prototype might invite a convention of or treatise from the Pickers-of-Nit...scary, I know.

Have a great day, guys/gals!

KD

@dkdkrd posted:

It is, indeed, at the OERM....which is even more puzzling re the apparent lack of a model/kit.

I mean, lots of models and kits are generated from....what?....old BW photos, a couple of drawings, aging memories (?), etc., etc..  Then there's the actual...often restored...prototype sitting in a museum somewhere....and no model/kit available?

Of course, who can argue with imaginations and interpretations of the long gone and scarcely documented?  A new model/kit based on an actual existing prototype might invite a convention of or treatise from the Pickers-of-Nit...scary, I know.

Have a great day, guys/gals!

KD

There are many things sitting in museums for which there aren't models for, like the elegant Fort Wayne and Wabash Valley #504 with it's magnificent dual-arched "picture windows" on the rear end.

Rusty