Fillmore and Western Railway

Fillmore and Western Railway EMD F7 No. 101 and GP35 No. 3502.

The Fillmore and Western Railway (AAR reporting marks FWRY) is a dinner train and speciality line operating out of Fillmore, California. Murder mysteries are a favorite.

Fillmore & Western Railway Railroad Days Festival, March 2004.

Day Out with Thomas, April 2006. Thomas is non-powered. Food, shopping and games are to the left.

The Thomas the Tank Engine train is actually powered by a diesel at the other end in a push-pull operation down the F&W branch line towards Piru.

Fillmore and Western Railway tracks. The ex-Canadian turntable is being installed just on the other side of the buildings on the left of the photograph.

Inverted turntable bridge.

The incomplete turntable pit under construction, 31 December 2006. Note the turntable bridge in the background to the right of the truck. This photo is from nearly the reverse angle to the photograph of the bridge above.

The F&W is known as the "Home of the Hollywood Movie Trains" because the majority of its rolling stock was acquired from three major studios: 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and MGM. It is also frequently used for the filming of television series, motion pictures and commercials and as a locale for private and commercial still photography, and visitors can often see such activity as well as sets and support equipment at the rail yard.

The F&W is a standard gauge railroad running roughly parallel to California Highway 126 in Ventura County, California, on a section of ex-Southern Pacific Railroad trackage now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. This section is now a branch line, connecting at its west end to the Union Pacific at Montalvo, California, between Oxnard and Ventura. Prior to storm damage in the 1970s, this line also connected in the east to Southern Pacific tracks heading into Los Angeles. This line was originally the Southern Pacific main line to Los angeles, before Southern Pacific built the Montalvo Cutoff in 1924 through the Santa Susana Mountains. An F&W volunteer claimed in 2006 that plans were under consideration to reestablish this connection to allow for a commuter rail route for Metrolink.

Operating year-round as a tourist train, the F&W offers numerous special events including the Railroad Days Festival, the Pumpkinliner, Christmas Tree Trains, the North Pole Express, the Day Out with Thomas^TM, and the Little Engine that Could. The normal schedule involves weekend excursions, dinner trains, murder mystery trains, barbecue trains, and shopping excursions to nearby Santa Paula.

The roster of the F&W includes a GP35, GP30 and two F7s from General Motors Electromotive Division and an S6 and RS32 from ALCO. The railroad also owns numerous coaches, freight cars, cabooses and excursion cars. The F&W also included an Ex-Canadian Pacific Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive, since retured to its native home. Also in operation is an 0-4-0 Porter tank engine, the Sespe.

The rail yard is located adjacent to the restored City Hall in downtown Fillmore and is part of the revitalized section of the city rebuilt after the extensive damage caused by a 1994 earthquake that brought down the facades of many nearby businesses. A turntable bridge purchased from a Canadian railway is on site but has not yet been installed in its pit, which is incomplete. The bridge is intact and stored inverted next to the pit, currently under construction. When completed in 2007, the turntable will allow not only turning of the locomotives and cars but also access to planned facilities on tracks in the narrow yard area. This area is planned to be the center of a proposed railway heritage park complex.

See also

• Heritage railway
• List of heritage railways

External links

• Railway's website

References

• [2005] Tourist Trains 2005. Kalmbach Publishing Company, 26. 1546-2730.