See Planes, Trains at Air Force Base Museums

Vintage planes, trains and trolleys highlight an outing beyond Riverside to a pair of unusual museums in the Greater Perris Valley. At March Air Force Base you’ll find a collection of historic war birds, as well as memorabilia from air battles of the past 70 years.

A few miles south, public transportation from bygone times is on display at the outdoor Orange Empire Railway Museum. You can ride on the yellow and Big Red cars that once plied the city streets and suburbs of Los Angeles.

Begin a sojourn to yesteryear by driving east from Los Angeles on Interstate 10 or the Pomona Freeway (California 60) to join Interstate 215 south. Take the first March Air Force Base exit, Cactus Avenue, go east to Graham Street and turn right to the Main Gate.

Stop there on Sundays to sign in and get a base pass with directions to the museum. On other days, stop in the Visitor Center just before the Main Gate. March Field Museum occupies the former 1940s commissary building, now marked by an outdoor display of retired aircraft.

Air Force Museum

More than 30 planes and missiles are on view around and inside the museum, which opened in 1979. It’s the second largest Air Force museum in the nation, and a million-dollar fund drive is under way to build an expanded off-base facility adjacent to the freeway.

You’re allowed on the military base to tour the museum from noon to 4 p.m. weekends and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Admission is free but the museum is self-supporting and donations are welcome.

Try to time your visit for the optional bus ride to see famous planes parked on the flight line. Included are a U-2 spy plane, F-100 supersonic fighter and the B-52 bomber. Buses leave the museum at 2 p.m. weekends, 1 p.m. weekdays.

In the museum are historic aircraft such as the Boeing PT-13 and Fairchild PT-19 used for training World War II pilots. Also look for the C-3 Link trainer where pilots learned instrument flying without leaving the ground.

A Long History

Numerous displays guide you through a history of the U.S. Air Force and March Field. The field began as a training base for fighter pilots in 1918, closed a few years later and reopened in 1927 as a flight training school. March AFB is headquarters for the Strategic Air Command’s 15th Air Force and its 22nd Air Refueling Wing.

Beginning with uniforms, guns and other World War I artifacts just inside the museum entrance, you can follow the Air Force role in war and peace until the present. Especially intriguing are photos of early pilots and their planes at the airfield.

One exhibit lets you listen in on a recorded mission briefing for a bombing run from Italy during World War II. You’ll also see German and Japanese war souvenirs as well as more recent mementos from Korea and Vietnam.

The museum gift shop stocks an assortment of model kits and books about airplanes. More information: (714) 655-3725.

Railway Exhibits

Leave the base the way you came and go west on Cactus Avenue toward Interstate 215. Bear left to cross over the freeway, then take the first right and make two more right turns to join the freeway heading south.

Continue about 9 miles to the D Street exit and drive through the town of Perris. Turn right on 11th Street, then left on A Street to the rural Orange Empire Railway Museum.

It’s home to 150 interurban trains, trolleys and other rolling stock collected from across the nation and overseas. Volunteers restore the equipment to running order, and on weekends offer visitors nostalgic rides over 2 1/2 miles of track.

You can hop aboard one of the Big Red cars that ran from Los Angeles to outlying areas until a quarter century ago. Or take a seat aboard an L.A. Railway yellow streetcar that screeched around town in the 1920s and 1930s.

The museum is open daily without charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but trolley and train rides are offered only on weekends and holidays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. An unlimited ride pass for one day costs $3; senior citizens and 12- to 17-year-olds, $2.50; children 6-11 years, $1.50.

Volunteer conductors and motormen describe the history of the trolleys and interurban rail cars as you ride along.

Rail Festival

Saturday and next Sunday you’ll also have the chance to ride a 1920s steam train during the museum’s eighth annual Rail Festival. For this special event there’s a $5 entry fee (ages 6-11, $3) to the museum grounds, which includes unlimited rides throughout the day.

The fest also features band music and a display of old-time autos. Refreshments will be available, or take a picnic. Parking is free.

Whenever you visit the railway museum, part of the fun is going into the open storage and restoration sheds to see the surprising variety of streetcars. Look for a double-decker that ran in Dublin, Ireland, and a smaller trolley from Kyoto, Japan.

As you might guess, the streetcar with “Desire St.” on its destination sign is from New Orleans. The Descanso, a special funeral trolley, once transported coffins and mourners to cemeteries in Los Angeles.

Caboose Tours

Twice during the day, at 12:30 and 3 p.m., you can join a guided walking tour to view the interiors of various rail cars. Among them are a postal car, caboose, dormitory-lounge and an Army kitchen car.

Souvenirs for rail buffs and booklets that describe some of the trolleys and train cars at the Orange Empire Railway Museum are for sale in the depot. Recorded information: (714) 657-2605.

Return to Los Angeles the way you arrived, or take an alternative route via California 74 west, Interstate 15 north, and the Riverside Freeway (California 91) west to Interstate 5.

Round trip from Los Angeles to the Greater Perris Valley is 170 miles.

Readers are advised to confirm the hours of attractions, restaurants, etc., before embarking on any trip.