In 1984, the Feather River Rail Society (FRRS) opened the doors on its new Portola Railroad Museum, founded by dedicated fans of the Western Pacific Railroad and with a goal of preserving some examples of Plumas County’s railroad heritage.
In the 21 years since, that little museum has grown in to one of the largest collections of historic railroad equipment in North America. It became one of the pioneers in preserving first generation diesel power as well as diesel era freight cars, and it proudly carried on the history of the Western Pacific following its merger with the Union Pacific.
In the past few years, the FRRS has been examining its goals and history and decided to recenter its focus on the Western Pacific system. While this has led to a thinning of non-core equipment, it has also guided the Society in creating new programs, including the preservation of Western Pacific steam power (starting with 0-6-0 165) as well as the acquisition and restoration of cars and locomotives originally used on the historic California Zephyr passenger train.
Now, as we enter a new year, the FRRS is pleased to announce that it is changing the name of its public museum to better reflect these goals.
Effective January 1, 2006, the former Portola Railroad Museum is now the WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD MUSEUM at Portola.
Look for our new image to begin taking its place in our operations during the coming months. And watch for coming announcements about new achievements in our goal of preserving and restoring the Western Pacific. 2006 is shaping up to be an interesting year already. Won’t you join us in making it an even bigger success?
The Feather River Rail Society (FRRS) is a non-profit, public benefit California corporation founded to operate the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, California. The organization relies on membership dues, donations, and a variety of fundraising activities to achieve its goals of collecting, preserving, and re