Would YOU like to work on the Railroad?

Join the all-volunteer Operating Department at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola!
The museum normally operates trains every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This year, due to the COVID-19 Health Emergency, we plan to start operations Fourth of July weekend. Additionally, we run our Pumpkin Trains in October, Santa Trains in December and at other special events. If you have always wanted to have a taste of "working on the railroad," such as connecting air hoses, giving hand signals to the engineer, and pulling pins on couplers, then this is your opportunity.

FRRS members (active and above) who would like to participate in the museum's train operating crews are required to take a rules examination, sign a liability release and be instructed in safe operating procedures.

The rules examination is an open book test in the FRRS General Code of Operating Rules and is being done online this year. A passing grade is 75% or above.

Upon your successful completion of the rules exam, you must attend crew training to be instructed in hand signals, getting on and off moving equipment, coupling of air brake hoses and other safe and correct operating procedures.

The WPRM has announced this year’s crew training will take place (barring any public health issues) on Saturday, June 5, 2021.

For safety reasons, we require you to have work gloves and heavy work boots that lace up over your ankles to prevent ankle injuries.

To register for this year’s crew training, please visit https://wplives.org/register_for_crew_training.html and sign up. If you are not yet a member of the museum, please visit https://wplives.org/membership_information.html to join. If you need to upgrade your Associate level membership, please send email to membership@wplives.org.