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All the United States California Poway Midland Railroad
AO Edited

Poway Midland Railroad

Take a leisurely ride on a 1906 cable car or a 1907 steam locomotive.

Poway, California

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JR Wetmore
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Cars in the Poway barn.   Visitor7 / CC-BY-SA-3.0
The Poway Depot.   Visitor7 / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Squiggly tracks on their way to the train shed.   pinguino / CC BY 2.0
cowboy robberies and other special events a few times a year (including 4th of July)   kim keeline / Atlas Obscura User
Old Poway Park and the steam train   kim keeline / Atlas Obscura User
me as locomotive engineer   kim keeline / Atlas Obscura User
night runs twice a year–Sunday before Halloween for Haunted RR and Second Sat of Dec for Xmas   kim keeline / Atlas Obscura User
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Where outside of San Francisco can you ride a 1906 San Francisco cable car? That would be Poway, California.

The narrow-gauge Poway Midland Railroad claims to have the only operational San Francisco cable car carrying passengers outside of the Bay Area. The car debuted in San Francisco's California Street fleet in late 1906. It was built to replace cars destroyed in the earthquake that devastated the city on April 18 of that year. In 1955 it was sold to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park. After being acquired by the city of San Diego in 1988 (then rotting away in a maintenance yard), it was gifted to the City of Poway in 1997. Now it circles Old Poway Park on weekends, to the delight of kids and adults alike.

The San Francisco cable car isn't the only old-timey ride in the park. The volunteer operators of the Poway Midland Railroad also run a 1907 Baldwin steam locomotive around the track. Equipment rotates weekly. Train tickets are sold at the delightfully vintage-styled depot, which completes the experience of traveling back in time.

Related Tags

Trains Steam Cable Cars Railroads

Know Before You Go

The railroad only runs on weekends. Equipment alternates, so check ahead if you'd like to ride a particular car.

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Added By

JR Wetmore

Edited By

Ella Morton, kim keeline

  • Ella Morton
  • kim keeline

Published

January 13, 2022

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  • http://www.powaymidlandrr.org/
Poway Midland Railroad
14154 Midland Rd
Poway, California, 92064
United States
32.970647, -117.036423
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