Western America Railroad Museum

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway reached the Mojave Desert from the east in the early 1880s, working westward from New Mexico and Arizona along what would later become the basic alignment of Route 66. The original through-line connected Albuquerque to Needles (on the Colorado River, marking the California border) by 1883, and the extension west across the Mojave to the Los Angeles basin was completed in the mid-1880s. Barstow was established in 1886 at the junction where the east-west transcontinental line met a southern branch heading toward San Bernardino and Los Angeles; the location was chosen for its relatively flat ground, available water from the Mojave River, and strategic position for servicing locomotives crossing the desert.

Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Barstow grew into one of the most important Santa Fe Railway service points in the western system. Major facilities included a locomotive roundhouse, a substantial classification yard, repair shops, dormitories for crew layovers, and the Casa del Desierto Harvey House that served meals and lodging to passengers and crews. The town's economy was almost entirely tied to railroad operations through World War II — the majority of working-age men in Barstow held railroad jobs, and the railroad's daily operating rhythms (shift changes, the arrival and departure of major passenger trains, classification yard activities) structured the city's daily life.

The decline of railroad passenger service after World War II hit Barstow hard. The legendary passenger trains that once stopped at Casa del Desierto — the Super Chief, the El Capitan, the California Limited — were gradually discontinued through the 1960s and 1970s as airline travel replaced long-distance rail. The Harvey House dining service ended in the early 1970s; the dormitory operations had ended a decade earlier. But freight operations remained strong, and the 1995 merger between Burlington Northern and Santa Fe to form BNSF preserved Barstow's role as a major classification yard. Today freight operations are the city's economic anchor, and the busy active rail platform behind Casa del Desierto remains the single most visible reminder of Barstow's railroad identity.

The museum's interior exhibits occupy the north wing of Casa del Desierto and are organized loosely by era — the 1880s pioneer railroad period, the early-20th-century passenger heyday, the World War II era, and the modern freight-dominated period. Highlights include a substantial collection of Santa Fe Railway photographs from the 1880s through 1990s, vintage railroad employee uniforms, lanterns and switchman's tools, original timetables and route maps, the working knobs and dials of recovered locomotive cabs, dining car china and silverware from Harvey House service, and a working HO-scale model railroad that represents the Barstow yard at various periods.

A particular strength of the collection is the Harvey House material — the museum and the Mother Road Museum next door share interpretation of the Casa del Desierto's Harvey House operation, but WARM holds the more substantial collection of original dining service items (china, silverware, glassware, and table linens with the Harvey House logo) and uniforms (the famous Harvey Girls' black-and-white waitstaff uniforms). The collection captures the Harvey House service standard — the highly-trained waitstaff, the strict 30-minute meal service windows synchronized to train arrivals, the formal table service that was unusually elevated for rural railroad-junction dining.

The model railroad operation is genuinely impressive for a small volunteer museum. The HO-scale layout depicts the Barstow yard and the surrounding desert in considerable detail, with operating trains running on a regular schedule throughout the museum's open hours. Volunteer operators are usually available to demonstrate the layout and answer questions about both the model operations and the real railroad history being represented.

The museum's outdoor displays are positioned on a short stretch of track behind Casa del Desierto and include several restored locomotives and pieces of rolling stock that visitors can view up close (and in some cases climb on or enter, depending on the specific equipment and the day's volunteer availability). Highlights typically include a restored steam locomotive from the late steam era, a vintage Santa Fe diesel locomotive from the 1950s, a refrigerator car ("reefer") of the type used to ship California produce east, a wooden caboose from the early 20th century, and a passenger coach from the Super Chief era.

The outdoor exhibits are accessible whenever the building grounds are open — including weekdays when the indoor museum is closed. The exterior of Casa del Desierto, the outdoor train exhibits, and the views of the active BNSF mainline behind the building are all free to view at any time. Many photographers and railroad enthusiasts make midweek visits specifically for the outdoor exhibits and the photography opportunities along the active mainline.

Critical safety note: the active BNSF mainline behind Casa del Desierto carries roughly 100 freight trains per day at speeds of 50-70 mph. The outdoor museum exhibits are positioned at a safe distance behind a fence; do not cross the fence; do not attempt to walk closer to the active tracks for photographs. Visitors with children should supervise closely; the temptation to approach the tracks is real and the risk is genuine. Train enthusiasts who want to photograph BNSF operations from the trackside should do so from the marked public-access viewing area at the north end of the museum property, not by approaching the active platform.

Barstow's importance as a modern freight rail hub is difficult to overstate. The BNSF Barstow Classification Yard south of downtown is one of the larger classification facilities in the western United States — covering several hundred acres, sorting roughly 2,000 freight cars per day, and serving as the consolidation point for freight moving between the Los Angeles basin ports, the San Francisco Bay area, and points east. The yard employs several hundred BNSF workers and is, with the Marine Corps Logistics Base at Yermo, one of the two largest employers in the Barstow area.

The mainlines that converge at Barstow connect the Los Angeles basin to Chicago via the Southern Transcon (one of the busiest freight corridors in the country) and to the San Francisco Bay area via the northern route through the Tehachapi Pass. International container traffic moving from the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach to Chicago and the East Coast passes through Barstow in substantial volume — the city is one of the key choke points in the broader North American freight rail system. The constant freight traffic explains the noise, the frequency of train horns, and the substantial railroad presence visible throughout the city.

For railroad enthusiasts visiting Barstow, the active rail operations are arguably more interesting than the static museum exhibits. The viewing area north of Casa del Desierto allows photography of passing BNSF trains at safe distance, the I-40 overpass near downtown provides elevated views of the classification yard, and the public Drinkwater Lake area south of town offers good viewing of yard operations. The Marine Corps Logistics Base at Yermo (10 miles north) is closed to public access but produces additional freight rail activity that's visible from public roads.

The Western America Railroad Museum is open Friday through Sunday from 11am to 4pm — the same general weekend pattern as the Mother Road Museum next door, though WARM opens an hour later. Closed Monday through Thursday. Admission is free with a suggested donation; donations support the volunteer operation, ongoing exhibit development, and the maintenance of the outdoor locomotive displays. Both museums share the Casa del Desierto building and visitors typically tour them together in a single visit.

The standard plan: arrive at Casa del Desierto by 10am, tour the Route 66 Mother Road Museum first (it opens at 10am), then cross the central lobby into WARM when it opens at 11am, and finish with a walk through the outdoor railroad exhibits. The combined visit runs 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on depth of interest. Both museums are appropriate for families with children old enough to walk independently and follow safety instructions near the active rail platform.

After the museums, the natural continuation of a Barstow day involves driving 10 miles north on State Route 247 to Calico Ghost Town for a 2-3 hour afternoon visit. Lunch options include the Idle Spurs Steakhouse on Old Highway 58 (a Route 66-era institution serving hand-cut steaks since the 1950s) or the various chain restaurants along Lenwood Road near the Tanger Outlets shopping complex. For overnight stays, the Hampton Inn Barstow and several other chain hotels along Lenwood Road provide the standard mid-range options.