Southern California Live Steamers

[UPDATE 1: Review #75]
Over the years, Southern California Live Steamers have incorporated holiday rides for the community… they are running a Halloween night run tonight (10÷17÷15), complete with costumed engineers & Halloween decorations throughout the trail. Thanks SCLS for this community-​fun event!

Everyone loves train rides. Southern California Live Steamers is way cool for parents and toddlers. It’s a ride-​on train which means you get to straddle the train seat. While not a really long ride, this place is just cool because it’s free and the volunteers/​club members really care about their trains. Highly recommend.

Few things in life are free. But train rides here are free twice a month. Thank goodness! There’s something about little boys and trains!
We’ve visited twice and have enjoyed the free rides. Line seems to move either 1) early, right when they open or 2) when they bring additional trains into rotation (unpredictable as this is a volunteer run train station — thank you, whoever you are!). I’d say we waited 20 min for a 5 min ride. Thats not too bad. Can get hot though in the summer, not going to lie.
Mothers can ride with infants if you use a carrier (see picture).
Just note that parking can be kind of tricky since the lot is shared by a large and popular public park frequently used for farmers markets, fairs, birthday party bounce houses, etc.
There is a restroom at the public park about 50 yards from the train station. Not really diaper changing friendly. You know how public park restrooms can get. You’d be better off using the trunk of your car.

Super cute! My son loved this. The line was a bit long, and the trip a little tedious for the adult-​set, but my 3.5 yo was on cloud nine. My 1 yo tolerated it well. I think it’s volunteer based, so really, you can’t complain. They clearly have their hands full maintaining the space. I would love to see more upkeep of the scenery. But the trains were fantastic, the helpers enthusiastic, the ride was quite long, and the lemonade at the end can’t be beat! The ride was free. How can you beat that?

Love it! Truly a treasure and a treat. A must for the k8ds. Best of all… it’s free!

Free train rides! My 20 month old son really enjoyed it since he’s obsessed with trains. The wait was maybe about 10 – 15 minutes and the ride is about 15 minutes. We had a lot of fun and we will be returning. Definitely recommend for toddlers and preschool age kids.

Awesome free train rides — look for dates and times on their website. Our 17-​month old and 3.5 yr old loved it (they seemed like the typical age there) but it seemed like older kids (~7 yrs and up) were bored. Rides were around 15-​ish minutes and they were really friendly and had cute stuff to look at throughout the ride. Located in a park so a great place to have a picnic, a nice playground, free parking, bathroom close by too. Definitely donate, either directly in their donation bins or by getting a snack (they had lemonade for $ 1.50 and a bag of chips for 50 cents — also had donuts, cookies, a few other snacks available too).
Great organization, perfect for toddlers!
Of note might not be the best for infants since there’s a rule for no babies on laps (looks like they didn’t enforce it but good to know beforehand).

FREE RIDES!!! Best 15 – 20 minute ride ever! The wait is not really that long. Did i mention that the ride is FREE?! lol. The train station opens every 1^st Sunday of the month and 3^rd Saturday of the month. Been wanting to go here since I was a little kid. Finally got a chance to try it out with my wife and our little son. Our son enjoyed every minute of it. They even sell lemonade for $ 1.50. Pretty delicious. Other than that, the weather felt so amazing and Farmer’s Market was right around the corner as well. Planning to go again when it opens!

Every first Saturday of the month they have free train rides. Make sure you make a donation because that helps them keep the tracks clean and nice. The actual ride is about 15 minutes and fun. The kids loved it! Get there early because it gets busy.
Great little spot for kids who enjoy trains!

This is a very cute little operation. Sounds like a lot of fun at first. I hate to diss a free train ride, but the train broke down like 4 times! The conductors were so disgruntled and you could tell they were getting frustrated and thus irritable. It ended up being a never-​ending ride from hell! Imagine sitting on a broken train in the hot sun with a toddler while inhaling exhaust fumes for about 45 minutes! It was pretty miserable.
I’m sure it’s great on a day when it’s working. But that day was not this day! I’m a little reluctant to try it again. Check it out for yourselves, but know that it’s a hit or miss!
The rest of the park is pretty cool though!

Wow, what a great train ride! We drove an hour to bring our train enthusiast sons and it was well worth it. The train ride is free, but they appreciate a donation. No problem! The ride itself was about 15 minutes and wound trough their grounds and also gave a little view of the large city park next door. The «engineer» and «conductor» were father and son and so friendly… I loved that they are a part of this train club together!
Great experience!

Free train rides! We rode on several diesel powered trains. These are not full sized trains, but kids sure love them. Ride time is long. It takes you from one end of the Wilson Park to the other and then back. They accept donations and I highly recommend you do.

So much fun! I know, I’m just a big kid.
First Sundays of the month from 11am-​3pm.
Third Saturdays of the month from 12pm-​4pm.
All they ask for is a donation.
This would be a cute place to bring a date too, guys. (hint, hint).

If you know or have a child that loves trains, this is the perfect place to take them. The first Sunday and third Saturday of the Month they have free train rides. It’s located at the very Southeast end of Wilson Park. They are small steam engines that carry a train you sit on (straddle) and you go through their little course they have setup — there is even a tunnel and other little things to look at along the way.
They start at 11am and end at 3pm and they only ask for a donation of $ 1 per person. The trains are run by volunteers and it’s such a great program. I feel lucky to have this so close to us! Last time we went we rode two times and could have gone more if we wanted to.
Here is a link to their calendar which also has driving directions: