top of page

Programs

The Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation is built on three elements: preservation, adventures and education. Our education initiatives include Boy Scout Railroad Merit Badge classes and Urban Archeological tours. For the general public LARHF's permanent "satellites" displays are continuing sources of historical and geographical educational information. The displays consist of archival and contemporary photographs. Complementing the photos are prototypical miniature train models.

Programs

Satellite Exhibits

Programs

Satellite Exhibits

Roger L. Titus is a noted rail-traction historian and postcard collector. He is the co-author of "Destinations," a LARHF-published title documenting the rise of Southern California through vintage postcards and their relationship to the trolley lines that fueled Southland growth. As a teenager, Roger and his father Robert rode the Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway systems, photographing the systems as they were on the verge of shutdown. His collection provides a brilliant snapshot into late-1940s through late-1950s Southern California, and how trolley systems defined our way of life.

Ralph Melching (1917-2005) was a founder of the Pacific Rail Society (née Railroad Boosters) and an avid rail photographer throughout his adult life. Ralph photographed a wide variety of rail-based subjects, including the construction of Los Angeles Union Station in 1938-39, as well as the Pacific Electric Railway and main line railroads.

National Geographic Collection

Elrond Lawrence Collection

Elrond Lawrence is a writer, photographer, and PR professional with a passion for railroads and vintage highways. He grew up in Fontana, California, within sight of Santa Fe Railway’s Second District mainline, the former PE “San Bernardino Line,” and former U.S. Highway 66; weekend trips to Barstow with his parents planted the seeds for his book Route 66 Railway, and his daughter Kat completed the circle by traveling with him on photo safaris. Elrond’s work appears in Trains, Railfan, the NRHS Bulletin, and many other publications. He lives along California’s central coast near Salinas with wife Laura and three cats and frequently travels to Southern California. Below is a sampling of his 30+ year body of work that celebrates the railroads and highways of California and the southwest.