Local News in Brief : Land Given for Railroad Museum

The founder of the Lomita Railroad Museum, who has already donated a park and the Victorian-style museum to the city, plans to bequeath an additional 1-acre parcel to Lomita to expand the museum.

Irene Lewis, 89, who donated a quarter-acre of land for the museum when it was founded in 1966, said last week that she has made the donation in her will and the property “will belong to the city as part of the museum” after her death.

Museum board Chairman Hilton Beiro said museum officials plan to use the land to expand the museum, but have not yet completed plans for the addition.

Lewis, who lives next door to the museum at Woodward Avenue and 250th Street, got the idea for the museum after visiting a similar railroad museum in Denver. She dedicated it to her late husband, Martin, a locomotive engineer with whom she began the Little Engine Co., a model steam locomotive company. The company is still in operation behind the Lewis home.

The museum, which charges 50 cents admission, is partly financed by the city, which helps with the museum upkeep, Beiro said. It is contained in a building that is a replica of a train depot in Wakefield, Mass.

The centerpiece of the museum is a 1902 Mogul Southern Pacific locomotive. One of the last steam engines in the Los Angeles area, the 157,000-pound locomotive pulled passenger cars, and later hauled freight, until it was taken out of service in 1956. The collection also includes conductor uniforms, dining car menus, steam whistles and other memorabilia.