Having lived in Riverside County when I was younger I really appreciated Orange Empire Trolley Museum's effort to restore the splendor of the PE and LARY.

The line where the museum operates was the original mainline to San Diego and National City thru Temecula and Fallbrook all the way thru Pendleton.

After the line was severed from Temecula to Fallbrook thru Santa Margarita River Basin, the branch to Fallbrook was cut back to the outskirts of town in the 70s and finally donated to the Military in the 80s, then shut down in the early 90s.

The northern part was cut back in portions: First to Wildomar, then to Elsinore Junction and finally to the Perris Wye in the 30s.

Thirty years later OERM acquired property in a field and built track from the tail of the wye into their facility over the old Califor is Southern. Possibly during that period, the Santa Fe transferred that right of way to the City of Perris who owns that track from Perris wye to the OERM Pinacate facility.

Later RCTC acquired the whole San Jacinto District from the Santa Fe. The OERM has been connected to the Santa Fe since the beginning because it was an original mainline...

While the wye was gone by the 70s, the switch was rebuilt on the eliminated 5th Street crossing south of the depot for the upcoming Perris Valley Line a few years ago.

Therefore reconnecting accomplishes being able to get new equipment into the museum (donated cars or locos). It allows for Amtrak or Metrolink to run an excursion into the Museum, 3751 etc.

To the naysayers about going into downtown Perris, y'all need to have more vision: Maybe currently Metrolink doesn't operate on weekends, but you can pick up and drop off passengers here wanting to visit the museum from downtown or the other way, without involving a "Metrolink ride". Maybe just as a "park and ride"...

Having OERM and/or Contractor rebuild from 7th. Street crossing into the depot would be under Metrolink's supervision.

Not sure how the signaling layout would work here, especially that OERM has classic ABS and Perris Valley line is new CTC equipment with PTC addons. So now you got:

1. Lay track from 7th Street to the Metrolink Control Point south of Perris.

2. Lay track from that crossover to the already in place 4th Street crossing.

3. Lay track in from 4th street into the stub at Ward Kimball Depot in Downtown Perris.

4. Electrify trolley poles from 7th Street to Downtown Perris.

Remember, OERM operates over City of Perris right of way, now they have to deal with RCTC. Is there a current fundraiser for the connection or can I donate?

Joe Cullum in Exeter