San Diego Electric Railway Association

The safety and well-being of our guests and volunteers is our number one priority. We are hopeful that we will be able to reopen to the public in the near future. At this time we are working to create a safe reopening plan that will allow us to safely reopen. We do not have a set reopening date at this time. Please stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

Have you found yourself shopping online more this year? Did you know that when you online shop at Amazon you can support the San Diego Electric Railway Association. Shop at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to the San Diego Electric Railway Association. There are no fees and no extra costs and best of all you can still use your AmazonPrime. Make sure that you are shopping at smile.amazon.com to take advantage of AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile cus...tomers can now support the San Diego Electric Railway Association in the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones! Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations. 1. Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device 2. Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into 'Settings' 3. Tap 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process If you do not have the latest version of the Amazon Shopping app, update your app.

The San Diego Electric Railway Association is honored that we have been selected to receive SDERY Car 126, SDERY Car 128 and SDERY Car 138 as additions to our collection. The San Diego Electric Railway Association has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with the costs of transporting these three streetcars to our museum along with the costs to begin vital restoration and preservation work on these cars to prevent damage and prepare them for public display. You can help us reach our goal by sharing our campaign with your friends and family and by donating at the following link.

This weekend our dedicated volunteers were hard at work preparing the National City Depot for the arrival of the three historic Class 1 Streetcars that have been donated to our museum. Our preparation included a reorganization of the north lot and relocating our Birney Streetcar from the south lot to the north lot. Our volunteers spent many hours moving, cleaning and weeding to ensure that we are ready to receive these streetcars. We still need your help to ensure that we can transport these streetcars to the National City Depot and begin restoration efforts on them. Please help us by donating to our GoFundMe campaign and by sharing our campaign with your friends and family. https://charity.gofundme.com//sandiegoelectricrailwayassoc

The San Diego Electric Railway operated twenty-four Class 1 Streetcars 1912 to 1939. The Class 1 Streetcar was designed to serve as the state of the art transportation for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. They were retired from service in 1939 and most were scrapped or converted into homes. These three cars were saved by a citizen who saw the historical significance behind these cars and began restoration efforts on these three Streetcar bodies. The San Diego Elec...tric Railway Association is honored that we have been selected to receive SDERY Car 126, SDERY Car 128 and SDERY Car 138 as additions to our collection. The San Diego Electric Railway Association has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with the costs of transporting these three streetcars to our museum along with the costs to begin vital restoration and preservation work on these cars to prevent damage and prepare them for public display. You can help us reach our goal by sharing our campaign with your friends and family and by donating at the following link. https://charity.gofundme.com//save-three-historic-san-dieg See more

Breaking News!!! We are excited to announce that we have been selected to received a donation of three San Diego Electric Railway Class 1 Streetcars! We are in need of funds to transport the three cars to the National City Depot and to begin restoration efforts on the three streetcars. These three Streetcar bodies are currently affixed to flatbed trailers and will require semi-truck to move the Streetcars. All three of the Streetcars will require a significant amount of restoration to preserve them and make them ready for display at our museum. We have started a GoFundMe Charity Campaign to help raise money for our transportation and restoration expenses. Please help us by donating and by sharing our GoFundMe Campaign with all of your friends.

The past two weekends a few of our dedicated volunteers have been hard at work (social distanced, wearing masks, following state/county guidelines) clearing the weeds that have accumulated at the National City Depot during the public health closure. Even though we may not be able to open our doors to the general public that doesn’t mean that we have stopped our restoration efforts. Do you want to help support the National City Depot? We are in need of volunteers to help support the depot during the reopening process as well as our many in progress and planned restoration projects. If you are interested please visit www.sdera.org/volunteer.php. You can also support the National City Depot by donating. To learn more about how you can donate please visit www.sdera.org/donate.php.

The San Diego Electric Railway Association Board of Directors has been hard at work creating a safe reopening plan. Unfortunately, San Diego County has again been placed under state mandated restrictions which will prevent us from opening at this time. The Board of Directors will continue to monitor the situation and will continue to plan for a safe reopening once the restrictions have been lifted. Please consider supporting the National City Depot during this prolonged clo...sure. How can you help? We are in need of volunteers to help support the depot during the reopening process. If you are interested please visit www.sdera.org/volunteer.php. You can also support the National City Depot by donating. To learn more about how you can donate please visit www.sdera.org/donate.php.

Are you interested in volunteering at the National City Depot? We are currently looking for dedicated individuals with an interest in preserving the history of San Diego’s railroads. Some opportunities include museum docent, wood working, exhibit restoration, fundraising, vehicle restoration, grounds improvement and maintenance. If you are interested please visit www.sdera.org/volunteer for more information.

AmazonSmile customers can now support the San Diego Electric Railway Association in the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones! Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations. 1. Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device 2. Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into 'Settings'... 3. Tap 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process If you do not have the latest version of the Amazon Shopping app, update your app.

Have you found yourself shopping online more recently? Do you want to help support the San Diego Electric Railway Association? Shop at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to the San Diego Electric Railway Association. There are no fees and no extra costs and best of all you can still use your AmazonPrime.

Ken Kramer’s About San Diego recently did a railroad themed episode where he visited the National City Depot and our friends at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum. Make sure to check this episode out to learn more about San Diego.

Did you know that you can purchase official National City Depot merchandise online from our official Teespring Store? We currently have a selection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags and mugs available for purchase.

On June 6, 2020, the National City Depot had its 1950s Rea Express Baggage Cart brought back restored. It was restored by James S., and driven to the depot by his father Bob. The unit now has 4 new tires (tractor tires since the original tires are no longer available). The new boards for the deck were cut and varnished by James grandfather Tom C. Once the depot is reopened, you can view this first class restoration. Jeff T