Join our Volunteer Team
Volunteers are essential to Travel Town’s preservation and education programs.
We offer a variety of volunteer opportunities for both teens and adults!
INDIVIDUALS
STUDENT SERVICE HOURS
COMMUNITY GROUPS
SCOUT TROOPS
If you are interested in volunteering, please click here or on any of the categories below to apply on-line or call (323) 668-0104 ext. 12.
Below are examples of the great volunteer activities that the Foundation supports at Travel Town!
Tour Guides & Docents
Our Docent Team members literally "speak for the trains" by leading tours through and around the historical locomotives and passenger cars. The team brings history to life through tours, demonstrations, storytelling and by simply answering questions from curious visitors. Docents are needed for public tours on weekends and at special events, as well as for school field trip visits during the week.
Museum Conservation
In Travel Town's open-air environment, keeping the historic trains free from dust and cobwebs is an ongoing challenge! This chore of cleaning is an integral aspect of preserving these important pieces of history. Using long handled soft brushes, rags, and other specific tools, our volunteers learn how to safely help conserve and protect the historical artifacts.
Gardening & Outdoor Team
Our volunteer gardeners help maintain the museum grounds, tend to our unique Dining Car China Garden, and care for other special outdoor areas at Travel Town. The Gardening Team helps the Museum to be be "green" in more ways than one - helping with our CRV recycling program as well as leaf and weed abatement around the trains and workyard. You don't need a "green thumb" to apply!
Track & Signal Maintainance
Travel Town has over 4,000 feet of standard gauge railroad track for display and train operations, as well as switches, crossovers and working track-side signals. Maintenance and new installations keep our volunteer track and signal workers busy year-round. Many of the jobs can be physically demanding, but a volunteer can learn a great amount about railroad construction and engineering!
Train Maintainance & Restoration
We have a great team of dedicated men and women who are working diligently to restore many of Travel Town's historic cars and locomotives to their former glory. The projects encompass a wide spectrum of disciplines and talents - including carpentry, wood-finishing, metalworking, sign-painting, plumbing and electrical wiring. If you have expertise in any of these areas, we'd like to hear from you!
Behind the Scenes Volunteers
Much of Travel Town's volunteer work is done outside the view of most museum visitors. We need volunteers to do research, archival documentation, exhibit creation, artwork replication, graphic arts and website design. It takes hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes efforts to keep the Museum and the Foundation operating. Do you have some time and talent to spare?
Student Service-Learning Hours
High school students can earn credit/hours for service-learning requirements! Depending on individual interests and skills, student volunteers can participate in nearly all areas of work at the museum. Travel Town welcomes teens 14 and older to apply! Student volunteers are among our most valuable and hard-working team members! Click the "Student Service-Learning Hours" link above to get started!
Community Group Volunteering
Is your civic organization, local business, church organization, or Scout troop looking for a great way to "give back" through a community service project? We welcome organized "Group Volunteering"! Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator - we have lots of opportunity ideas! Maybe just a few hours on a single day event or even set up a multi-day or regularly-repeating program? Click on the "Community Group Volunteering" link above or below to send us an email or phone us at 323-668-0104 Ext. 12.
All volunteers at Travel Town are registered and serve the City of Los Angeles, Dept. of Recreation & Parks through the Museum Volunteer Program.
Interviews for new volunteers are scheduled regularly – please use the links above to express your interest.
Please telephone our Volunteer Coordinator for more information at 323-668-0104 Ext. 12.