The Southern California Railway Museum is proud to share the completion of an Eagle Scout Service Project by Jared Botwin-Lazarow, a Life Scout with Troop 788 of Redondo Beach, California.
Jared and his team of 23 volunteers worked through the weekend of August 2–3, 2025—braving 104° heat and even camping overnight at the museum—to restore the historic Hobo Camp exhibit and adjacent campground.
The project included rebuilding the two housing structures, repairing and replacing display elements such as cots, storage trunks, wood furniture, and kitchenware, and adding new historical details. Jared also designed new educational signage, larger and more detailed than the originals, to share the history of hobo life in the 1930s with visitors for years to come.
At the museum campground, the team restructured the layout, rebuilt and organized firewood storage, cleaned rock pathways, and created a functional kitchen area to support both cooking and meal preparation for special events/experiences. Extensive groundskeeping cleared dense layers of fallen leaves, improving accessibility and overall appearance. To highlight the museum’s mission, historical railroad artifacts were incorporated into the area.
