To Shiny Rails

The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum recently posted a historical document that attempts to track all the folks who have worked for railroads in the area since railroads were a thing. You can imagine the undertaking to put this data together! And I’m quite proud to say that I’m included in this “People Tracker” having worked for the Santa Maria Valley Railroad as Conductor and Trainmaster. I also served as Director, Business Administrator, and Webmaster. This was mainly 2009-2017, but I was involved with SMVRR and its related Friends organization starting in 2006 when Coast Belle Rail Corp bought the railroad from the Hancock descendants; see the Change of Ownership event. [Update: I continued web mastering for both the railroad and Friends through 2021.]

Probably the 2nd largest day at the SLO Railroad Museum (behind the Central Coast Railroad Festival, perhaps). Lots of activities and people. Notables this year included a new exhibit opening of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, a presentation by Cindy Ransick about the new book Historic Santa Maria Valley, an Amtrak talk by Dave Weisman, and considerable progress on the Museum’s model railroad.

Story/Photos…

After some introductory remarks and a brief update on the railroad, Rob Himoto presented his new 45-minute slideshow spanning the existence of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad and its impact on the development of the City of Santa Maria. This program was held at the Santa Maria Library’s Shepard Hall (421 S. McClelland Street). All the pics: http://friends-smvrr.org/160127.html

As usual, Kevin took great care of us as we headed south and east of Santa Maria to track the route of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad to the end of its line at Roadamite and then follow the Pacific Coast Railway right-of-way from Palmer back into town. And we got some “rare mileage” out of the deal! Kevin got permission (and the gate code) from the private property owner where the Roadamite oil loading racks were located. We stood at the very spot that was the end of the line.

All the pics are here.

The right-of-way went just underneath the line indicated.

Lunch at the Garey Store

Just ahead of the group is the end of the line for the SMVRR.

The California Shortline Railroad Association held its Fall Meeting and Train Ride November 4-6, 2015. We met in San Pedro, toured the harbor by boat, and then took the BNSF Special to San Diego. The next morning we boarded the train for the return to San Pedro. All the pics are here.

I gave a talk on the SMVRR at the SLO Railroad Museum on Saturday morning. I also gave a talk Thursday evening at the SLO Library entitled “Railroading Galore in the Greater SLO Area” (PDF of the slides). All the photos, schedule, etc. are still available at the CCRRF website. I particularly enjoyed the participation by the Jack House and the SLO History Center.