To Shiny Rails

The Central Coast Rail Road Festival (CCRRF) is a local effort to create a major annual railroad event here on the Central Coast of California. The idea is to bring together under this one umbrella a plethora of activities by the numerous railroad interests in the area (San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties).

The First Annual CCRRF is set for October 8-12, 2009.

The Schedule was just recently updated, and is starting to look interesting now. And there’s much more coming…

Here’s the web site: http://ccrrf.com/

I had some leftover passage on an Amtrak multi-ticket that was about to expire, so I hopped on the train in Grover Beach for a day trip to Santa Barbara. Interestingly, this was the first time I’ve done a trip like this solo.

The pics from this trip include: shots from the train on the way south, the marina in Santa Barbara, various trains through SB during the day, The Brewhouse, a skateboard park, Chase Palm Park, and the trip home which included the train striking someone on the tracks.

All the pics are here: http://jf2.com/090726/

Family and Friends of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad had a little birthday party today for the railroad which recently turned 98 years old!

All the pics are here: http://www.friends-smvrr.org/090712.html

Virlon took us through an introductory workshop on hand signals.

The page: http://www.friends-smvrr.org/090709.html

A couple of family members joined me today at Bitter Creek for the 4th day of railroading fun at Bitter Creek over the 4th of July weekend.

The full page is here: http://www.bittercreekwesternrr.org/090705.html