To Shiny Rails

The Santa Maria Valley Railroad hosted hazmat training by TRANSCAER at its Betteravia yard (SMVRR headquarters). Photos include the UP 1983 heritage Western Pacific locomotive that brought the train to Guadalupe. http://SMVRR.com/111018.html

There were lots of great photo opps at Goleta Railroad Days! http://www.friends-smvrr.org/110917.html

This was quite a trip. Went to KC to visit family a little and get caught up on Dad’s backyard railroad. Then on to Omaha for the “main event”, Union Pacific’s Short Line Workshop. The first day (Sunday) was all fun stuff, a train ride on eight of UP’s heritage fleet cars followed by a reception at the Joslyn Art Museum. Monday and Tuesday morning were the workshop itself. And did I mention that I took the Pacific Surfliner SLO-Burbank in order to catch Southwest flights?… Lots of photos: http://jf2.com/110826/110828.html

Seven Friends of the SMVRR spent some time roaming about south and east of Santa Maria looking for evidence of the Pacific Coast Railway and the Santa Maria Valley Railroad right-of-ways in this area now void of tracks. It’s been many decades, but the right-of-way can be spotted here and there if you know what to look for… Photos: http://www.friends-smvrr.org/110813.html

The Santa Maria Valley Railroad celebrated its 100th Anniversary today with a ceremony and excursion at the railroad follwed by a tri-tip BBQ, birthday cake, and train rides at the Bitter Creek Western Railroad on the Nipomo Mesa. All the photos: http://SMVRR.com/110710.html

At last night’s Friends of the SMVRR monthly program meeting, we showed slides and talked about the annual Fall train ride meeting of the California Short Line Railroad Association. Most of the photos are here: http://www.cslra.org/101111-CSLRA-Reno.html