All Aboard for the 2015 Central Coast Railroad Festival

San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum to host Popular Festival October 1st to 4th

Events, Programs and Displays throughout San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara Counties

September 10, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum will be hosting the 2015 Central Coast Railroad Festival from October 1st to 4th. The Central Coast Railroad Festival is a broad based festival which spotlights numerous types of railroading in the heart of the California Central Coast. The Festival focuses on rail history, exhibits, programs, music, safety education, art displays, rail excursions, and model railroading of all types. Activities will take place at numerous railroad, historical and educational locations throughout San Luis Obispo County. The Railroad Festival is designed to please both casual train buffs and avid rail fans as well as delight tourists and locals of all ages. Most Festival activities will be free and all will be fun and very family friendly.

Major 2015 Festival venues in San Luis Obispo are the SLO Railroad Museum, the SLO downtown Library, the History Center of SLO County and the SLO Thursday Night Farmers? Market. Festival program partners around the region include numerous SLO County Library branches, Cal Poly University, Amtrak?s Operation Lifesaver, Camp Roberts, the Oceano Depot, SLO?s Jack House, the Santa Maria Valley Railway Historical Museum and the Paso Robles Pioneer Museum. The only venue that charges a small admission fee is the SLO Railroad Museum. SLORRM attendees will receive free admission during the Festival if they show an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner or Coast Starlight ticket receipt from anytime during the Festival week.

The 2015 Festival will again offer a wide variety of programs, activities and displays. Numerous railroad story times for children will take place at area libraries during September. A kiddie coloring project has been developed by the Libraries and the Central Coast Family magazine. Many children's activities will also be offered at the Railroad Museum on Saturday and Sunday. A Friday night adult rail excursion to Pomar Junction Winery will feature a ride on Amtrak's Coast Starlight. Various walking and biking tours will be offered as will programs on local railroads, railroad history and area history. The Festival will take part in Arts Obispo's Art After Dark on Friday night with displays at the SLO Library and the History Center. A detailed Schedule of all events with event descriptions is available in several formats at CCRRF.com. A detailed map showing all events locations is also available through the website.

The staff from the Model Railroads of Southern California has again organized a great model train layout tour featuring 30 different layouts from Paso Robles to Lompoc. These layouts will feature most model scales and will focus on club and museum layouts as well as individuals' home and garden layouts. The majority of the garden railroad layouts are located in the Santa Maria and Paso Robles areas. Major club layouts can be viewed at the SLO Railroad Museum, SLO Library (large N-Scale modular layout from the Orange County 'N'-Gineers) and at the Oceano Depot (HO and N-Scale layouts from the San Luis Obispo Model Railroad Assoc.) Other large layouts will be featured at Central Valley Model Works in Oceano, Central Coast Trains in Atascadero and at the Lompoc Valley Model Railroad and Historical Society. A detailed Model Layout Tour Schedule with layout descriptions and driving directions can be downloaded from the schedule page at CCRRF.com.

The festival is proud to welcome back Amtrak, Union Pacific Railroad and the Santa Maria Valley Railroad as the 2015 major festival sponsors. The City of San Luis Obispo and its Tourist Business Improvement District are the Festival's major promotional supporters. Additional promotional partners include the Tribune Newspaper, Central Coast Family Magazine, and KSBY and CW5 TV stations. The Sands Inn and Suites is the Festival's Featured Hotel.

The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum was founded as a regional non-profit educational museum for the public benefit. The Museum's Grand Opening was the focal point of the Central Coast Railroad Festival in 2013. The Museum's mission is to preserve the railroad history of California and the Central Coast by collecting, restoring and displaying artifacts as well as operating historic railroad equipment. The Museum is fast becoming a community treasure and the organization continues to seek broad support, funding and new members to achieve its future goals. The Museum is open every Saturday from 10am to 4pm and, in addition to the biennial Railroad Festival, also hosts other annual events such as San Luis Obispo Train Day in early May and special holiday activities and displays in December. The Museum is housed in the circa 1894 Southern Pacific Freight House at 1940 Santa Barbara Avenue in San Luis Obispo. The SLORRM adjoins the main tracks for the Union Pacific and Amtrak trains. The Museum is a short walk south of the Amtrak Station and is surrounded by vintage rail equipment including La Cuesta, its 1926 parlor car.

Central Coast Railroad Festival details, schedules and archives are available here: CCRRF.com. Complete Railroad Museum history and upcoming event information is available on the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum's web site: www.slorrm.com

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Contact:
Curtis Reinhardt, Events Committee
San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum
805-773-4173
director2015@ccrrf.com