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July 21, 2023

Content

• Detailed Festival Schedules
• Pacific Coast Railroad Joins the Festival
• Pacific Coast Railroad Video Released
• G-scale Railroad Layout at SLO Museum
• Coming Soon: Swanton Pacific Railroad
• Overfair Pacific Railroad Society
• Friends of SMVRR Open House Aug. 19th
• Two Railroad Photo Contests
• Central Coast Model Railroad Photos
• Morgan Car Club Visits SLO Railroad Museum
• Dana Adobe Sunday Speaker: Who Counted as Family?
• Lose Our Most Beautiful Train Rides?
• 2023 CCRRF Participants - So Far
• Area Railroading Opportunities
• Want Your News/Event Promoted? (It's free)
• Want to Subscribe? (It's free)

Detailed Festival Schedules

While some adjustments may be made between now and then, you can see flesh on the bones of this October's Central Coast Railroad Festival. The overall Festival schedule is here. The schedule at the SLO Railroad Museum is here.

Pacific Coast Railroad Joins the Festival

The Pacific Coast Railroad Company will be joining the Railroad Festival this year! They'll be open Saturday only, 10am-3pm, at the Historic Santa Margarita Ranch, 9000 Yerba Buena, Santa Margarita, CA. Their steam locomotive #3 and two of the historic Santa Fe & Disneyland coaches will take guests on a 1.6-mile journey around the historic Santa Margarita Ranch founded in 1774 and features numerous buildings that are listed on the National Register. Round trip for adults is $10, children 3-12 are $5, and 2 and under are free. Other optional rides are available in their 1930 Model A Railtruck. Other rail equipment will be on display and seen from the train. Here's the PCRR Facebook page.

Pacific Coast Railroad Video Released

Molly Engelman Media recently posted a video on YouTube that they made during the Best of the West 2023 event held at the Santa Margarita Ranch at the end of May. The 5-minute video has some great shots of the railroad and interviews with two of the folks that work on the railroad, Aaron Kahn and CJ Vargas. See it here.

G-scale Railroad Layout at SLO Museum

Members of the Central California Coast Garden Railroad Society (CCCGRS.org) will have a specially designed, 5'x12', G-scale layout on the platform at the SLO Railroad Museum for this year's Festival on Saturday (October 7th).

Coming Soon: Swanton Pacific Railroad

A 7/14/2023 Facebook post by the Pacific Coast Railroad Company (PCRR) stirred up a bit of excitement. The post opened with "Coming soon to the Santa Margarita Ranch!" and showed a photo of a Swanton Pacific Ranch sign post with a silhouette image of one of Swanton's locomotives. The post continued "This week was spent developing plans and starting the removal and recovery process. First truckload heading south next week." Looks like some amount of Swanton Pacific Railroad is coming to the Santa Margarita Ranch. As you may recall, the Swanton Pacific Railroad suffered tremendous losses in the CZU Lightning Complex fires of 2020, to the point that Cal Poly University at SLO, the land and railroad owner following Albert Smith's legacy gift in 1993, announced they were divesting themselves of the railroad's remaining assets and looking for suitable homes. Looks like the PCRR will be one of those homes.

Overfair Pacific Railroad Society

Related to the story just above about the Swanton Pacific Railroad equipment moving to the Santa Margarita Ranch... There's a new non-profit railroad organization forming up at the Ranch to go along with the equipment move: the Overfair Pacific Railroad Society. As their new website says, "It's not just locomotives that make a railroad, it's the people behind them. We'll be telling their stories for years to come..." They intend to accept new members and donations soon. There's a recent post on Facebook about this new development, here. Their YouTube channel, now named Overfair Pacific (Swanton) Railroad, contains 55 videos going back to at least 2012 and includes post-fire videos as well.

Friends of SMVRR Open House Aug. 19th

Friends of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad members are invited to this year's Annual Open House and BBQ hosted by the Santa Maria Valley Railroad on Saturday, August 19th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. There will be a full slate of tours and demonstrations along with a train ride. A Santa Maria style tri-tip BBQ lunch will be served - $25.00 per person. Locomotive tours along with equipment demonstrations by SMVRR employees will be held. There will be a silent auction and the company store will be open - all of the profits will go toward the Betty Himoto Memorial Scholarship Fund. Details here. Members only (join now!).

Two Railroad Photo Contests

Two railroad-related photo contests are underway in the central coast area! Details for each are here: SLO Railroad Museum Photo Contest (deadline: 9/15/2023), and the Friends of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad Photo Contest (10/1/2023 deadline).

Central Coast Model Railroad Photos

The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum recently posted current photos of their Central Coast Model Railroad. If you haven't yet visited this fabulous model railroad that depicts the coastline railroad (Surf to Templeton) and some of the Pacific Coast Railway (Avila Beach area), these photos may entice you to pay the railroad a visit.

Morgan Car Club Visits
SLO Railroad Museum

The Morgan Sports Car Club of Northern California (MSCCNC, norcalmog.com) held a touring event in Morro Bay July 7-9, 2023. On that Saturday evening, they did a Group Drive to the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum for a group BBQ. A few pics from that event are here.

Dana Adobe Sunday Speaker:
Who Counted as Family?

Colleen Beck presents on August 20th at 1pm: "Who counted as family?" and "What godparenting meant to the Danas?" Details for this and other events are on their website: DanaAdobe.org.

Lose Our Most Beautiful Train Rides?

Pat Morrison recently wrote an interesting article in the L.A. Times (which was reprinted by MSN.com). The title is "Is California about to lose its most beautiful train ride?" And while it does talk about threats to the coastline routes, it's also interesting for its history of coastline trains in California. Click here.

2023 CCRRF Participants - So Far

This year's Central Coast Railroad Festival (CCRRF) is scheduled for October 6-8, 2023. If you'd like to be on this list of Participants, confirm your participation by contacting: Conductor@CCRRF.com.

• San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum (SLORRM), Host
• CCRRF Model Layout Tour (Last Year's Details)
• Model Railroads of Southern California
• Orange County 'N' Gineers
• San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum's 2023 Photo Contest
• Central Coast Trains
• Railroad Vendors and Exhibitors on the Platform (@SLORRM)
• Central California Coast Garden Railroad Society
• Central Coast Model Railroad (@SLORRM)
• Railroad BBQ Co. (@SLORRM)
• SLO Model Railroad Association
• Oceano Depot
• Rock-n-Roll Diner
• Grover Station Grill
• Santa Maria Valley Historical Society Museum
• Ted Waterhouse (music, @SLORRM)
• Paso Robles Pioneer Museum
• Dana Adobe and Cultural Center
• Jack House and Gardens
• Dallidet Adobe and Gardens
• Hands-On Model Railroad Layout (@SLORRM)
• Operation Lifesaver (@SLORRM)
• Halter Ranch Vineyard/Railroad (New in '23)
• Railroad Modeling talk by Bob Chaparro (@SLORRM)
• "Point San Luis Lighthouse" by Kathy Mastako (@SLORRM)
• San Luis Obispo County Library
• Pacific Coast Railroad Company (New in '23)

Area Railroading Opportunities

There's a plethora of railroading going on in our area (broadly speaking, in some cases). Check out this Index of Area Railroading. Be sure to check with any of interest to you to verify their open status and schedules.

Want Your News/Event Promoted?

Do you have a Central Coast railroad-related event or news item to add to our next broadcast email? It's free! And it doesn't have to be part of the Festival itself (could be any time throughout the year). Email the details to: addevent@ccrrf.com. The next issue will likely be in a month or so. See the Announcements Index for past e-blasts.

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