Announcement Email

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July 16, 2024

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2024 Festival Participants/Sponsors

Below is a list of confirmed Participants and Sponsors so far for the 2024 Central Coast Railroad Festival. If you or your organization is interested in participating, please use the appropriate email or the phone number on the Contact page.

Friends of SMVRR BBQ is August 17

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 17, 2024, 11am to 3pm. A Santa Maria style tri-tip BBQ lunch will be served. Tours and 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. Here are the details. Early Bird $30, August 10-15 $35. Members only (join now!).

Model Layout Tour Forming Now

Participating in the Railroad Festival's layout tour is a great way to share your work and meet your fellow model and garden railroaders. You've probably worked hard on your railroad so you might as well get some recognition from people who will appreciate your efforts. We are only asking owners to be open for four or more hours on just one day of the Festival (Oct. 4-6). Additional days and hours are at the owner's option, including "early bird" showings on Thursday, October 3. And we are asking owners in Santa Maria and areas south of Santa Maria to be open only on Sunday, October 6. All you need to do is operate your trains. Bob Chaparro does all the planning and publicity, as he's done for sixty-three previous tours since 2006, including eleven previous tours for the Central Coast Railroad Festival. This will be a free, self-guided tour. No buses will be used. For questions or to sign up, contact: ModelTours@CCRRF.com, Bob Chaparro.

Exploration Discovery Center Joins the Festival

The Exploration Discovery Center of Grover Beach (a Children's Museum) will be joining the Central Coast Railroad Festival this year. They have a new O-gauge model train exhibit with two of the trains operable by visitors. The train display was designed by Charles Kinzer of the SLO Railroad Museum. The Exploration Discovery Center is located at 867 Ramona Avenue, Grover Beach, (805) 473-1421. They're open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm and admission prices are: Seniors $10, adults $15, and children $5. GBDiscoveryCenter.org.

Schnittker Photography Joins the Festival

The Central Coast Railroad Festival and the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum are also excited to have Schnittker Photography joining the Festival for the first time this year. They specialize in Magic Lantern shows (one of the earliest forms of cinema), Tintype Photography (black-and-white photos on metal), and Telegraphy. They'll be exhibiting tintype photography and telegraphy (hands-on!) at the SLO Railroad Museum on the Saturday of the Festival (October 5th). Here's their website, theLanternist.net, which includes a list of other events where they appear throughout the year in California and a couple points on the east side of the country.

Photo Contest Deadline: 2 Months Away

The deadline to submit your photos to the SLO Railroad Museum's 2024 Photo Contest is September 15, 2024 - about 2 months away! Here are the complete photo contest guidelines. There will be one first-place winner with a prize of $100, one second-place winner at $50, and one third-place winner given a free one-year membership to the Museum. SLORRM may choose to acknowledge Honorable Mentions with no cash prize or award. All winning photos, including any Honorable Mentions, will be displayed in the Museum for one year.

SLO is #5 on CNN's Best Towns of 2024

San Luis Obispo is #5 on CNN's "America's Best Towns to Visit 2024"! While the write-up included only a glancing nod to the railroads and railroad history of our town, it sure made it clear the town includes, as they put it, "gorgeous landscapes, retro West Coast attractions and modern buzz." Read all about it at The town that is pure California perfection.

Video of a Sunset Wine/Rail Excursion

The SLO Railroad Museum recently posted a video clip on Facebook of sights from their Sunset Wine/Rail Excursions. The video can be found on their Facebook page. These excursions are SOLD OUT for the rest of this year, but watch for postings of 2025 excursions.

UP Historical Society Convention Details

The Union Pacific Historical Society recently posted details for their convention this summer. It will be an online gathering on two Saturdays in August, the 17th and the 24th. There is no admission fee, but a donation is requested, and you must get a ticket which will be available soon through the website store. Here's the UPHS Convention webpage.

Rocky Mountaineer and Rare Mileage

Your Announcement Email editor happened to take a fabulous rail journey back in June. It was on the Rocky Mountaineer's "Rockies to the Red Rocks" which runs the portion of the California Zephyr route from Denver, CO to Moab, UT. The trip also included a bit of rare mileage for rail-riders on the last few miles of the trip from Brendel, UT toward Moab, UT on the Cane Creek subdivision but stopping about 12 miles short of Moab. For more about this trip, including some photos, go to the post on ToShinyRails.com.

Operation Lifesaver Shares Summer Tips

From a recent posting at the California Operation Lifesaver website, "All outdoor activities should be done with safety in mind. Safety includes making the right choices near railroad tracks and trains. Making Rail-Safe Choices should always be a priority. Never let your activities take you on or near tracks and trains." Check out all the information at "Summertime: make rail safe choices - share the message - help save lives".

Photo Essay of the Pacific Coast Railroad

The web/blog site Avoiding Regret ("Making up for lost time and missed opportunities, one adventure at a time") recently posted story and photos from her recent visit to the Pacific Coast Railroad at the Santa Margarita Ranch during the Best of the West weekend. Here is her June 22nd Photo Essay: A Triple Train Tour Through Santa Margarita Ranch, via Pacific Coast Railroad.

Photo Essay of the Halter Ranch Railroad

And we found another relevant photo essay on the web/blog site Avoiding Regret ("Making up for lost time and missed opportunities, one adventure at a time"), this time about the Halter Ranch Railroad. Here is her July 11th Photo Essay: Touring Halter Ranch Vineyard Estate on a Railroad of Replica Swiss Rolling Stock.

National Train Show, Long Beach, August 9-11

The 2024 National Train Show (by the NMRA) is being held in conjunction with the National Convention of the NMRA in Long Beach, CA. The Show will run August 9-11, 2024. Online ticket sales are available now. Here's the Show website.

Ghost Trains of San Juan Capistrano Evaporating

A while back we wrote about the all-too-often happening in the San Juan Capistrano area of railroad crossing gates coming down when no train was anywhere near the crossing. New technology, the Wireless Crossing Nearside Station Stop (WCNSS) system was recently installed at the Del Obispo Street crossing that will eliminate "ghost trains." Read the June 1st article here: "Metrolink implements Wireless Crossing Nearside Station Stop system at Del Obispo Street crossing".

Travelogue: Pacific Surfliner LA to San Diego

Karen Palmer wrote an interesting article published in SFGate.com on June 25, 2024, about her trip from Los Angeles to San Diego aboard Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner. It's all here: The beauty and dread of California's most stunning train ride.

11 Ridiculously Beautiful Train Trips in CA

Check out this story/photo blog entry about these eleven train rides in CA: Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, Santa Cruz Beach Train, Napa Valley Wine Train, Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, Skunk Train, River Fox Train, California Zephyr, Redwood Forest Steam Train, Niles Canyon Railway, and Amtrak Capitol Corridor. By Sophie Davis: 11 Scenic Train Rides In California That Are RIDICULOUSLY Beautiful.

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.

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