Announcement Email

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April 11, 2025

Content

"All Aboard!" for 2025 Participants/Sponsors

To participate, all you need to do is offer a rail-related or rail-themed activity or venue to the public sometime over the weekend of the Festival (October 3-5, 2025). You may charge a fee, or not. We encourage you to offer something special to Festival attendees, but that is not required. There is no fee for being included in the Festival schedule and promotion. See the 2024 Schedule to get an idea of what can be done. If you're interested, email the Conductor@CCRRF.com. Likewise, if you're interested in sponsoring some part of the event, also email the Conductor@CCRRF.com to learn about sponsorship opportunities and benefits.

We must have a commitment by July 15th in order to be on the 2025 Poster.

Already Signed-On for 2025:

Reminder of Upcoming Events

Best of the West Antique Equipment Show
May 23-25, 2025

The Best of the West Antique Equipment Show will take place at the Santa Margarita Ranch on May 23-25, 2025. Rides on the Pacific Coast Railroad will be available! From their website: "Get an up-close and hands-on look at antique equipment, including tractors, engines, cars, steam trains, airplanes and much more. Hosted at the historic Santa Margarita Ranch on California’s beautiful central coast, this unique event is fun for the whole family!" If you're not familiar with the railroad, here's a 6-minute video.

SLORRM 2025 Photo Contest is Open

The SLO Railroad Museum's 2025 Photo Contest is now OPEN. The deadline for submittals is September 15, 2025, 5pm, PDT. Here are the complete 2025 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. This year you may submit photos of appropriate model railroads as well (see the Guidelines).

National Garden Railway Convention
Sacramento, CA, June 18-22, 2025

The 40th Annual National Garden Railway Convention will take place in Sacramento, CA June 18-22, 2025. Convention events include Layout Tours, Clinics, Making Trains Fun, Youth Clinics, Ice Cream Sundae Social, Vendor Hall, Model Contest, and a Banquet. The event is hosted by the Sacramento Valley Garden Railway Society at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center.

SLO Railroad Museum Seeks Model RR Volunteers

The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum (SLORRM) is looking for people to join the Central Coast Model Railroad (CCMR, located in the Museum). Here's a chance to talk with people about trains, research history about trains in our area, model trains and surrounding buildings and landscapes, and operate a large model railroad. For more information, call the SLORRM at 805-548-1894 and leave a message for Andrew Merriam, CCMR Superintendent.

UP1616 "Lincoln Locomotive" to Debut April 30

Union Pacific Railroad will soon unveil its second locomotive commemorating a U.S. President. This time it's for Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, and the loco will be numbered UP1616. The design was unveiled this past February on President's Day, and the loco will make its debut on April 30th (by invitation only, live stream on UP.com). The first such locomotive was UP4141 for our 41st President, George Herbert Walker Bush; see photos of UP4141 in San Luis Obispo on 11/30/2018. See the UP1616 press release dated 2/17/2025. The paint scheme of UP1616 will match the design of UP4141 but will use the colors from the Lincoln era of black, red, and maroon which match the colors used on the Jupiter locomotive, UP119, at the Golden Spike in 1869. A limited-edition commemorative poster is available at the UP Store.

Central Coast Rail Spectacular Tour

Trains & Travel International will be running their "Central Coast Rail Spectacular Tour" to our area May 10-12, 2025. Folks joining the tour will arrive and depart mostly by train (but driving here is an option, too), and while here, participants will visit the SLO Railroad Museum, Norgrove Railway, Bitter Creek Western Railroad, the Pacific Coast Railroad Company (including the Overfair Pacific Railroad), and Halter Ranch Railroad. Tour details start here: Central Coast Rail Spectacular Tour.

Schnittker Photography at Renaissance Festival

Schnittker Photography will be at the Central Coast Renaissance Festival, July 19-20, 2025, in San Luis Obispo's beautiful Laguna Lake Park. They'll be doing tintype photography. They'll also be at the SLO Railroad Museum on the Saturday of the Railroad Festival (October 4, 2025) doing tintypes and telegraphy.

Bitter Creek Hosts Attendees of NMRA Convention

The Bitter Creek Western Railroad had a great day on March 28 hosting attendees of the NMRA Convention who were in San Luis Obispo for that weekend. Check out these photos from the event.

Great Day of Speeders at Niles Canyon Railway

Motorcar Operators West teamed up with Niles Canyon Railway to offer speeder rides on the railway this past March 29th. Everyone had such a great time that the two groups are thinking about repeating the event this Fall. Check out this photo from the event.

Things To Do in SLO While in Town

Here's an article full of things to do while in San Luis Obispo area for the Railroad Festival (or any time, for that matter!): 14 BEST Things to Do in San Luis Obispo.

Santa Margarita Historical Society: Railroad

The Santa Margarita Historical Society has a fair amount of information about the railroad, the Southern Pacific Railroad, which steamed through in 1889 from the north on its way to San Luis Obispo (1894). Here's an article by Loren Nicholson, "Railroad Days in Early Santa Margarita." They also have a searchable archives with railroad-related information.

Templeton Historical Museum "Yard Sale" May 3rd

The Templeton Historical Museum is having a Yard Sale on May 3, 2025 from 8am to 3pm. It's free to attend, but the treasures you find might set you back a bit. As they say, it's a "Yard Sale of Historical Proportions! Many great items – some antique – can be found, as members and community folks donate their gently used items to support the museum."

San Luis Obispo Train Station: Brief History

Wikipedia has a nice, brief history of the San Luis Obispo Train Station. The current station was built in 1943, replacing the original station from 1894. Originally, it served only Southern Pacific's "Coast Starlight." In 1995, Amtrak's "San Diegan" was extended to San Luis Obispo and was renamed the "Pacific Surfliner" in 2000. Here's a fun fact from the Wikipedia page: the station served 109,784 passengers in FY 2023 (about 300/day on average).

Around the World in 100 Days - By Train!

The train departs in March of 2026 and has only 12 seats available (in total!). The journey takes the intrepid dozen across 14 countries: France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Japan, Canada and the USA. The California Zephyr is included. The trip also includes two ocean cruises (obviously), one across the Pacific and one across the Atlantic. The trip originates in London and travels easterly (entirely, of course). Double occupancy is £89,950/person (single is £112,900). Check it out at Adventures by Train. And/Or read this article: MSN: New rail tour takes passengers around the world in 100 days.

Mini-Ferroequinologist's Christmas Poem

The Gold Coast Garden Railway Society makes this Christmas poem (ala The Night Before Christmas) available on its website. It's quite fun! Read it: The Mini-Ferroequinologist's Night Before Christmas.

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 Rail-Related News/Event Promoted?
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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 about any organization at any time throughout the year). Email the details to: addevent@ccrrf.com. The next issue will likely be in a month or so. We have about 940 subscribers and about 1500 Facebook followers.

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Norgrove Triple Header
Triple-header at Norgrove Railway (April 2025)
Take a lap via YouTube (May 2023)