San Luis Obispo to
Santa Barbara...
A. San Luis Obispo train station. The present
station was built in 1942 by the South-
ern Pacific Railroad in a Spanish Colo-
nial Revival architectural style. The
original depot was located just a bit
south and was built in 1895 and demol-
ished in 1971. Pictured: the UP #4141
sits in front of the old Southern Pacific
water tower.
B. Conoco Phillips refinery. The ConocoPhil-
lips Santa Maria Refinery was built on
the Arroyo Grande mesa in the 1950s.
The Santa Maria Refinery is considered
to be part of the greater San Francisco
Refinery that is composed of two facili-
ties, the Santa Maria Refinery and the
San Francisco area Rodeo Refinery,
linked by a 200-mile pipeline. This refin-
ery processes mainly heavy, high-sulfur
crude oil. The pile of bright yellow mate-
rial is sulfur. Coke is hauled out by rail.
C. Guadalupe. The Union Pacific RR inter-
changes here with the Santa Maria Val-
ley RR. Pictured: the Starlight meets
the Santa Maria Valley Railroad.
D. Abandoned AIROX oil shale mine. The
furnace, built in 1918, was used to ex-
trude petroleum products from the shale.
This site is just north of Casmalia.
E. Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB): north
base Peacekeeper silos (to the West).
F. VAFB: Old Atlas D ICBM “A” frame gantry.
East side of the train.
G. VAFB: The 3-mile runway is long enough
for Space Shuttle landings as well as
extremely large military aircraft. East.
H. VAFB: Space Launch Complex (SLC) 2.
Now inactive, was the Delta II launch
pad through early 2018. West side.
I. Santa Ynez River.
J. Surf/Lompoc station.
K. VAFB: SLC-3 (Atlas II). East side.
L. VAFB: SLC-4. Was home to Lockheed
Martin’s Atlas and Titan programs.
SpaceX is here now launching their
Falcon 9s. East side.
M. VAFB: Liquid oxygen plant originally built
for the Shuttle program. East side.
N. Honda Point. Site of a naval disaster in
1923 where 7 ships ran aground by
prematurely turning east thinking they
were at the Santa Barbara channel.
The Coast Line
Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo:
Milepost (MP) 251.6
Elevation about 220’
Santa Barbara:
Milepost (MP) 367.4
Elevation is just above sea level
Radio frequency: 161.550 (Channel 96)
Union Pacific Interchanges and Leads:
Santa Maria Valley RR at Guadalupe
Lompoc Industrial Lead near Surf
White Hills Lead off Lompoc Industrial Lead
Most of this trackage operates with
track warrants (TWC), with the balance be-
ing CTC. There is only one short stretch of
double-track mainline from MP 365.0 to MP
368.7 at Santa Barbara. The route ranges in
elevation from about sea level at Santa Bar-
bara and Grover Beach to a highpoint of just
over 400 feet at Devon (ten miles south of
Guadalupe).
In addition to Union Pacific freight
trains, this corridor is also used by Amtrak’s
Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight trains.
The max Amtrak speed is 79mph, but many
areas are lower than that for track curvature.
Along this route are 12 interesting
bridges (location/milepost): Los Alamos
Creek/294.65, Santa Ynez River/301.88,
Canada Honda/308.19, Jalama/320.32,
Alegria Cyn/337.19, Agua Caliente
Cyn/336.05, Gaviota Trestle/338.61,
Cemetario/339.82, Arroyo Honda/343.58,
Refugio/348.02, El Capitan/350.67, and
Dos Pueblos/354.41. Some approximate
milepost markers are shown on the map.
Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner at Santa Barbara
Friends of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad
PO Box 1031 Friends-SMVRR.org
Santa Maria, CA 93456 805-614-7093
“The Gap”, the last section of today’s
coastal mainline route to be put in place, was
connected on the last day of 1900 near Gavi-
ota. At the time, the combined population of
both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara
Counties was about 35,000.
The Southern Pacific Railroad reached
San Luis Obispo from the north in 1894. To-
day’s track route from Santa Barbara south
to Los Angeles was not completed until 1904
when the tunnels through the Santa Susana
mountains were completed.
The roughly 116 miles from Santa Bar-
bara to San Luis Obispo is one of the coun-
try’s most scenic rail lines, hugging the Pa-
cific Ocean shoreline and cliffs for the major-
ity of the route, and passing through beautiful
countryside and farm land for the balance.
Much of this route runs through Van-
denberg Air Force Base, the country’s space
launch site for polar-orbiting satellites. Van-
denberg also tests missiles for operations
and for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
Vandenberg also houses space satellite op-
erations for the United States.
The Coast Line
San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara
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Document Version: 2018-11-09
O. VAFB: SLC-6. Was to have been the
Shuttle launch pad until the Challenger
disaster happened. It’s now home to the
Boeing heavy lift vehicle, Delta IV. East.
P. Point Arguello.
Q. VAFB: Boat House and harbor. Rocket
segments are brought ashore here. It
was originally built to launch Coast
Guard rescue craft
in the 1920s. Pic-
tured above.
R. Jalama Beach County
Park. A rather re-
mote seaside park,
but don’t miss the
Jalama Burger.
S. Point Conception.
T. Gaviota Pier (pictured
at right).
U. Refugio State Beach.
V. Santa Barbara train station. The station
was built in 1902 by the Southern Pa-
cific Railroad in the Spanish Mission
Revival Style. Pictured above, one of
the Surfliners sits on the platform. Don’t
miss the large fig tree and the displayed
Southern Pacific Business Car #142.
H. SLC-2 VAFB
B. Conoco-Phillips Refinery
L. SLC-4 VAFB
J. Surf/Lompoc Station
O. Space Launch Complex (SLC) 6
Vandenberg AFB
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N. Honda Point
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V. SP #142 at Santa Barbara
302.6
263.6
276.6
251.6
361.6
367.4
348.02
338.61
320.32
294.65
