Issue Number 94 – Winter 2025 San Luis Obispo, California www.slorrm.com!

Coast Mail

News from the San Luis Obispo

Railroad Museum

Open Saturdays from 10:00 to 4:00. Other times for

groups by arrangement. 1940 Santa Barbara Avenue.

Honda bridge replaced

Concrete will better withstand salt air. And the bal-

lasted deck will make it easier to maintain a smooth trans-

ition between track supported by the ground and track

on the bridge structure. The project included rerouting a

fiber optic trunk line (related article on page 3).

HDR consultants designed the bridge. Althouse and

Meade of Paso Robles prepared the Environmental

Assessment. Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction of Utah

was the main contractor. State and federal grants tar-

geted to maintain key transportation corridors funded

the majority of this multimillion-dollar project.

The Winter 2021 Coast Mail reported replacement of

the nearby bridge at Narlon.

Wesley Chen provided background for this report.

Look at all that freight: almost like old times (below). On

August 5 the Guadalupe switcher brought a string of cars

past those already waiting in SLO and built a train that

would head north to Oakland, rather then leaving Guad-

alupe for the Los Angeles area, due to bridge replacement.

Here’s some heritage for the next 130 years.

Union Pacific continues to invest in the Coast Route,

despite its presently hosting minimal freight service. The

line was closed for an impressively short 16 days in

August while contractors and UP crews removed the

bridge –127-years-old, 541-feet-long, and 95-feet tall– over

Honda Creek and replaced it with a new one of equal size.

The old bridge, with steel tower supports and an open

deck, had experienced significant corrosion in the shore-

line air. The new bridge has a ballasted deck and is sup-

ported by five pairs of seven-foot-diameter concrete col-

umns, which themselves rest on new steel subsurface

pilings. At right, the columns are under construction.

Amtrak Thruway busses were able to substitute for

some Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight services.

Reduced-frequency freight interchange with the Santa

Maria Valley Railroad at Guadalupe, usually via by Los

Angeles, was rerouted via Oakland and San Luis Obispo.

This challenging site on Vandenberg Space Fore Base

had limited road access. A crane with 600-ton lift capacity

was among the equipment used.

Above, new Honda bridge concrete columns were cast in

place under the old bridge superstructure and between

the old steel towers, greatly reducing the duration of the

service outage. Photo is from the RLW Construction web-

site. Below, a detail of the old bridge in a photo by 1st Lt.

Ashley Wiser (via USSF website).

Gary See photo

We had another successful event over October 3 – 5.

Central Coast Railroad Festival!

Southwest Railcam image

Coast Mail is published quarterly by

the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum.

Documents Available

Anyone may access the Museum’s

Bylaws, Collections Policy, Develop-

ment & Operations Plan, Code of

Conduct, and other documents at

slorrm.com. Or request a paper copy

via the contact information above.

SLORRM Coast Mail Number 94 Winter 2025 Page 2!

Museum Store

To raise funds, the Museum offers

several items for sale on-site and

online: T-shirts, hats, belt buckles,

mugs, enameled pins, embroidered

patches, and engineer hats. On the

website click on About, then Gift

Shop. We also have an eBay site for

a wider range of items.

Become a member

Membership provides opportune-

ities for anyone interested in today’s

railroads, railroad history, train tra-

vel, artifact restoration, or model rail-

roading. Membership benefits in-

clude free Museum admission and

a 10% Museum Store discount.

Annual dues: Individual $40;

Family $65; Sustaining $100. Life

member single payment: under 62

$1,000, 62 and over $600. Junior

memberships (ages 12-18) for model

railroaders are available; contact

our Model Railroad Superintend-

ent for details.

You can join at the Museum, by

mail, or online. Download application

forms from the Museum’s website

and mail payment. Or you can join

online by clicking Membership and

using PayPal.

Timetable

Board of Directors meetings

are scheduled for December 9, 2025,

and January 13 and February 10,

2026, at 6:00 p.m. They are held at

the Museum. You can participation

remotely. Contact info@slorrm.com

for help with remote participation.

In this publication product or corporate

names may be registered trademarks.

They are used only for identification or

explanation without intent to infringe.

Museum supporters

The Museum would not exist and

could not improve without the sup-

port of many. All forms of support,

from membership dues to grants and

donations of expertise, materials,

and funds are greatly appreciated. In

this edition we recognize:

•Marisol LaRose for her efforts pre-

paring for the pancake breakfast.

•Chuck Kinzer, for providing ex-

pertly crafted storage cabinets that

fit neatly under display cabinets

(photo below).

Board of Directors

Peter Brazil Mike Burrell

Stephen Cake Jim Chernoff

Alan Estes Greg Jackson

Brad LaRose Ted Van Klaveren

Crew List

President ..................... Brad LaRose

Vice President................Peter Brazil

Museum Manager........... Alan Estes

Curator/Restoration .. Brad LaRose

Treasurer/Insurance ...... Dave Rohr

Exhibits ............................. Gary See

Operations .................... Peter Brazil

Events/Fundraising ............. vacant

Model Railroad ... Andrew Merriam

Membership ....................... Gary See

Digital Media Coordinator Gary See

Webmaster ................ Jamie Foster

Secretary, Archivist/Librarian, News-

letter Editor ............... Glen Matteson

(newsletter@slorrm.com)

The museum is a 501(c)(3) non-

profit, educational organization,

staffed entirely by volunteers.

Admission price increase

Become a member and enjoy free ad-

mission. Starting January 1: adults

$10; ages 4 – 12 $5; 3 years and under

free; seniors (55 and over), veterans,

and first responders (with ID) $8.

In case you missed these...

If our newsletter is new to you,

you may want to check out some past

issues, with material covering the

following. They’re available on our web-

site, About, Newsletter, Archives.

Longest squeegee handle –

Fall 2021

LA to SF in 90 seconds –

Winter 2021

Refer madness – Winter 2020

Sack of coke – Summer 2018

Train with antlers – Summer 2019

Deranged petticoat pipes –

Winter 2018

Gurled hair – Fall 2017

Promiscuous caterpillar – Fall

2016

Dangerous Edgar – Summer 2015

Santa Margarita depot blown up

– Spring 2016

House of ill repute – Winter 2015

Sheep & goats – Winter 2015

Our Mission

Promote California Central

Coast railroad heritage through

community participation, educa-

tion, historic preservation, and

equipment operation.

Contact

Telephone (message) 805 548-1894

email: info@slorrm.com

website: www.slorrm.com

Mail: 1940 Santa Barbara Avenue

San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

•Louie’s Crane Service for moving

the main frame of our jib crane

(Coast Mail Spring, Summer, and

Fall 2022).

•Jim Chernoff, for a generous do-

nation of funds.

Santa on the Surfliner

Santa is scheduled to arrive on

Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner on Sat-

urday, December 6, at about 12:30.

Walk with Santa from the station to

the Museum, where you can visit

him aboard La Cuesta at no charge.

More Coast Mail Online

Old cars meet old cars; nostalgic car

name; “cable” cars; pancakes!

SLORRM Coast Mail Number 94 Winter 2025 Page 3!

Access to our former Southern Pacific wood-sheathed

boxcar is greatly improved now that we have a new gate from

the Freighthouse platform aligned with the boxcar door. Above

left, Freddie Ratliff has carefully cut out a railing section to

fabricate the two-part gate. Above right, the gate that he

finished. Still needed at the time of the photo: touch-up paint.

Festival photo contest winners

Thank you to all who provided photos for this year’s

festival, and to our judges who evaluated the entries

without knowing who the photographers were.

More honorable-mention images (including of a

model railroad) can be seen on the Museum’s website.

Mike Burrell photo

Left (1st place), Christian Schultz caught the northbound

Starlight approaching the tunnel beyond Chorro sid-

ing on Cuesta Grade. Above (2nd place), Kathleen

Bosch found intermodal cars under the Jennifer Street

Bridge in SLO. Lower left (honorable mention) Ale-

ander Jackoway met the morning Surfliner in Price

Canyon. Below (3rd place), Christian Schultz spotted

one train crossing over another at the Norgrove small-

gauge railway.

Platform gate for

SP boxcar

Below, Museum volunteers Mike Burrell (left)

and Ted Van Klaveren have installed a util-

ity pole next to the RIP (repair-in-place)

track office. Brad LaRose photo

SLORRM Coast Mail Number 94 Winter 2025 Page 4!

Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway proposed merger!

The next Coast Mail edition will have a local photo involving one

of several rail-related anniversaries occurring in 2026. It was taken

at the location shown above, but looking in a different direction. Your

editor had hoped to enter a better version of the one above in Trains

magazine annual photo contest having the theme “the last mile.”

This is Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner No 761 entering the last mile be-

fore terminating at San Luis Obispo. It’s a bit cliché, does not show

“technical excellence” (as the contest guidelines stipulated), and

most important, was taken a week past the June 1 entry deadline.

Hopefully you’ll think better of the other photo. On the first day’s

effort, both the digital camera and the backup cell phone camera

failed. On the second day, the shots were taken from too low an

elevation, omitting a key part of the intended composition. The third

day was the charm, at least in getting a decent photo. And no ex-

pense for film or developing was wasted.

Languages evolve

The image above, from the New York

Public Library collection, is a 1912 South-

ern Pacific car card. It promotes the Paso

Robles Hot Springs, where one can, accord-

ing to the tiny print, “Rejuvenate” with

Sulfur and Mineral Waters and “Recreate”

by Golfing, Tennis, Riding [&] Motoring.

One of the first rules one learns as a

writer/editor is to list things in parallel form.

“I like eating, reading, and to nap” is awk-

ward. These days, spoiling a nice day by

chasing a little ball around outdoors would

be called simply “golf.” Hitting a larger, soft-

er ball over a net has never been called

tennising, so we’re stuck with that. Motor-

ing has given way to driving. Maybe we

pantomime if we tell non-English speakers

about driving a golf ball vs. driving a car.

The elaborate resort building portrayed

above was built in 1891. In 1910, Southern

Pacific published a brochure Paso Robles Hot

Springs: the Great Hot Springs Resort of

America. Nearly all the building was de-

stroyed by fire in 1940.

The Bermuda Triangle of Central Coast

railroad photography?!

The map at left shows what a

combined system would look like.

Yellow lines represent UP, black

NS. Green stars are seaports; blue

stars are international gateways.

For years there has been spec-

ulation about a final round of merg-

ers. Over the last 60 years, the num-

ber of major US railroads has de-

clined from dozens to four, with the

UP-NS combination making three.

The recent Canadian Pacific Kan-

sas City (Southern) merger created

an international north-south system.

Remaining majors BNSF and

CSX, themselves results of many

mergers, pursue trackage and recip-

rocal switching rights. None are

likely to affect the Central Coast.

Norfolk Southern image

Solar electric

performance tracking

Museum volunteer and electrical expert

Gary See has identified, obtained, and in-

stalled equipment to monitor performance

of our photovoltaic system, replacing a temp-

orarily free online subscription service.

SLORRM Coast Mail Number 94 Winter 2025 Page 5!

Plowing and placing

At left, specially designed equipment pulled by locomo-

tives plowed a deep furrow and fed the bright-orange

jacketed fiber-optic cable into the ground.

Editor’s note:

The locomotive photos above are from the estate of

Augie Jess and were donated by his daughter Rachael

Joyous. Mr. Jess was a Southern Pacific locomotive en-

gineer who took a break from SP and later worked for

its cable-laying affiliates. At or near his retirement in

the 1990s, No. 500 was named for him.

Thanks to Museum member Bob Wilson for being

aware of this connection and providing some details.

My only observation of plow-train engines included a

gray-and-red SD-9 in the San Luis Obispo yard. That

was probably its last assignment before retirement. It

was possibly the last of that model to operate on the

Central Coast. What sticks in my memory was the

engineer getting in a little batting practice during some

wait time, swatting pieces of ballast along the right-of-

way with a scrap 2 x 4.

SLORRM Archives P2571.4

In the late 1980s Southern Pacific played a key role

installing a fiber-optic network throughout the western

US. Compared with other alignments, railroad rights-

of-way were relatively free of obstructions. SP had

decades of experience with in-house telegraph, tele-

phone, and fax services [Coast Mail editions Fall 2019,

Winter 2021, and Spring 2022]. So it was natural to

find room along the tracks for another utility.

In the early 1970s SP looked for ways to use its net-

work of wires to compete with established providers

such as AT&T for long-distance telephone service. SP

formed the Southern Pacific Communications Company

(SPC) to do so. In the mid-1970s, a name-the-service con-

test produced SPRINT, standing for Southern Pacific

Railroad Internal Networking Telecommunications (or

Telephony, depending on the source). It was advertised

with the catchphrase “You can hear a in drop.”

By the mid-1980s the new technology of glass fibers

carrying very rapid pulses of light began displacing

copper wires for intercity voice and data communi-

cation. The railroad formed SP Construction Services to

plow tranches along its tracks and feed the fiber cables

into them. At road crossings and tunnels, different

approaches such as boring were needed [Coast Mail

Fall 2025]. Steel pipe conduit was placed on bridges.

Skimming over some further corporate shuffling, SP

also formed Qwest as part of its telecommunications

effort, based in part on SP’s experience with microwave

communications replacing lineside wires for its signal

system.

SLORRM Archives P2571.3

Southern Pacific photo

Above, a four-axle EMD locomotive in light gray and

black sports a bright red “SP Construction Services”

label. It’s probably in Colorado.

Below, the same locomotive, still numbered 500, is in

light green and black, with a Qwest label. Because the

“plow trains” often had to move forward and back to

clear the line for other trains, paired engines facing in

opposite directions were standard power.

Where it all started

I’ll go first.

My family moved away when I was five, as the steam era

ended on Southern Pacific. But before then, we could hear trains on

Beaumont Pass if the wind was right. Later I rediscovered the

name San Timoteo Canyon. Cajon Pass was our usual eastbound

route out of the surrounding rural San Bernardino County orange

groves and poultry operations.

That early fascination led to hobbies, volunteer opportunities,

and even a post-retirement, part-time teaching position in the field.

So a few years ago your editor got a jolt when Amtrak’s midday

Pacific Surfliner pulled into San Luis Obispo, with the state-

sponsored car named San Timoteo Canyon in the consist (a location

not served by Surfliners or any other state-supported trains). No

camera was at hand. But on August 28, while working in the

Museum’s library/archives, what should appear in a glance out the

window but “my” car. The years have roughed up both of us a bit.

Now it’s your turn. Share your personal railroad connection via

our newsletter. And think seriously about taking over the role of

editor. I hope to make it at least to issue No. 100. That gives us a

while to make a smooth transition.

SLORRM Coast Mail Number 94 Winter 2025 Page 6!

Above, after not being seen for several years, your editor’s nostalgia

car reappeared in San Luis Obispo on the midday Pacific Surfliner.

The orange equipment

roster has grown

Above, on October 7 the Forties Unlimited of Orange County car

club toured the Museum. Restoring old cars? We can relate.

Previous automotive club visitors include Morgan cars (Coast

Mail Fall 2023) and Porsche (Coast Mail Winter 2012-13).

Vintage cars met vintage cars

In late October Equipment & Restoration

Superintendent Brad LaRose, with Museum

friend Bob Knight helping, brought this former

Southern Pacific 1950 forklift to the Museum

(below). It had been used at the Oxnard freight

house. We’ll have more details about this

colorful and now unique piece of equipment in

the Spring Coast Mail.

Brad LaRose photo

Pancakes aboard La Cuesta

On the morning of October 5 Museum mem-

bers supported our efforts by sitting down with

pancakes, sausage, coffee, and orange juice

aboard our 1926 Pullman café-lounge car.

Brad and Marisol LaRose worked before and

during the event to make it possible. We hope

to host future pancake breakfasts that will be

open to the public.

Mike Burrell photo