Issue Number 95 – Spring 2026 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.
People are fond of big, round numbers.
The year 2026 marks 250 years since the Declar-
ation of Independence.
It’s been 100 years since the Museum’s former Santa
Fe café-lounge car was released from the Pullman
Company shops as ATSF 1512. Later named LaCondesa
(no space between words) when owned by a local teach-
er, it’s now called La Cuesta. The car resides comfort-
tably on the Museum’s display track, and can be rented
as an event venue. The 1937 photo at right by W. C.
Whitaker is the oldest we could find.
1956, 70 years ago, is generally recognized as the
last year that steam operated in regular service on the
Coast Route. Some steam switchers were still in use,
and the Coast Mail train had steam intermittently.
Fifty years ago the celebratory American Freedom
Train was led by former Southern Pacific Daylight-type
locomotive No. 4449 on a tour of many states. At right
it’s northbound on the coast in its temporary red-white-
and-blue scheme. This 1977 photo by Russell B. Sperry
was the second place winner in the Museum’s 2024
photo contest.
The significance of 2026!
It’s been 30 years since the Union Pacific Railroad
absorbed the Southern Pacific. At left we see UP loco-
motive No. 1996, which commemorates SP heritage with
Daylight-inspired colors. The Summer 2016 and Fall 2023
Coast Mail editions had more on SP’s and UP’s corporate
histories and relationships. This beautifully clear photo
was taken in June 2007 at Salt Lake City, by Paul Rome.
train 761, the midday Pacific Surfliner, passes the Sin-
after the Blues’ opening game of the 2025 season. !
Coast Mail is published quarterly by
the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum.
© 2025. All rights reserved.
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 95 Spring 2026 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 include
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 March 10, April
14, and May 12 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.
Pancake Breakfast April 11,
8:30 – 10:30. Details on website.
RSVP to info@slorrm.com
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:
Mike Burrell for donating funds
toward acquiring a steam engine;
Jim Gaddis for donating photos from
the Mac Gaddis collection.
Board of Directors
Peter Brazil Mike Burrell
Jim Chernoff Alan Estes
Greg Jackson Bob Knight
Brad LaRose
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.
More Coast Mail Online
More on 2026 as an anniversary year;
North County rails; Annual Report.
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
Those words belong to Cal
Poly State University, San Luis
Obispo. Instead, we’ll use Learn
by Helping. Right, Museum vol-
unteer Jim Livingston (at left)
offers guidance to Lowen Baird
as they heat a stake pocket on
our flat car so it can be straight-
ened. They were at work on a
clear day right before Thanks-
giving 2025.
Your quiz will ask about the
colors of the flames.
The vertical yellow device is
a hydraulic jack that helps bring
the stake pocket back into
proper alignment. We’re look-
ing at the side of the car away
from public view. True crafts-
men attend to the seldom seen.
We shouldn’t use the
motto Learn by Doing
Brad LaRose photo
Another crane day –brake wheel and
semaphore signal installation; frog
nose job; the Osos Street problem.
In our Summer Edition
SLORRM Coast Mail Number 95 Spring 2026 Page 3!
A Gem of Southern Pacific
Intermodal History
By Brad LaRose
The forklift above was purchased by the Southern Pacific Rail-
road in 1950, for use at SP’s Oxnard, California, freight house,
on the California Coast Line. The forklift was built by Clark
Equipment Co. in 1950. It is a "Carloader" model, specifically
designed to be small so it can enter and load and unload rail-
road boxcars. It is about six feet long, with a lift capacity of
4,000 pounds. Its 4-cylinder, flathead, 32 1/2 horsepower engine
was made by the Continental Co.
In 1983, SP conducted an equipment auction at the Oxnard
freight house. Mr. Gary Sanchez purchased it and used it for
many years at his Camarillo, California, avocado farm. In 2024,
Mr. Dan Dornbrach purchased the forklift from the Sanchez
estate. Dan donated the forklift to the San Luis Obispo Rail-
road Museum in October 2025.
The Museum will use the forklift as part of an intermodal
(railroad/trucking) exhibit. It will complement the Museum's
two Pacific Motor Trucking 22-foot trailers and the SP Trailer
On Flat Car (TOFC) car, which will be a unique exhibit. San
Luis Obispo was not only a crew change point on the SP Coast
Line, it also had one of the first TOFC loading ramps. The
ramp was located about 100 yards north of the SP San Luis
Obispo freight house, which is now the San Luis Obispo
Railroad Museum.
The museum greatly appreciates Dan Dornbrach’s donation of
the forklift.
RIP Track office done
When cars en route developed problems that
didn’t require major shop resources to correct,
they could be switched out and positioned on
repair-in-place (RIP) tracks for local workers.
Model Railroader magazine once noted model-
ers cringing as visitors described the products of
their efforts as “cute.” If memory serves, the
writer’s position was don’t begrudge appreciation
or praise in any terms. We don’t mind passersby
commenting on how great our cute, painstak-
ingly redone RIP Track office looks (above). As
the area’s smallest surviving historical railroad
building, it reflects a meaning of cute. Volunteer
Ted Van Klaveren put in many hours replacing
deteriorated wood, providing secure windows,
installing flooring, and re-roofing. Greg Jackson
completed the painting.
The image below shows, on a current aerial
view, the location of two RIP Tracks and a dis-
connected “Dummy Track” in 1949.
RIP Tracks
Freighthouse
Turntable
Google Earth image
Is it wise for the person who handles the money to drive the
forklift? Sure! It will be handy for moving components of our
Pullman café-lounge La Cuesta. Long serving Museum treas-
urer Dave Rohr was at the controls in January, before the forks
were re-installed.
by Brad LaRose, using information
provided by Steve Rusconi
This is likely the only existing Southern Pacif-
ic Railroad pick-up truck. SP leased the 1970 Chevy
from the Gelco Services Company in 1970. The SP Water
Department used it until 1973 at its Lensen Street
Roundhouse in San Jose, California, for parts pickup and
delivery. It was sold to SP engineer Dan Wolf. He put
the ownership title in his wife Georgie’s name and drove
the truck until 2010, when he was 91 years old. Dan had
been a locomotive engineer on SP’s Coast Division, run-
ning the Coast Starlight train from Oakland to SLO. He
retired after over 44 years of engine service, with top
seniority on the Coast Division. Georgie herself was an SP
employee 1941 – 1955, working at Taylor Yard in Los Ang-
eles and at Watsonville. Dan sold the truck to his railfan
friend Steve Rusconi, who promised to preserve it. The
truck finally had a garage to occupy. Dan passed away in
2013 at 94 years old.
Steve's friend Manley "Bo" Golson, a retired SP brake-
man with 36 years service, was a director of the Laws
Railroad Museum in Bishop, California. He worked with
Steve to have the truck donated to the Laws Railroad
Museum. That museum kept the truck for several years,
driving it in several local parades. The Laws Museum
later decided they did not have a use for the truck, and it
was offered to the Southern Pacific Railroad History
Center (SPRHC). Their president, Scott Inman, accept-
ed it and Bo Golson drove it to Reno Nevada where he
turned it over to another SPRHC member for caretaking,
retired Sacramento Division Engineer Jim "Bear" Mahon.
SLORRM Coast Mail Number 95 Spring 2026 Page 4!
The Museum’s former SP truck rolls along a rural road in
its retirement prior to donation to the Museum (above). At
the wheel is Jim “Bear” Mahon, who for many years was
in charge of snow-clearing efforts over Donner Pass. This
is a screen shot from a video by Scott Inman, used with
his generous permission. For a few seconds of the truck
in motion, go to the Museum’s website: About, Video
Library, Miscellaneous.
A history of caretaking for a rare
Southern Pacific Railroad pick-up truck
Mahon was famous for his work out of Roseville,
California, managing crews clearing snow off the tracks
on Donner Pass each winter. While Mahon had the
truck in storage at his Auburn, California, ranch for
several years, SPRHC lost interest in possessing three-
dimensional artifacts and had never accepted ownership
of the truck. Jim Mahon passed away in 2023, leaving
his wife Nola, herself a former SP employee, and now
caretaker of the truck. She initially hated the truck as
it reminded her of an identical one she drove for SP,
saying it was so rough riding! She later learned to like
the truck.
After the truck had been kept at Nola's property for
almost two years, Steve Rusconi contacted Brad LaRose,
San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum's president and
curator. They discussed possible donation of the truck
to the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum. Steve enlisted
the help of several other friends to move the truck to
San Luis Obispo. John Manley (a retired Caltrain eng-
ineer and owner of Southern Pacific steam locomotive
#2706), and Ralph Domenici (a retired contractor, rail-
car restorer, and rail fan) facilitated moving the truck
from Auburn to San Luis Obispo. The truck is now
parked prominently near the Museum's main entrance,
where it will be appreciated and cared for.
A dedicated group of friends, railfans, and former SP
employees came together to preserve this truck. The
truck is again next to the same Coast Line track that
passes through San Jose, where it occupied the round-
house yard many years ago.
Welcome home beloved truck.
In the era of steam locomotives water was essential
for their boilers. Especially from west Texas through
New Mexico and Arizona, and in Nevada, developing
and maintaining water sources was a challenge. Even in
wetter locations, water with dissolved minerals required
treatment to avoid foaming or build-up of scale.
After the end of steam locomotives, into the 1970s,
many legacy passenger cars used steam for heating and,
by condensers powered by vented steam, cooling. So
even diesel locomotives had water tanks and boilers to
produce steam, in addition to tanks for radiator cooling.
In some smaller commun-
ities along the line, often
those established by the rail-
road, the railroad was the
water utility, supplying dwel-
ings and businesses as well
as its own facilities.
At right, the 65,000-gallon
San Luis Obispo water tank,
built in 1940, located across
the tracks from the depot.
Why have a Water Department?!
!
SLORRM Coast Mail Number 95 Spring 2026 Page 5!
The Winter Coast Mail noted Southern Pacific’s efforts in
telecommunications. Forty years have passed since a 1986
television ad for the SPRINT telephone service. Below is a
screen shot from that ad, with a shiny pin having hit the
surface next to a large hand-held ear-and-mouth piece.
You can hear a pin drop. !
At left is Union Pacific’s GP-60 type diesel-electric
locomotive No. 2026, looking good at Ennis, Texas, in
March 2014. Roberto Alaniz took the photo. On the
battery box ahead of the cab, the engine is neatly
labeled “Houston Assigned Hauler” against a blue
background rectangle. Chances are small that this
locomotive ever came to California.
Left, this past November in SLO felt more like Feb-
ruary. Six inches of rain over about as many days left a
pond opposite the Museum’s Freighthouse, between the
main tracks and the Pacific Surfliner’s layover track. The
breeze often makes this recurring pond look like a flowing
stream. Your editor once overheard a visitor ask, “What
river is that?”
What river is that?!
from a video by UPRR
Will it come our way?!
More involving “2026”!
Here is Southern Pacific of California loco-
motive No. 2026 (right), a 4-8-0 steamer. The
1880s is a likely time frame, but the date,
location, and photographer are not known.
This image is from picryl.com. Locomotives
with this wheel arrangement were known as
twelve wheelers, for their 4-8-0 wheel arrange-
ment, or less obviously, as Mastodons.
Some national history!
Above, Union Pacific’s President Lincoln commem-
orative locomotive No. 1616. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th
US president (1861-1865), signed the Pacific Railroad Act,
authorizing construction of the Union Pacific Railroad
and a forerunner of the Southern Pacific. The engine
began to roam the UP system in 2025, powering regular
freight trains. With nearly all north-south freight in
California going by way of the Central Valley, probably
the closest it would come is the Guadalupe Hauler from
Los Angeles to its namesake destination.
In 1896 the US Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs.
Ferguson that a Louisiana law requiring separate
cars for Black and white passengers was valid. That
decision would not be reversed until Brown vs. Board
of Education in 1954, which held that separate was
inherently unequal.
In 1926, Robert Godard had his first successful
liquid-fuel rocket launch. And, Congress passed the
Air Commerce Act, providing for licensing of aircraft
and pilots, contributing to the nemesis of long-
distance train travel. In the same year, NBC (National
Broadcasting Company) was formed.
!
SLORRM Coast Mail Number 95 Spring 2026 Page 6!
A major accomplishment in 2025 was restoring and
installing the tall train order signal. We also made
progress on access to the boxcar that will house an
exhibit on Southern Pacific workers. Volunteers logged
over 4,300 hours of service.
Financial Summary
Cash January 1, 2025 $129,698
Income $ 81,782
Memberships $ 7,880
Admissions $15,542
Events $ 1,460
Ebay sales $ 9,354
Museum Store (Net) $ 6,744
Misc. Income $ 867
Model Railroad $ 9,120
Donations
Restricted $15,135
Unrestricted $15,680
Expenses $ 77,135
Operating $ 64,601
Capital $ 12,534
Annual Report for 2025!
...where the trains ran heavy on the old Coast Line...
Apologies to Bob Dylan. Museum staff were recently
lamenting the lack of material in our archives and
newsletter for the Salinas Valley compared to points
south. Here are two photos by Alan Barrett to help
rectify that.
Above left we see the original Paso Robles depot as it
appeared in January 1982. Part of that building was
incorporated in a new commercial structure. A new
depot accommodates Amtrak passengers, shown above
right in an uncredited photo from the Internet.
A trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) train passes an inter-
mediate signal on the same day in the same general
area (below). It was the south- (timetable east-) bound
Oakland – Los Angeles Trailers (OALAT).
If you’re travelin’ in the north county fair...!
An archival milestone
On January 1 we cataloged our 100th image of a Southern
Pacific locomotive (right). This is SPMW No. 566, a shop switcher
with the uncommon 0-6-2T wheel arrangement. The T is for tank,
mounted on the loco rather than having a tender. The photo was
donated by James Gaddis, from the collection of Malcolm Gaddis.
Archive numbers in the 2000s are for Southern Pacific, 500s for
engineering, 70s for mechanical, and 71 for locomotives.
This locomotive was at Brooklyn Yard in Portland, Oregon.
We’ll have more on this unusual engine in our Summer edition.
SLORRM Archive No. P2571.100