Pacific Coast Railroad Roundup

We attended the 3rd annual Pacific Coast Railroad Roundup which was held at Rancho Santa Margarita this weekend. The RR Roundup is a fundraiser for the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum. Each year, on the first weekend of May, the ranch fires up its steam locomotives and opens its gates for the general public to ride the rails around the rancho.

The Pacific Coast Railroad is a narrow gauge (36") railroad which runs on nearly 2 miles of track on the privately owned Rancho Santa Margarita just north of San Luis Obispo. Currently, the railroad has three operating steam locomotives: a 1922 Vucan 2-4-0 (which was featured in the TV show "Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman), an 1897 Porter 2-6-2 and a replica 1860s 4-4-0 built by a Walt Disney imagineer in 1968. Also included in the stable are four passenger coaches which were built by Walt Disney Studios in 1955 and ran on the Disneyland railroad from opening day until they were retired in the mid-1960's. I'm sure that I had the pleasure of riding in these coaches when I was a youngster visiting Disneyland! There's also a large collection of miscellaneous rolling stock which includes cabooses, business cars, wood-sided freight cars and flat cars. The railroad crosses two bridges and climbs and descends a modest grade between the two passenger stations.

The ranch's barn is built over and encloses a structure known as the Asistencia. The Asistencia was built about 1775 by local Chumash Indians and served as a place of worship when padres from the Mission San Luis Obispo came to visit the rancho. This weekend, the barn and Asistencia served as host to several vendors offering everything from model trains to original railroad art to t-shirts to locally brewed beer and rustic birdhouses (not sure what the birdhouses have to do with trains, but they were pretty cool to look at).

In the main event area, smaller trains were set up and running for the enjoyment of the small kids. Big kids were treated to an impressive display of early model Ford coupes and trucks. There was also a huge exhibit of operating steam engines and several antique and operating farm tractors.

We commend and thank the owners of Rancho Santa Margarita for hosting this great event. We were honored to attend this year's Pacific Coast Railroad Roundup and plan on returning again next year. Mark your calendars now: the next Pacific Coast Railroad Roundup will be held May 3rd and 4th 2008!