The Central Coast Railroad Festival, set forOctober 4-8th, has finalized the details for its 4th Annual Festival. The Festival will focus on rail excursions, modeling of all types and special events at historical railroad buildings throughout San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara Counties. All Festival events will be free with the exception of the special Family Excursions and Wine Rail Trips. Festival attendees will also be able to explore the area's beaches, wineries, Missions, quaint downtowns and other special attractions.
The Festival's five Rail Excursions for the weekend are now on sale! ThreeFamily Excursions, priced at $19 for kids and $29 for adults, will take place on Saturday, October 6th when two excursions will feature a ride over the historic and scenicCuesta Grade on Amtrak's Coast Starlight – one starting in Paso Robles and the other in San Luis Obispo. The third family excursion will feature a round trip onAmtrak's Pacific Surfliner between Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo. All three excursion groups will be able to visit the Saturday Open House at the SLO Railroad Museum's Freight House and enjoy the music of theCrustacea Jazz Band on the SLO Amtrak Station's platform in the afternoon. The Festival will also feature twoWine Rail Exucrsions on the Coast Starlight on Friday and Monday, October 5th and 8th. A limited number of Wine Rail Excursion tickets are available and priced at $39 for kids and $59 for adults. Excursion details, a promotional video and online ticketing are available on the Festival's website.
The Festival is proud to announce its third major sponsor: the Union Pacific Railroad. UP joinsAmtrak and Rabobank as the major festival sponsors. Union Pacific is an important partner in railroading on the Central Coast as it owns and operates the coast line tracks that run through the area. UP uses their tracks for its freight trains and leases the use of the tracks to Amtrak. As part of UP's 150th Anniversary Celebration it has designatedSan Luis Obispo as one of its Train Town USA recipients. A special Proclamation Presentation will take place at 11:00am on Saturday, Oct. 6th during the SLORRM's Open House. Union Pacific and SLO City officials will be on hand for this short program on the Freight House platform.
The Festival's Model Layout Tour will be expanded to feature 20 amazing layouts this year. The layout locations extend from Lompoc to Paso Robles and will include six unique garden railroads. The layout tour has again been organized by theModel Railroads of Southern California group. Complete tour details including schedules, maps and layout descriptions can be downloaded from the CCRRF website.
Festival activities will kick off with an expanded presence at the San Luis Obispo Farmers' Market on Thursday night, October 4th. The Festival will take over the corner at Higuera St. and Chorro St. and present running models, live music fromDon Lampson and BanjerDan, Amtrak gifts for the kids and authentic railroad equipment and artifacts. The century oldFreight House in San Luis Obispo's Historic Railroad District will be the center of activities on Saturday, October 6th when theSan Luis Obispo Railroad Museum hosts a big open house. The event will include interior and exterior tours, speeder rides, exhibits and two big visiting model train layouts. On Sunday, October 7th, theSan Luis Obispo Model Railroad Association will host an open house at the historicOceano Depot which will feature its large HO scale running model layout and a big model "Yard Sale."
Further information and details on the Central Coast Railroad Festival, including the complete schedule of events, promotional videos, online tickets, links to participating organizations and an email notification sign up, can be found at www.ccrrf.com Festival staffers can be reached at 805-773-4173 begin_of_the_sky_highlighting 805-773-4173 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. KCOY 12 and FOX 11 are the Festival's exclusive television media partners
