Issue Number 49 San Luis Obispo, California, Fall 2013 www.slorrm.com

Museum Grand Opening October 12, 2013

News from the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum

San Luis Obispo Mayor Jan Marx laudsthe years of work put in by the peoplewho built the Museum.

Its grand opening culminat-ed over thirteen years of effort betweenthe City of San Luis Obispo and theMuseum founders and volunteers inrestoring and converting the historic

into a regional railroad museum. Over1,500 visitors came to join the festivi-ties. Included were speeches by SanLuis Obispo Mayor Jan Howell Marx,Museum President Brad LaRose andLisa Stark representing the UnionPacific Railroad, speeder rides, exhibitsof railroad artifacts and photographs.Also on display was the Avila Pier sceneof the Pacific Coast Railway modeled inHOn3 and other models representingthe railroad history of California.

The San Luis Obispo RailroadMuseum is a non-profit educationalinstitution founded to preserve andpresent the railroad history of California

Collecting, restoring, and displayingrelevant railroad artifacts, photographsand documents is its goal. This effort issupplemented by creating models, dis-plays and graphics as well as operatinghistoric railroad equipment to enable abetter understanding of how railroadshave affected the social, cultural andeconomic historyof the region.

region including someof the most notable

(AAPRCO) hadtheir convention in Napa, Californiathis year. They always run a specialtrain to the convention. This year itstarted in Seattle, traveling to Napavia Stampede Pass, the inland gate-ways and the Oregon Trunk throughBend and down the Feather River.

Continued on page 4

Union Pacific Railroad parked their 8087locomotive on the team track for the event.

To see more pictures from theGrand Opening go to pages 7and 8 on www.slorrm.com/

Calling All MembersAre you a sociable person? If so, theMuseum needs your help as a docent.People are needed who are willing todonate a few hours once a monthassisting visitors understand theMuseum and the railroad history ofthe Central Coast. If you are inter-ested please contact Diane Marchettiat 805-602-2864.

Company Store

Mission Statement

SAN LUIS OBISPO RAILROAD MUSEUMBOARD OF DIRECTORS

BY-LAWS AVAILABLEEvery member in good standing is

entitled to acopyofthe San Luis ObispoRailroad Museum By-laws. For the sakeof economy, we have not distributedthem to all members automatically

To get a copy, send a #10, selfaddressed, stamped, envelope toSLORRM, Post Office Box 13260,San Luis Obispo, CA 93406.

TIMETABLE

Become a Member

Life Members receive an embroideredpatch, enameled pin, the Coast Mailnewsletter, and have voting rights forone person for life. Use current age tocalculate amount due.

0-17 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1200 or 5 payments of $28018-39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $900 or 5 payments of $22040-61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $600 or 5 payments of $16062 and older . . . . . . . . . . . . $300 or 5 payments of $100

Family Life Members receive 2 enameledpins, 2 embroidered patches, the CoastMail newsletter, and voting rights forlife for two people residing at the sameaddress.

0-17 years of age . . . . . . . $1800 or 5 payments of $42018-39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1350 or 5 payments of $33040-61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $900 or 5 payments of $24062 and older . . . . . . . . . . . . $450 or 5 payments of $150

Ann Brown, Steve Easton, Alan C.Estes, Jr., Harry J. Garvin, Jr., GlennGeissinger, Julie Moore, Paul Proverce,Ron Regan, and Jeff Tolan.

Renew your membership

this date each time you receive a mail-

a month or so of your receipt of themailing, your remittance of the amountto renew your membership will beappreciated. Changes to your contactinformation should also be included.This will help assure that your mem-bership is always current. Should yourmailing address or e-mail addresschange, prompt submittal of updatedinformation will help achieve this samegoal. Thank you for your diligence andcooperation.

Bike Rack Installed

From the Desert to the Coast, SP Caboose No 244 rolls to its new home

Below: The intrepid moving crew, made up of Arnold Jonas, Gary See, Brad LaRose,Howard Amborn, Ted VanKlaveren, Duane Powell, Tom Mitchell, Chris Hurd andTom Cooper. Not seen is Karl Hovanitz because he was taking the picture.

Photo by Gary See

This Southern Pacific wooden caboose had sat in this location, near Lancaster,California, since 1963. The dry high desert air did a good job of perserving it.

Photo by Gary See

Truck and low-boy trailer of T&T Truck and Crane Service begins its journey.

On Thursday, July 25, 2013, a hardy crew of volunteers (The usual sus-pects) made the 175-mile trip from San Luis Obispo to Lancaster to pickup the recently purchased Southern Pacific C-30-1 wooden cupola stylecaboose. The move from Lancaster to San Luis Obispo, and the related

wheelset exchange involved 3 cranesand 4 trucks with trailers, workingsimultaneously at 2 locations. It was anexhausting and complicated day, begin-ning at 3:30 am and ending at 9:00 pm.

The next step, now that the cabooseis in the Emily Street Yard, is to startthe multi-year restoration work. Thiscar is a fine example of Central CoastRailroading and the Museum is proudto add it to its permanent collection.

Below: Caboose is gently lowered ontoits new trucks at the Emily Street Yard.

Photo by Gary See

Moving the Southern Pacific RailroadCaboose #244 from Lancaster to SanLuis Obispo was more complex thanthe actual relocation of the caboose.

The move also involved exchangingcaboose trucks from #244 with thoseunder the Southern Pacific Railroadcaboose #409. Continued on page 4

Below: Caboose #244 is carefully lifted fromthe trailer to the Emily Street Yard.

Don’t stop here . . .Go online to www.slorrm.comand click on Newsletter for morepages of Coast Mail. Read . . .Notes Along the Pacific Coast Right-of-wayby Andrew Merriam. Stories and pictures ofThe Pacific Coast Railway. See more picturesfrom the Grand Opening.

If you don’t have internet access, send a #10SASE to Bill Pyper, PO Box 885, Salem, OR97308 for printed copies of pages 5-8.

Caboose #409 is lifted off its trucks.

The wheel assembly under each endof a railroad car is called a truck. Theassembly includes the wheels, axles,and the metal frame which holds theaxles and on which the car sits.

Cabooses built by different manu-facturers and constructed in differenthistorical times, often will have differ-ent trucks. Number 244 was built in1926. Its original trucks were replacedwith newer ones in 1956. This caboose,when purchased by the Museum, wassitting on freight car trucks.

The Museum decided that thesetrucks were not appropriate for

Caboose 409 is suspended in mid-air whileit waits for its new trucks to be installed.

The #409 caboose trucks, althoughnot historically related to the #244,caboose, were placed under it until thecorrect trucks can be located.

The exchange of the trucks, in addi-tion to delivery of the #244 caboose tothe Emily Street Yard, involved cranesfor both the lifting of the cabooses at dif-ferent times, and removal and lifting ofthe trucks somewhat simultaneouslyto the caboose lifting. While the goal andthe outcome were simple, exchange thetrucks, the work involved to accomplishthis task was very complicated.

Reported by Brad LaRosePhotos by Ted Van Klaveren

New Board MemberMike Boyack has

joined the San LuisObispo Rai lroadMuseum Board ofDirectors.

Mike came to SanLuis Obispo fron theSan Francisco BayA r e a in 19 6 3 t oattend Cal Poly.

Upon completion of school and mili-tary duty, he started a constructioncompany in San Luis Obispo which hestill runs today. He has been marriedto Karen for 42 years. They have twogrown children and two grandchildren.

Mike has loved trains since he got hisfirst Lionel set as a kid. He has mod-eled off and on as time permitted. Heis also an avid car collector.

Mike brings to the Board his manyyears of experience as a successful busi-nessman plus his background in theconstruction industry.

Mike can be reached at (805) 441-4186

Private Cars in SLO

After the convention, eight of thecars traveled as far as Oakland andthen continued to their homes viaAmtrak. Twenty-one of the cars spent

SLORRM is a member of AAPRCObecause of its ownership of LaCondesa.Museum Treasurer Dave Rohr is theSLORRM representative to AAPRCOand is also Treasurer of AAPRCO.

The Museum opened Friday eveningand Saturday morning for the visitorson the train. Good reviews were receivedfrom all who visited. As a thank you,AAPRCO donated $500 to the Museum.

Page 1 photo by Tom CooperPage 4 photo by Dave Rohr

Caboose 409 movedto a New Location

Southern Pacific baywindow caboose#409 was acquired by the San LuisObispo Railroad Museum on January29, 2002. The Caboose had previouslybeen sitting in the Templeton Com-munity Park, where it had been since1984 when the Southern Pacific haddonated it to the community. This ClassC-40-3 car was built in 1942. Between1981 and 1984 it had seen service as aTrain Order Office in Santa Margarita.

The Caboose was sold to the RailroadSquare and on November 13, 2013 wasmoved the 100 yards or so from theMuseum display track to a new spurnext to the Railroad Square building.

Ever seen one of these?

If you haven’t, you’ll have to waituntil the next issue of Coast Mail to findout what it’s all about.

Baldwin Locomotive SoldThe 1927 Baldwin 0-4-2RT steam

locomotive that the Museum acquiredin August, 2003 has been sold to a pri-vate collector. The American madeengine had spent its working life inJapan as a logging locomotive.

Notes Along the Pacific Coast Right-of-way

By Andrew Merriam 19th Century Steam LocomotivesManager C. O. Johnson was frus-

trated. It was 1893 and The Paci cCoast Company had merged with theSan Luis Obispo and Santa MariaValley Railroad in 1882 forming thenew Pacific Coast Railway. In the pasttwelve years there had only beenenough money available to get one addi-tional Baldwin locomotive, and threebargain basement engines from aMaryland source that was unheard ofon the west coast. Reputed to be fromThos. Paul & Son and probably built bythe Mount Savage Shops of theCumberland and Pennsylvania; theywere, according to J. Millard Fillmore,then Pacific Coast manager, “Nothingbut a source of expense and very unre-liable.” And now with ten years of expe-rience, came problems with ordering aBaldwin.

It was frustrating as a manager of arailroad, a small narrow gauge rail-road, placing an order with the largestlocomotive builder in theUnited Statesalmost three thousand miles away andhaving their staff essentially tell youthat you did not know what you weredoing. Johnson did not care if they werebig and had produced over 13,500 loco-motives at the time that number 101was ordered, they did not know abouthis central coast operation. He had alocomotive with a Hunter stack and itworked fine. Baldwin also didn’t getthe diameter of the air pumps right. Butone had to argue politely with your sup-plier, especially given their relativepositions.

He would be specific, however, in hisAugust 7, 1893 letter to the treasurerof the Oregon Improvement Companyin New York, the parent company whichwas processing the locomotive order,in trying to get things straightened out.

They have substituted the Raleighand Gaston smokestack of wood, whenwe called for the Hunter. In a letter ofexplanation from the Baldwin peoplethey seem to raise some question aboutthe e ectiveness of the Hunter stackwith an extension front. We are nowoperating a Hunter stack with exten-sion from engines with perfect successand as our wood is a hard live oak andthe R. & G. stack is made for pine, I donot think it would answer our purposeand would much prefer the Hunter, forwhich we asked and which we are nowoperating.

Continued on page 6

Figure 1: The Avila, the original locomotive of the San Luis Obispo and SantaMaria Valley Railroad. From the collection of Gerald Best

Figure 2: Engine No. 4 was the first Mogul on the system. It is shown here in 1884at San Luis Obispo, still in the wood burning configuration. Note the long shankon the pilot to connect to the link and pin couplers of the day. Best collection.

Figure 3: Engine No. 6 was a classic American 4-4-0 built by Baldwin in1883. By 1894 it had been converted from burning wood to coal.

From the Gerald Best collection.

Notes regarding:

No. 3 Rebuilt 1899 and renumbered No. 104

No. 4 Rebuilt 1898 and renumbered No. 102

No. 5 Rebuilt 1898 and renumbered No. 103

The builder of these three engines is unclear. See Text.(primary information for this table is from Gerald Best.

Figure 5

Nineteenth Century Locomotives of the Pacific Coast Railway

The Westinghouse air brake specication calls for an eight-inch pump. Weasked for a nine and a half inch and thisadditional size costs but $25 more.

We are now having considerable trou-ble with the smaller cylinder air pumps,giving out on our heavy grades and ifnot too late, I would ask that the nineand a half inch cylinder be ordered.

In the beginning motive power onthe central coast was not steam andthe rails were not iron. The modestbeginnings of the railroad was JohnHarford’s horse-drawn carts rolling onwooden rails connecting the road endat Avila Beach to the new pier at thesafe end of the harbor under the highcliffs at Point San Luis. There was abridge across the creek and a hightunnel built in 1873. Freight trafficgrew and the track capacity had to beenlarged. A very satisfying conditionindeed to the local investors. The steamengine was the best option at the time.

The first steam engine, appropriatelynumbered 1 and called the Avila (seegure 1), was a double ender built in

1875 by Baldwin. It was a black tank

According to Baldwin records the let-tering was originally called out to belake (scarlet) but this was changedbefore shipment. I remember marvel-ing about the quality of this photographwhen reading Gerald Best’s book onthe PCRy in 1964. It was so superior toother photographs of the period. It turnsout, based upon research by KenWestcott, author of The Paci c Coast

Figure 4: Engine 101, the Baldwin Mogul is shown converted to an oil burner butstill with the odd butterfly spark arrester from its coal days. The large oil head-lamp is typical. The bell mounted on the front sand dome is not. It is no doubt aPacific Coast shops’ reuse of an earlier bell. From the Gerald Best collection.

Railway, (1998) that since no originalbuilder’s photograph could be found,artist and railroad collector WardKimball of Southern Califonia letteredthis builder’s photo of a similar loco-

photo from some 50 years later.

Those of you with sharp eyes willhave correctly seen that firewood wasstored in the cab. This system workedfor switching and short runs but not outon the line. An eight-wheel tender hadbeen added the year before the Avilawas sold to the Columbia and Puget

Sound in 1883. Tractive effort for No.1was 4600 pounds. This meant that theAvila could only handle the few carssuitable for railroad construction.

More engines, power and speed wereneeded to operate the railroad. Thesmall 4-4-0 Baldwin of 1876 (No. 2) metthe first and third categories but it wasnot until the organization of the PacificCoast Railroad in 1881 that the motivepower issue was more fully addressed.The Pacific Coast Railway and the San

Railroad were to merge the next year.Continued on page 7.

The main exhibit room

Kids enjoy the Thomas the Tank Train layout.

Jerry Freedman of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors,Chapter 52, gave a presentation about historic railroad time pieces, onSaturday morning, October 12th, at the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum.

19th CenturySteam LocomotivesContinued from page 6

In the following decade, the threelocomotives built in 1881 and purchasedf4-4-0 passenger engine with 44 inchdrivers and a tractive effort of 6,070pounds and two 2-6-0 Moguls for freightwith just over 7,000 pounds of tractiveeffort. They were somewhat heavierthan the earlier engines. See Figures 2and 3 for photos and Figure 5 for theengine roster. This trio would have tosatisfy the requirements for the next tenyears until C. O. Johnson was able toplace another order with Baldwin.

For comparison, in that era, the stan-dard gauge Southern Pacific had a cou-ple of 2-4-2T engines with 9740 to 10960pounds of tractive effort, more thandouble the Avi1a’s capacity. Eightwheelers built in the 1870s typicallyhad 11000 to 12000 pounds of tractiveeffort while moguls reached the 25000to 29000 range. In general the samewheel arrangement in standard gaugewould generate two to three times thetractive effort when compared to itsnarrow gauge brothers.

The next new engine was a Baldwin,the No. 6. It was only slightly strongerthat its 4-4-0 predecessors but evidentlymore satisfactory in performance. As apoint of interest, the No. 6 was shippedby boat around Cape Horn and replacedthe Avila, which had been sold the pre-vious year. No. 6 was burned in the fireat the Los Olivos Round house in 1896and scrapped in 1900.

The last of the early steam enginescame in 1893 when C. O. Johnson hadhis difficulties with Baldwin. The 101was a small Mogul (see Figure #4) andwas the first in the new numbering sys-tem. Numbers 102 through 104 werethe second numbers for old nunbers 3through 5. She was converted to an oilburner as soon as that fuel proved effec-tive but for some reason retained herunusual butterfly spark arrester fromcoal buming days.

These four engines, now numbered101 though 104, were to hold down theservice requirements of the PacificCoast Railway until 1904 when a neworder was placed with the BaldwinLocomotive Works for five consolida-tions with 80% more capacity than theold Moguls. These new engines and thetwo ten-wheelers will be the subject ofthe next installment.

SLORRM Grand Opening

Above: Liisa Stark, Public RelationsDirector for the Union Pacific Railroaditerates UP’s support for the Museum.Union Pacific also donated $550 to thecost of opening day and parked a GECA45AC locomotive on the team trackfor the occassion.

Right: Museum’s extensive collection ofRailroad lanterns and signal lights isone of the central exhibits.

Above: Amtrak Coast Starlight passes theMuseum platform on its way South.

Right: Visitors enjoyed musicprovided by the Central CoastBrass Ensemble

Former Disneyland display cabinet isnow the home of many San Luis ObispoRailroad Museum treasures.

Vicki Jansen, a legislative aide to StateAssemblyman Katcho Achadjian pres-ents a proclamation recognizing theyears of hard work which resulted in theSan Luis Obispo Railroad Museum’sGrand Opening on October 12th, 2013.