Pacific Coast Railway

The Pacific Coast Railway is a defunct 3 ft  (914 mm) narrow gauge railway in the Central Coast of California. Not to be confused with the Pacific Coast Railroad Company, a tourist operation in nearby Santa Margarita, California, near Atascadero which has operated since 2000.

Originally a 10 mile (16 km) link from San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach and Port Harford, it later built southward to Santa Maria and Los Olivos, with branches to Sisquoc and Guadalupe.

Although much of the line's traffic was agricultural freight, the development of oilfields in the Santa Maria valley gave it much business, and probably extended its life considerably.

An interesting feature, unusual for a narrow gauge railway, was that the Santa Maria to Guadalupe branch was electrified.

Timeline

• 1873 Horse-powered, 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge tramway opened between Port Harford and Avila Beach.
• 1876 Line extended to San Luis Obispo, as 3 ft  (914 mm) gauge steam-powered San Luis Obispo & Santa Maria Valley Railroad, with the backing of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company.
• 1881 SLO&SMV and Pacific Coast Steamship Company absorbed into Oregon Improvement Company.
• 1881 Line extended from San Luis Obispo to Arroyo Grande.
• 1882 Line extended to Santa Maria and Los Alamos.
• 1882 SLO&SMV reorganized as Pacific Coast Railway.
• 1887 Mainline reaches Los Olivos, furthest extent.
• 1901 Oil drilling begins east of Santa Maria.
• 1906 Electrified branch built west from Santa Maria to serve sugar beet industry, to plant at Betteravia.
• 1909 Electrified branch extended to Guadalupe.
• 1910 Branch built east from Santa Maria to Sisquoc, to serve growing oilfields.
• 1928 End of electric operations.
• 1936 Mainline abandoned south of Los Alamos.
• 1937 Branchlines from Santa Maria abandoned.
• 1941 All service abandoned.

External links

• http://www.smvrhm.org - Santa Maria Valley Railway Historical Museum
• http://www.slorrm.com - San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum
• http://www.csrmf.org - California State Railroad Museum, which has restored PCRy caboose No. 2.

References

• Best, Gerald (1964). Ships and narrow gauge rails; the story of the Pacific Coast Company. Howell-North.
• Westcott, Kenneth & Johnson, Curtiss (1998). The Pacific Coast Railway: Central California's Premier Narrow Gauge. Benchmark Publications.