Nostalgia & History > Paso Robles Depot 1985

Here, for your enjoyment, are two photos of the depot at Paso Robles in 1985 taken by my good friend and fellow engineer, Jay Bell. Boy, I sure do miss him.

Does anybody know when this was closed down as a train order office? Nudge?

JDE

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I think Paso Robles lasted until the end of train orders, but when was that? After Atascadero, and does anybody have any photos of that lovely station?, my dad worked many years as second trick operator at Paso Robles. Being a San Francisco native, growing up in Atascadero, I deadheaded into SF many times on #94/95, later #75/76 from Paso Robles, or sometimes, SLO. I have this iconic memory of boarding #95, the Starlight, in Paso Robles, sitting in the lead coach, and you really get up to speed quickly, watching the sparks fly by from the 4400 up front, until finally falling asleep. My mom, now 90, used to marvel at the old glass in the place, and took amusement at the distortions at the view outdoors.

1985 was when DTC came to the Coast

I remember cut-over day... I was working at Oxnard. Seems alot longer than 21 years ago! (More "real" railroading went bye-bye that day.)

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

When I visited PR in 1976, the signal crew had just taken down the order board semaphore. I talked with the station agent, who was the last one on the SP who still had living quarters upstairs in the depot. He was retiring soon, and the order board was scheduled to be a retirement present, to be installed at his ranch outside of town. Next time I saw the depot, it had been damaged by fire, and I expected to see a bare spot on any succeeding visit. In this case, good news followed--the depot is restored for "adaptive reuse" and is a local showplace.

When the caboose train order office was added in 1982 at Santa Margarita, they closed PR as a train order office

sploopconductor Wrote:
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> I remember cut-over day... I was working at
> Oxnard. Seems alot longer than 21 years ago!
> (More "real" railroading went bye-bye that day.)
>
> Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!
>
> Larry
Yes the famous name for DTC.. "Death to the Clerks" .. and a few others that can't be published..

Recently read your response to info on Paso Robles Depot. During the 1970's I lived in Paso while going to Cal Poly. I used to go down to the depot and study from about 10PM until 1 or 2AM. The operators name was Sam White, I think. He lived in Atascadero and sold real estate on the side. Was that you Dad?