Passenger Trains > Train Time at SLO is ALL at the Same Time

Date: 07/29/18 22:07
Train Time at SLO is ALL at the Same Time
Author: SN711

I find it fairly amusing that 75% of the daily scheduled trains at San Luis Obispo, CA is all at the same time. When they are close to on time, of course.

This weekend we had a 3 day trip to Mariposa County planned to visit friends. But by Wednesday, they found themselves receiving "pre-evacuation" warnings from the Sheriff's Dept on account of the Ferguson Fire.. They were safe and still are, but the wind had shifted and the smoke was blowing their direction now, so we had to choose an alternative destination. We had already set up kenneling for the dogs already and would still have had to pay a large chunk of it if we cancelled. My daughter decided she wanted a 'beach" vacation, so we settled on SLO. We had gone their once (on purpose) and stopped over once or twice while passing through. SLO was far enough away to feel like we went somewhere and there were a few beaches within 10-20 miles to choose from. We actually got a late start on Thursday. By coincidence, when headed down Highway 101, we almost always hit Gilroy about the time as Amtrak 11 - Southbound Coast Starlight. Today, we were about a half hour behind and it was running on time. We probably were close to it by Paso, but we stopped off. As we were headed down the hill toward San Luis Obispo, I checked again and #11 had arrived SLO about 15 minutes early, but it should still be at the depot, so I detoured over to the station. Here is what i found:

Photo #1) 07/26/18 1504 hours - we find Amtrak #11 (25) at the San Luis Obispo station. It was not due out for 16 minutes at this point, but it looks like all the work was already done. This was the last Starlight to have passed through Redding bofore the Carr fire disrupted service.

Photo #2) 07/26/18 1504 hours - Surfliner 763 led by Amtrak 206 arrives at the depot. Train is about 34 minutes late, but had been holding out a bit as well.

Photo #3) 07/26/18 1506 hours - Surfliner 763 has slowly slipped by and I was pleasantly surprised to find these two big yellow cab cars bringing up the rear. The second yellow unit was a 99xx series SD59X. I believe these are the SLO helpers that must have been pressed into service on a previous southbound Surfliner and were being returned by Amtrak. There was a fuel truck standing by on the service tracks, probabaly waiting on these two units.

Photo #4) 1523 hours - Amtrak #14 has arrived, just a few minutes late, but i suspect it was waiting out of sight for 763 to clear the platform.

Photo #5) I turned arround just a little too slow to catch the meet, but #11 had just started to pull about 3 minutes late.

Photo #6) The rear ends meet with the Cyrus Holliday bringing up the rear of #14. #14 would end up getting turned at Sacramento because of the fire closure.

That was 3 trains, plus I am counting the UP helper move, litterally all at the same time. This was the only chance I got to go by the depot, until Saturday morning, when I paid a quick visit to the SLO Railroad Musem before hotel check out. Although if you can't be at the depot between 1430-1530, the odds of seeing tarin are not nearly as good.

Gary