NARROW GAUGE ON THE CENTRAL COAST, PART 1
A SAGA OF THE PACIFIC COAST RAILWAY
BY DON M. SCOTT, RAILROAD MAN
AS EDITED BY UNCLE RUSS REINBERG, A HEARTLESS AND UNSYMPATHETIC MAGAZINE PUBLISHER [Cheap, too.-Ed.]
BEFORE STANDARD GAUGE railroad tracks linked northern and southern California in 1901, the state's huge size and varied geography caused it to develop as three distinct regions. The Southern Pacific Railroad fought for decades to tie those regions together but, ironically, it took the advent of air travel and the completion of California's highway system to finish the job.
From the middle of the 19th century until the early part of this century, travelers had to take a stagecoach or a coastal steam ship between northern and southern California. But one of the state's more isolated population centers was along the central coast, in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The area has rich farm and ranch land and a many useful natural resources, including oil. So by the late 1800s, an elaborate intrastate transportation system had evolved and it made use of steamships and railroads together. The best example was the steamship and narrow gauge railroad operation at Port Harford in San Luis Bay near Avila, California.
The area's main city is San Luis Obispo. A century ago, they called it San Luis. It is a mission town sixteen miles inland from the bay, near the mouth of a canyon. The canyon cuts through coastal mountains and allows the city access to the well sheltered harbor. San Luis also has the distinction of being home to the world's first motel, "The Motel Inn", dating back to 1925 and the dawn of the California car culture. An evil portent for railroads.
The first rail efforts began in the mid-1850s. Through several evolutions, mergers, and acquisitions, it evolved into a 3 foot narrow gauge freight and passenger railroad starting 1,600 feet out on a pier in San Luis Harbor at Port Harford. Its name was the Pacific Coast Railway.
The pier supported 6 stub-end sidings and an enclosed building with room enough for a short train, a railway station, and quarters for the station master. It served more than seventy steamships, such as the 1,492 ton Corona, the 1,264 ton Pomona, and the 2,416 ton Santa Rosa. They sailed from Vancouver to San Diego and docked at various long deep water piers along the way.
The Hotel Marre stood at the foot of Port Harford's pier. It was a fine looking Italo-Victorian building and provided a place where travelers waiting for the boat or train, or just taking a break in the trip, could enjoy rest and relaxation.
From the pier, the line crept along the edge of the bay and sixteen miles up through Sycamore canyon to a railroad yard at San Luis. Then it turned and ran sixty miles south, passing through the towns of Arroyo Grande, Nipomo, and Santa Maria. When they discovered oil at Guadalupe, Betteravia, and Orcutt, the Pacific Coast Railway built branches to serve them. The tracks continued south to Los Alamos and Zaca Station and terminated at Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Next time, in Part Two, we'll look at the yards in San Luis Obispo, Pacific Coast Railway's motive power and rolling stock, its "gallows" turntable, and its interchange with the Southern Pacific. In Part Three, we'll visit the southern part of the line.
