The Museum is located at 1940 Santa Barbara Ave, San Luis Obispo, about 2.5 miles from convention hotel. The Museum is open 10am to 4pm. Admission to the museum is $5. For much more information see the Museum’s web page at https://slorrm.com
Located in the 1894 Southern Pacific Freight House, the museum houses exhibits of all phases of railroading.
There is a collection of vintage rail cars next to the museum including a tank car, a flat car, a Southern Pacific beet gondola, a 1926 Pullman observation lounge, two narrow gauge boxcars, and a 20-ton Plymouth gas locomotive.
Inside there is a large HO scale model railroad layout depicting the Southern Pacific during the 1950’s from Santa Margarita to Guadalupe. Included on the layout is the narrow gauge Pacific Coast Railway to the pier at Avila Bay.
The freight house was restored through community efforts and the City of San Luis Obispo with a dedication when completed in 2013.
Located between the Amtrak station and the site of the Southern Pacific yards, the museum is a perfect spot to watch the Amtrak passenger trains with the Pacific Surfliner arriving from the south at 12:39pm and departing back south at 4:12pm. In between the two Coast Starlights go through town at 2:52pm and 3:24pm.
The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum is preserving the railroad history of California and the Central Coast by collecting, restoring, displaying and operating historic railroad equipment.
The Central Coast Model Railroad occupies a 1,500 square foot space in the Museum. The goal is to portray the railroad history of the California Central Coast in miniature and operating scale trains in their historic context.
In concept the HO scale model represents various aspects of railroad life in San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties including the geographical area, industries served, and train operations of the various railroads located there. The double-deck peninsula layout has realistic miniature recreations of up to sixteen historic local railroad scenes along the Central Coast. Major features include the Pacific Coast Railway pier at Avila, the town of San Luis Obispo as a railroad division point incorporating the roundhouse, water tanks the station and adjacent historic buildings, the Stenner Creek trestle and famous horseshoe curve.
Operationally there are full-length Southern Pacific passenger trains including the colorful and renowned streamlined Daylight, the Lark and mail trains. Freight trains carry local produce, lumber, beets, oil and general merchandise. A maintenance of way trains also is included. The model mainline will be over five hundred feet long. Trains incorporate sound and radio control operations to present a realistic presentation of railroading along the Central Coast.
Currently the Pacific Coast Railway HOn3 model railroad includes Avila Beach and the Port Harford Pier areas. The major elements include Harford Pier (nearly 16 feet in length), a four-foot high painted backdrop of the harbor area and the town of Avila Beach in the early 1930s, including the award-winning wood truss bridge over San Luis Obispo Creek as featured on the cover of the September 2012 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.
Two hundred and forty feet of the lower level are now in operation. The Surf Depot area and the bridge crossing the Santa Ynez River are complete. The Stenner Creek Trestle (eight actual feet in length) is installed. Track is laid for the San Luis Obispo yard, which is eight tracks wide and thirty feet in length. Many of the historic structures are in place. Where possible all scenes modeled are based upon actual Southern Pacific track plans and 1950s era photographs.
