The Fourth Annual Central Coast Railroad Festival, set for October 4-8th in the heart of the California Central Coast, will focus on rail excursions, modeling of all types and special events at historical railroad buildings. Website: http://ccrrf.com/ Activities will take place at numerous railroad, historical and educational locations throughout San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara Counties. The Central Coast Railroad Festival is designed to please both casual train buffs and avid rail fans as well as delight tourists and locals of all ages. Attendees will be able to celebrate rail's history, future and fun while experiencing all types of modeling, rail excursions, concerts, exhibits and open houses at historical railroad buildings. Most Festival events will be free and all will be fun and very family friendly. Festival attendees will also be able to explore the area’s beaches, wineries, Missions, quaint downtowns and other special attractions. Festival activities will kick off with an expanded presence at the San Luis Obispo Farmers’ Market on Thursday night, October 4th. The Festival will take over the corner at Higuera St. and Chorro St. and present running models, live music, Amtrak gifts for the kids and authentic railroad equipment and artifacts. Festival and participant information and a model train set giveaway will also be available on Thursday evening. The century old Freight House in San Luis Obispo’s Historic Railroad District will be the center of activities on Saturday, October 6th when the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum hosts a big open house. The event will include interior and exterior tours, speeder rides, exhibits and two big visiting model train layouts. On Sunday, October 7th, the San Luis Obispo Model Railroad Association will host an open house at the historic Oceano Depot. The Festival’s model layout tours will be expanded this year. The tours will feature 20 layouts including six new to the Festival layouts. The layout locations extend from Lompoc to Paso Robles and will offer many garden railroads. The layout tour has again been organized by the Model Railroads of Southern California group. Complete tour details including schedules, maps and layout descriptions can be downloaded from the CCRRF website. The Festival will feature Five Rail Excursions during the weekend! Three family excursions will take place on Saturday, October 6th: two excursions will feature a ride over the historic and scenic Cuesta Grade on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight – one starting in Paso Robles and the other in San Luis Obispo. The third family excursion will feature a round trip on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner between Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo. All three excursion groups will be able to visit the Saturday Open House at the SLO Freight House – just south of the SLO Amtrak Station. The Festival will also feature two Wine Rail Excursions on the Coast Starlight on Friday and Monday, October 5th and 8th. These CCRRF Wine Rail Excursions are now being offered throughout the year. Public Excursions are available on the second Sunday of each month as well as for special occasions. Private trips are available also. Excursion details pricing, promotional video and online ticketing is available on the Festival’s website. The festival is proud to welcome back Amtrak and Rabobank as the major festival sponsors. KCOY 12 and FOX 11 are the Festival’s exclusive television media partners. Additional sponsors, promotional partners and event volunteers are now being sought. Further information and details on the Central Coast Railroad Festival, including the developing schedule of events, promotional videos, links to participating organizations and an email notification sign up, can be found at www.ccrrf.com . Festival staffers can be reached at 805-773-4173. Bob Chaparro Hemet, CA
