Crossing the over 100 year old viaduct spanning the banks of the Santa Margarita river, Amtrak 11 hustles toward the river's namesake town as it approaches Cuesta Pass.

A Roger Puta Photograph

UP 7691 leads the detouring MWCRV-17 into Santa Margarita and past the still active ex-Southern Pacific searchlights here as it prepares to take the siding for the detouring QRVWCB-16. These two t... (more)

Turning its nose into the final glimpse of the late evening light, UP 7078 slows the southbound, loaded oil cans as they prepare to stop on the main to add the San Luis Obispo based helpers for th... (more)

Back when power shortages in Seattle seemed to be a regular occurrence for Amtrak, it wasn't all that uncommon to spot a UP or BNSF unit on the point of the southbound Coast Starlight. While Amtra... (more)

Battling upgrade on wet rails at the southern switch of Santa Margarita, UP 1988, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad heritage unit, leads an El Paso, Texas-bound autorack train toward the still ac... (more)

How I Spent My Third Wedding Anniversary (Thanks, Honey!)

After assisting the World's Fair Daylight (N... (more)

Heading into the setting sun, the Union Pacific Board Of Directors Special, climbs to the top of Cuesta before dropping down into San Luis Obispo.

The Oil Cans come off their spiraling and winding cresting of Cuesta Pass. It will be far easier going from here up to Wunpost where the train will reload.

During the Memorial Day Weekend "Trains, Tractors, and Tanks" event at Santa Margarita Ranch the privately owned railroad on the property was running and giving rides. The engine (2-6-2 Porter) an... (more)

During the Memorial Day Weekend "Trains, Tractors, and Tanks" event at Santa Margarita Ranch the Coast Starlight can be seen in the distance passing by the festivities. The tractor seen in the pho... (more)

Auto racks soon will be tackling the 2.2% incline of the Cuesta Grade.

Pacific Coast Railroad #3, a 2-6-2 Porter built in1897, pulls restored wooden Disneyland coaches up a 5% grade on the privately owned railroad.

A brace of six diesels hustle a Southern Pacific manifest freight through Santa Margarita, California, on January 12th, 1985. In just a few miles, this train will begin the steep descent down Cue... (more)

The San Luis Obispo base helpers wait in the siding at Santa Margarita while the southbound loaded Coast Oil Cans, OWPDO, pull onto the main. Once the Cans have cleared the north switch of the si... (more)