Many, Many Thanks To:

2019 San Luis Obispo Train Day


Saturday, May 11, 2019, 10:00am - 4:00pm

Event activities at the historical Freighthouse included running model trains, kids' activities, all manner of railroad displays with interpretation, live Irish music, Chinese Lion Dancers, free beer tasting, art/photography, Amtrak display, Operation Lifesaver display, as well as various presentations and tours. Schedule details below...

We celebrated the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad completion at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869. See story and photos from SLORRM members who attended some of the 150th Anniversary festivities in Utah. We also celebrated the contribution by the Chinese and the Irish in building our railroads.

Admission: $5 per visitor 16 and over, $3 per visitor aged four through 15, and those aged 3 and under are free. Admission for Museum Members is free; you may join at the door.

SLO Train Day at the Museum!

Schedule for the Day

 
10:00 AM

- Event Opens, Museum Opens, Model Railroad Opens

- Historic Railroad District Walking Tour by SecretSLO, Tickets ($5-$10)
 

11:00 AM

- Irish Rail Workers - presentation by Patrick Sullivan

- Food for Sale by Railroad BBQ Co, ends at 3pm

- Beer Tasting by Central Coast Brewing, ends at 2:30pm
 

11:45 AM

- Traditional Irish Music, by David Foster Evans

 
1:00 PM

- Chinese Railroad Workers, talk by Phil Tillman

 
2:30 PM

- Cal Poly Lion Dancers (see photos from a previous performance)

- Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner passes the Museum's back platform (northbound)

 
3:20 PM
- Amtrak's Coast Starlight passes the Museum's back platform (southbound)
 
3:35 PM
- Amtrak's Coast Starlight passes the Museum's back platform (northbound)
 
4:00 PM
- Event and Museum Closes
 



Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869.
Photo by Andrew J. Russell, Yale University Libraries
See SLORRM Member photos and stories from the 150th Anniversary here


Conor Healy and his crew, circa 1911 (B&O Railroad). Courtesy of Christine Balmert Marshall and the Irish Railroad Workers Museum.


Phil Tillman presentation in 2016.


Kids get in free on SLO Train Day 2019 with a copy of this May 2nd New Times ad.


Dedication ceremonies were held in San Luis Obispo's Railroad Square in 2003 for the "Iron Road Pioneers" statue (sculpted by Elizabeth MacQueen) to honor Chinese railroad workers and other Chinese immigrants to SLO County. It's located in the center of the round-about between the Museum and the Amtrak Station.


UPRR Irish workers (American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)


Cal Poly Lion Dancers