Avila Beach October 15, 1966. ©2010 The Tribune
Before the current bridge to Port San Luis was built over San Luis Creek travelers used the old single lane Pacific Coast Railroad bridge. This view looks back at Avila Beach and the Union Oil tanks from October 15, 1966.
At this time the Harford pier was closed and a new parking lot was under construction on filled in tideland. A forthcoming post will reprint a historical society tour of the area.
This photo was unpublished until today. If the photographer recognizes his car speak up & we’ll give you a picture credit.
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This is excellent, Dave. Wonderful to see the early train clip alongside the old bridge photo. I remember in Dan Krieger’s history classes hearing about the train along Port San Luis, but had never seen evidence.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Dave. I’m the son of two railroaders, both out of SLO, and a RR buff myself. One of them, my grandfather, worked on the old Pacific Coast RR around a century ago and I greatly appreciate the video clip. And ditto what Gregg said: “Keep up the great work.”
me too, me too. you are wonderful. we had an older gentleman who stopped by to visit and he used to talk about this train all the time. now i can see what he was talking about. thanks
As a long time part time railfan and with a particular interest in the old PC Railway, thanks so much for this post, especially the movie. Many years ago I had the privilidge of meeting an old gentleman who had been a conductor with the Southern Pacific for most of his life, but had started his railroad career on the PC, and had taken some home movies of it. I got to sit down with him and watch them just once, but I often wonder if he and/or the movies are still around. Perhaps they may be in the possession of a member of the Railway Historical Society? Anyone know of them?
Oh, truly! This video is now my most precious addition to my library. I’ve occasionally traced the old route as far as is possible via Google maps satellite view, but I’ve never seen anything real lifelike the way that this video is. It is just wonderful.
My dad Richard (Dick) Morris was an engineer for many years on Southern Pacific RR. When I was 7 I got to ride in the engine with him. He stopped the train by Palm Street, we lived right by the tracks and picked me up. Up and over the grade to help a longer train come back over.