Amtrak Pacific Surfliner 796 backs out of its storage track in San Luis Obispo, on California’s Central Coast, and it will soon load its first passengers for the trip to San Diego. As the train backs out, led temporarily by F59PHI 462, the Surfliner passes a pair of Union Pacific SD70Ms (non-flared 4461 and flared radiator 4732), which are stationed in SLO as helpers. At the end of 2018, the unit oil train from north of San Luis Obispo to the Los Angeles Harbor was discontinued, and these helpers were no longer needed to assist it over Cuesta Grade. UP’s Santa Barbara and Coast Subdivisions don’t get much freight traffic these days, other than a local out of Guadalupe (south of SLO) and another out of Watsonville (which comes as far south as Palo Robles, north of SLO). Amtrak Pacific Surfliners and Coast Starlights are all that can be seen in SLO these days. (San Luis Obispo, California, - October 7, 2018)
