The South Coast Railroad Museum at the historic Goleta Depot is offering railroad fans and history buffs a chance to ride on a historical American railcar. On Jan. 19, the museum will bring the 1937 Santa Fe lounge car the Acoma back into active service.
The Acoma won’t be riding alone on Jan. 19, but will be joined by the historic 1949 club lounge car, the Overland Trail. Passengers will get a chance to ride in both cars on the round trip from Goleta to San Luis Obispo and back. While on the Overland Trail, passengers will enjoy the music of acoustic guitarist and singer Bill Prince, an aficionado of train ballads, blues, and country tunes.
South Coast Railroad Museum director Gary Coombs and members of the museum’s corps of volunteers will be on hand to provide narrative and answer questions about local history, points of interest, things to do, and the natural history of the area traveled.
Passengers can hop the historic rail cars at the Santa Barbara Amtrak Station at 10:22 a.m. and the Goleta Amtrak Station at 10:34 a.m. The train will arrive in San Luis Obispo at 1 p.m. The return trip begins at 1:55 p.m. and arrives back in Santa Barbara at 4:32 p.m.
Tickets for the “Acoma Inaugural Trip” excursion cost $89—and $3 can be saved from each ticket by buying through the depot’s online store at store.goletadepot.org. More information is available at 680-0397 or goletadepot.org.
Arts Briefs is compiled by Arts Editor Joe Payne. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 10-17, 2013.