The Goleta Depot was built in 1901, rescued from neglect and moved to its current location as the result of a huge grassroots effort in the late 1970’s. Today, the Goleta Depot is the gem of the South Coast Railroad Museum’s collection. Sites with historic value like this are rare in the U.S., and so...
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A small museum like ours needs lots of friends. When they are called upon to help, those friends become nothing short of heroes. Andrew, Angelica and Alexander Garcia have been museum friends and heroes for a long time, going back to their days as students at Dos Pueblos High School. The brothers and sister...
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The South Coast Railroad Museum played a small part in the 2014 Rose Parade. Aboard the Rotary float, which depicted a steam train in motion, were Rotary International President Ron Burton and his wife, Jetta Burton. The Burton’s costume for the event included engineer’s caps supplied by the museum – perfect attire for their...
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The first step in preparing the museum for the Candy Cane Train and other holiday activities is to decorate the buildings and property. This year, hundreds of ornaments were skillfully attached to the branches of trees and shrubs around the grounds by Hollanda Harwin, sons Evan and Connor, and her mother, Yollanda Leon. UCSB...
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The museum has a new intern for UCSB’s spring quarter 2013. Mariem Lambert is a senior majoring in anthropology. Her minor is American Indian and Indigenous Studies. After she graduates in 2014, she hopes to pursue a career in fieldwork or at a museum. Mariem grew up in the Bay Area and calls San...
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The Museum’s engine No. 1316 is a 1/8-size reproduction of an actual Southern Pacific diesel locomotive. The Southern Pacific purchased ten of these 1,000 horsepower engines from General Motors, all in 1941. They were built at GM’s Electro-Motive Division plant in La Grange, Illinois. Assigned numbers 1310 through 1319, these were among the first...
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Rick Reeves, one of the museum’s newest volunteers, completed his engineer training and hauled his first passengers behind Engine No. 1316 on Saturday, Jan. 26. Rick has been serving as a conductor on the Goleta Short Line for several months. An accomplished singer and guitarist, Rick has also performed for passengers aboard the museum’s...
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The Goleta Short Line turntable has received a major upgrade, thanks to the efforts of John Green and the other volunteers who spend most of their Wednesday mornings working on projects around the museum. The upgrade included the installation of a new mechanism that locks the turntable in line with the corresponding lead track....
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The museum’s new intern for the Winter 2013 Quarter is Shuyan Dong. The 20-year-old UCSB freshman is from Hang Zhou, China. Her major is Actuarial Science. As of this writing, Shuyan has been in the U.S. for less than four months. She has been learning English in school back home since she was 9...
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The South Coast Railroad Museum lost a longtime friend on Dec. 19, 2012, with the passing of James Higman. Jim was perhaps best known around the museum for the tabletop display of miniature stationary steam engines and steam-driven tools and devices that he helped organize for museum events, including a long string of Depot...
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