San Luis Obispo, CA (SLO)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$4,490,387

Station Ridership

FY 2011

101,659

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The stucco San Luis Obispo was built in 1941 for the Southern Pacific Railroad. This southwestern-style station remains in good condition and it received a new ticket counter in 2003.

San Luis Obispo, which is located on the central coast of California, is eight miles from the ocean. First inhabited by the Chumash peoples, who settled there from 5,000 to 10,000 BC, European occupation began with the founding of the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in 1772 by Father Junípero Serra on the site of a Chumash village called Tilhini. This was the fifth Spanish Mission in a chain of 21 in California. The Mission, which still stands, is one of the best preserved examples of Mission architecture, with its distinctive red tile roof. It is among the oldest buildings in California. San Luis Obispo was first incorporated in 1856 and became a Charter City in 1876.

John C. Fremont took possession of San Luis Obispo for the United States in 1846. With the gold rush in the 1850s, the locale turned away from its traditional hide-and-tallow ranching, through a period of lawlessness. After a severe drought in the early 1860s decimated cattle herds, the area turned to the beef and dairy industry.

Chinese labor gangs, local to San Luis Obispo, under the direction of Ah Louis and others, hired out to construct roads and the Pacific Coast Railway. The Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in San Luis Obispo in 1894, and combined with a local gold discovery, brought prosperity to the area. Post World War I, the county returned from growing war supply foods to dairy, seed and truck farming.

William Randolph Hearst, the great newspaper magnate of the 20th century, built his home on the family estate at San Simeon, 43 miles from San Luis Obispo. When the estate was opened as a state park in 1958, that attraction and the surge in the number of wineries in the area contributed to a substantial tourist trade for the city. San Luis Obispo is also home to California Polytechnic State University, or, “Cal Poly,” founded in 1901, which is one of the 23 general purpose campuses of the California State University system, and has about 20,000 students enrolled. The Cal Poly campus has its own Amtrak Thruway bus stop.

Just north of San Luis Obispo, at Cuesta Pass, lie two well-known horseshoe curves in the rail line as it descends from the mountains. The route drops or climbs 1,000 feet in 11 miles making it a popular photography subject among railfans.

Amtrak provides ticketing and baggage services at this facility.

San Luis Obispo is served by six daily trains.