La Cuesta

La Cuesta, formerly known as La Condesa, is a 1926 Pullman observation open-platform car donated to the museum by member Gordon Crosthwait in June 2006. Formerly Santa Fe no. 1512, it was one of five cars built as café-lounge cars. As far as we know the car continued in this configuration for its entire service life. La Condesa was purchased around 1966 by Finley Fun Time Tours and sold to Gordon Crosthwait, a school teacher from Los Osos, in 1969. He renamed her La Condesa and, for nearly 20 years, she was a private excursion car leased to charter groups. The car was first based in Fresno and then later moved to Fullerton near the Amtrak Station. She slipped into semi-retirement in the early 1990s when Amtrak issued its new private car standards. In June 2006, Mr. Crosthwait donated the car to the Railroad Museum. In February 2007 he passed away, knowing that he had found a loving home for his car. In 2007 the car was moved to Santa Maria Valley Railroad. The car was used by the SMVRR as a business car while museum members worked on rehabilitating it. In June of 2014 the car was moved to the museum’s display track in San Luis Obispo, where it now sits adjacent to the Museum platform and is available for viewing.

1926: Built by Pullman Car Company for AT&SF as Café/Observation car #1512
1950s: Modernized by AT&SF
1966: Purchased by Finley Fun Time Tours and renamed “La Margarita del Oro”
1969: Purchased by Gordon Crosthwait of Los Osos and renamed “La Condesa” and used as a chartered private excursion car
1990s: Slipped into semi-retirement due to new Amtrak private car standards
2006: Donated to SLORRM
2007: Moved to Santa Maria Valley Railroad and used as a railroad business car
2014: Moved to the Museum display track in San Luis Obispo
2015: Car is christened “La Cuesta” on SLO Train Day