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Being locked out of the Railroad was only the beginning. Below is the letter received this evening from Dean Thulin of Cal Poly College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences.
Please read the full letter and let us know what you think in the comments, now is the time for constructive conversation.

Swanton Pacific Ranch Railroad Volunteers,

I am writing today with an update about the Swanton Pacific Ranch Railroad.

First, please know that the work of the entire Railroad Society in helping with the recovery of artifacts and cleanup of the railroad facilities following the 2020 fire is greatly appreciated. As you know, we’ve spent the past two years working hard to clean up the ranch to get it up and running for future, ongoing use. I appreciate your patience as we focused on the ranch – getting our faculty, staff and students back on the ranch safely for research and learning remains our top priority.

As you’re more than aware, most all railroad facilities and equipment were destroyed.

While several physical structures specific to the railroad were covered by insurance policies in place at the time of the fire, the actual rolling stock, parts inventory, specialized equipment and railroad tracks were not covered by the insurance policy in effect at the time of the fire.

Current rolling stock repair estimates produced and reviewed by subject matter experts are more than $10M, and while FEMA reimbursement may cover a small portion of that, it will not cover it all, leaving a significant financial exposure to the university. Just to be clear, the funding we recently received from the state budget is restricted to building an education center on the ranch; none of these funds can be used for the railroad.

With our need to focus all of our efforts on the core educational elements of ranch operations and given the expected cost to restore the railroad, we no longer believe the university is the best steward of these unique artifacts of railroad history. Therefore, consistent with Al Smith’s wishes at the time of his gift we have made the decision to begin the process of transferring the railroad to an entity that can restore and care for these invaluable assets. We have already discussed this with the Smith family so they are aware of the decision

We have hired a consultant who has developed an inventory of assets including their valuation and repair status. As Al Smith spelled out in his gift, we will be contacting the California State Railroad Museum to see if they would like to receive any of these important artifacts of railroad history. Based on the outcome of that conversation, we may need to contact additional potential stewards of the assets. Our goal now is to be true to Al Smith’s wish that these artifacts are both preserved and made available to the public.

I know your passion for the railroad runs deep, and we hope through that passion you will help us find an organization that has the resources and mission that will ensure both the preservation and public access of the railroad artifacts. I recognize this is not the outcome for the railroad you had hoped for but hope we can count on your support and assistance as we move through this process.

I also want to address the financial donations to the railroad that came in post-fire. Our intent is to utilize those funds to safely transfer the railroad artifacts to their new owner to preserve the integrity of the original intent of those recent donations – to support the restoration of the Swanton Pacific Ranch Railroad assets.

I want to reiterate that this was a very difficult decision. The railroad was a unique part of Swanton Pacific Ranch. We all know that Al Smith got great pleasure in helping to preserve locomotives and providing the public the opportunity to learn about how important steam locomotives were to the building of this country. I firmly believe that getting these priceless assets into the hands of an entity whose core mission it is to restore and make them accessible to the public would be what Al wanted.

Thank you again for your patience as we navigated the post-fire disaster.
-Andy

Swanton Pacific Railroad Society