Coast Starlight.

Goleta is a few miles north of Santa Barbara; the station now consists of a concrete platform with an open-air shelter to protect passengers from inclement weather. The last local train pulled away from the Goleta depot in 1965 and in 1973 the building was shuttered. Railroads usually tore down abandoned depots, but Goleta’s survived through the determination of Goleta Beautiful, a group of local activists interested in the preservation of the town’s past. In 1981, the depot was cut into two pieces and moved across Highway 101 to a spot in Lake Los Carneros Park; part of the cut is still visible. Since then, the depot, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been under a constant program of renovation and improvement. It is home to the South Coast Railroad Museum, which the founders envisioned as an institution in which visitors could learn about the “history, technology, and adventure of railroading.” A special emphasis is placed on the role of the rural depot and the railroad in small-town life.