OFF THE BEATEN TRACK ANNUAL FILLMORE SHOW A RAIL TREAT.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

FILLMORE - More than 5,000 people answered the call of the rails and rolled into Fillmore over the weekend to attend the ninth annual RailFest, put on by the Santa Clara River Railroad Historical Society and the Fillmore and Western Railway.

The theme ``Cabooses On Parade'' was a chance to show off the recent acquisition of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe number 999474 caboose, which was donated to the local railroaders in October. The mint-condition caboose was one of three attached to a diesel engine that pulled passengers through the citrus orchards on the outskirts of town.

Society president Pat Askren, who also serves as the Fillmore fire chief, said attendance was down, even though the weather was perfect.

``Even if we don't make money, we will still do this event,'' Askren said. ``Our job is to educate the public about trains and to keep the railroad in this valley. It brings in the people and helps the community.''

Festival attendees seemed to be enjoying themselves, and local merchants were pleased with the interest the show brought to the town.

Norm Reid, owner of the Lost and Found Depot, an antique store across from City Hall, said that he's still in business because of the life that the railroad has infused into the city.

``The RailFest is one of our top weekend events,'' he said, walking through his historic Craftsman house filled with railroad memorabilia and collectibles. ``I've been here for eight years. We wouldn't even have bothered if the railroad hadn't been here. We sat through the lean years when there was no tourism, but things seem to have turned around.''

Emily Hadley, who owns an antiques store next door to Reid's, said that she's noticed people from metropolitan areas like Los Angeles come to town to slow down and decompress.

``It's the hustle and bustle there. They want to get away from it,'' she explained. ``These events show off our town, where life is a little slower.''

Overall-clad Roger Bower, a volunteer with the railroad group, sat under a shade canopy next to a small steam engine, supervising his engineers and keeping track of the people who paid $50 per person to get their ``engineer in training'' certificates. He shared a stream of train stories with anyone within earshot.

``We were running this engine out to Santa Paula one day, and we dropped a couple of logs,'' he said. ``We had to report it as a fuel spill, which the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) caught, and called us on it. They asked how we cleaned up the spill, and we told them we stopped and picked up the wood.''

Visitors also got up close and personal with some of their favorite rolling stock ``stars,'' as Fillmore and Western often provides trains to the entertainment industry.

The festival also gave the society a chance to show off its newest project, a 20-seat theater in the city's former firehouse.

With a digital projector, lush curtains and some old-fashioned comfortable seats obtained after the renovation of Grauman's Chinese Theater, a wide variety of railroad films were being shown, many of them available in the society's gift shop, located along one wall of the station.

Valencia resident Mark Aston has been volunteering with the society for three years and spent a good part of Sunday serving up barbecued beef sandwiches to hungry patrons.

``I used to commute to Camarillo and I'd see these trains when I drove by. Then one day, I saw this guy hammering up a banner and stopped to talk with him. I think my first job here was clearing tumbleweeds,'' he said. ``Then I made the mistake of telling them I'm in the construction business. I helped them restore the fire station and work on other projects around here.''

``He's around here so much, we keep his personal ladders in the station,'' said Rick Swanson, a society board member.

Swanson pointed out the next big project for the society is the completion of a turntable and expanded interpretive center in a vacant lot near Central Park. The society has already received $280,000 in federal grant funding and is awaiting clearance from Caltrans to get the project on track.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A locomotive pulling exposed rail cars with passenger benches arrives in Fillmore after an excursion at RailFest.

(2 -- color) Actors from the Frontier Gunfighters perform a skit at Fillmore's Central Park on Sunday.

(3 -- 4) A little engine, above, blows off steam as it chugs through Fillmore on Sunday. At left, a Frontier Gunfighters actor shows the crowd his genuine old-style teeth at the weekend railroad festival.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer