Drivers in the Santa Maria Valley on Saturday got a glimpse of the area's first excursion of “speeders” - quirky small railcars that traveled the tracks through town and agricultural fields.

More than 40 clinking mini railcars rode in a caravan from McClelland Avenue to Guadalupe as riders tuned up for much larger runs in the summer.

Red speeders, yellow ones, blue ones, shiny ones, rusty ones and even topless railcars traveled through nearly a dozen busy intersections in Santa Maria before making their way along tracks bordered by fields.

Speeders, powered by small gasoline engines, are used to inspect tracks and transport work crews. The Santa Maria Valley Railroad is one of the last railroads using speeders; most now use pickups or sport utility vehicles outfitted with special wheels for the railroad tracks.

Enthusiasts of the nearly extinct railroad equipment and the rare hobby are required to do some heavy lifting, since the railcars must be carried from a trailer and onto the tracks for gatherings such as Saturday's.

“It's like owning your own locomotive,” said Jim Culbertson of Courtland, located southwest of Sacramento.

Culbertson and his wife, Judy, along with other hobbyists from the North American Railcar Operators Association, savor the 14 miles of track between Santa Maria and Guadalupe as a pleasure ride.

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Santa Maria Valley Railroad Company, which was bought by an investor group last year, is new at hosting the excursion.

Because the SMVR is still one of the few railroads in the country to use the railcars solely for track maintenance, Rob Himoto, company president, said the setting was ideal for the excursion.

For Himoto, it was a chance to spotlight the valley's railroad and its function in the area. He hopes to turn the speeder excursion into an annual tradition.

Bill Schertle, event organizer and speeder operator, said he saw Himoto's purchase of the railroad as an opportunity to host the run on the Central Coast for the first time.

While previous years' events have drawn about 30 speeder participants, Saturday's run saw up to 44 speeders from California, Nevada and Oregon, as well as some from other states. The Santa Maria event is considered one of the biggest excursions organized by the association.

Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, the speeders made several trips from Santa Maria to Guadalupe and back again.

Even a few runs back and forth is a short trek for the riders, who often do between 200 and 1,000 speeder trips along train tracks, typically in the Northwest, where the view is “unique,” Schertle said.

Railcar enthusiast Steve Paluso of San Jose says the speeders were eventually discontinued from production in the mid-1980s. Soon after, collectors began to purchase them for private use.

Paluso bought his first speeder - he has purchased 11 - for about $200 in the early 1990s. Now, because of their novelty, the railcars range from $4,000 to $5,000 on the Internet, he added.

Maintenance, fuel and excursion costs turn use of the speeders into a much more expensive hobby than originally conceived, he said.

Yet for all the maintenance time and cost that it requires, the hobby pays off with pleasure rides along scenic rail routes all over the country.

Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or lgomez@

santamariatimes.com

March 18, 2007