UP 3080 gets the LOF67-27 back on the move after waiting patiently in the siding at Gaviota to meet Amtrak 11, the southbound Coast Starlight, on a cool afternoon on the ex-Southern Pacific coast line. The siding at Gaviota, along with all other control points between Ellwood and South San Luis Obispo, have recently been upgraded from Track-Warrant-Control (TWC) authority to Centralized-Traffic-Control (CTC) authority. This now means that dispatchers control trains across this scenic line from Los Angeles all the way to South Santa Margarita, where TWC is still in affect from there to Salinas. It is only a matter of time before this remaining stretch of TWC is converted as well, though the Union Pacific is likely in no rush as the only trains to use that segment of the line are the (now once again daily) Coast Starlights and a UP local or two. For operations between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, however, the Santa Barbara Subdivision dispatcher must be smiling now as he or she merely flips a switch to control the meeting of trains rather than having to use their best judgment to plan meets and verbally issue Track Warrants over the radio.
