The Capistrano Depot

The Capistrano Depot. A Completed Dream and a Vision Fulfilled. In the spring of 1974, two brothers, Pete and Jim Yyson, from Newport Beach, California, negotiated a land lease with the Santa Fe land and improvement company on this site. , The original depot was built circa 1894-1895, the 1905 freight house and the railroad tracks were included in the lease. The depot lay dormant between 1966 and 1974. There were no Amtrak stops when they started construction. As a direct result of their work, the Depot now has about two hundred stops a week provided by Metrolink and Amtrak's "Pacific Surfliner" and has brought in millions of visitors. , The Tysons laid an additional four hundred feet of track on which they placed nine rail cars. There were seven box cars, a pullman car, and the caboose, which had been a part of both the great Santa Fe cross country trains; the heavy weight "Santa Fe Chief", and the modern, all aluminum "Santa Fe Super Chief" , The city of San Juan Capistrano hosted the American Freedom Train on a siding along Los Rios Street, when it toured the country in 1976 to celebrate our national Bicentennial. The Tysons were instrumental in making this historical event possible. , We will be forever grateful to the Tyson brothers, Jim and Pete, for restoring the building to the familiar landmark it is today. The white depot dome and brick building will bring an assurance of welcome, warmth, and hospitality for years to come.