Ken and Frances are very passionate about both trains and wine. So we got together wondering how we can share our love of these with others. The Santa Barbara WineLiner was created from our dreams!

Ken Johnson – Ken has had a passion for the railroad since he was a child. He got his first ride in a locomotive at age 10, and family vacations were centered around train travel, excursions, and train watching. He loved to capture the sound on tape recorders and photograph his model railroad. He became s Hollywood sound recordist starting with the movie, Runaway Train, and was hired to provide all the train sounds for the movie, Unstoppable. His photography skills lead him to be a photographer for the model train manufacturers. His hands-on railroad experience includes being a car attendant and wine guide for The Vino Train and a brakeman trainee and car attendant for the Fillmore & Western Railway. See more on his website here!

Frances Nicolais – Frances’s father, Frank, who was a member of Louis Prima’s Big Band, and one of the founding members of his own band, The Goofers, instilled in her – a love of travel on trains, planes and automobiles. Ever since she moved out at age 18, she has been fearless in her travels. This started a passion that has not waned and gets stronger as time goes by. And of course, her favorite form of travel is trains – traveling all over this great country on many Amtrak routes, including the Pacific Surfliner, Texas Eagle, Southwest Chief and the City of New Orleans. See more on her website here!