The South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge steam railroad running between Santa Cruz, California and Alameda, with a ferry connection in Alameda to San Francisco. The railroad was created as the Santa Clara Valley Railroad, founded by local strawberry growers as a way to get their crops to market in San Francisco and provide an alternative to the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1876, James Graham Fair, a Comstock Lode silver baron, bought the line and extended it into the Santa Cruz Mountains to capture the significant lumber traffic coming out of the redwood forests. The narrow-gauge line was originally laid with 52-pound-per-yard (26 kg/m) rail on 8-foot (2.44 m) redwood ties;[1] and was later acquired by the Southern Pacific and converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge.

History

Origins

"Views on the South Pacific Coast Railroad" featuring locations in Santa Cruz County (1882)

Schedule and fares for March 4, 1887

SPC was incorporated in 1876 to purchase the unfinished Santa Clara Valley Company railroad at Dumbarton Point. Dumbarton Point was then a landing to transfer agricultural produce from the Santa Clara Valley for transport to San Francisco. Railway shops were built in Newark and a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line to San Jose was completed in 1876. The SPC ferry Newark offered connecting service from Newark to San Francisco in 1877. In 1878 the SPC was extended from San Jose to Los Gatos; and the subsidiary Bay and Coast Railroad completed a line of trestles and fill along the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay from Newark to Alameda. The ferry connection to San Francisco shifted to Alameda as SPC ferrys Bay City and Garden City increased the frequency and reliability of connecting service.[2]

Two years and eight tunnels were required to extend the SPC through the Santa Cruz Mountains from Los Gatos to California's third busiest seaport at Santa Cruz in 1880. SPC leased the San Lorenzo Flume and Transportation Company to acquire their subsidiary Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad as a route through the city to Santa Cruz municipal pier. The big lumber transport flume was replaced by a 7 miles (11 km) logging branch in 1883. In 1886 another branch line was built to the New Almaden mercury mine; and the SPC main line was extended from Alameda to Oakland. Additional horsedrawn branch lines served Centerville (now Fremont) and Agnews State Hospital. Commuter trains fed the San Francisco ferries from east bay communities, two daily trains served Santa Cruz, and four daily locals served the logging branch to Boulder Creek. Excursion trains ran from the ferries to resorts of the south bay and Santa Cruz Mountains. Freight trains carried redwood lumber, mercury, sacked lime, gunpowder from the California Powder Works, and local agricultural produce.[2]

Southern Pacific control

Postcard photo of the Southern Pacific Big Tree station and locomotive #21, c. 1910s

By 1887 SPC was a major California transportation concern; and Southern Pacific paid six million dollars to merge it into their California transportation system (equivalent to $195 million in 2022). An 1893 winter storm caused a landslide in the Santa Cruz Mountains requiring major reconstruction to restore service. The Alameda ferry terminal burned in 1902 and was replaced with the modern terminal which survived until ferry service was discontinued by the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 1939. The 3 ft (914 mm) gauge line had 23 locomotives, 85 passenger cars and 500 freight cars before the conversion to standard gauge began. The transition to standard gauge was interrupted by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The line through the Santa Cruz Mountains suffered major damage including a lateral slip of 5 feet (1.5 m) in the tunnel where it crossed the San Andreas fault. The bridge across San Leandro Bay was damaged and abandoned. Conversion to standard gauge was completed in 1909.[2] 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge locomotives numbered 9, 23, and 26 were eventually acquired by the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company.[3] Other SPC 3 ft (914 mm) gauge equipment was sold to the Carson and Colorado Railway,[4] the White Pass and Yukon Route, the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad, the Pacific Coast Railway, the Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company, and the Northwestern Pacific Railroad.[2]

Standard gauge operation

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Tunnels of the South Pacific Coast Railraod

1 Tunnel 1 (Cats Canyon)

2 Tunnel 2 (Summit), north/east portal (Wrights Station)

3 Tunnel 2 (Summit), south/west portal (Burns Creek)

4 Tunnel 3 (Laurel), north portal (Laurel)

5 Tunnel 3 (Laurel), south portal (Glenwood)

6 Tunnel 4 (Mountain Charlie)

7 Tunnel 5 (Zayante)

8 Tunnel 6 (Rincon/Coon Gulch)

9 Tunnel 7 (Hogsback)

10 Tunnel 8 (Mission Hill)

The track in Alameda could only be used for local service after being isolated by the 1906 earthquake. It was electrified in 1911 and operated as part of the SP's East Bay Electric Lines until 1941. The remaining line from San Jose to San Leandro Bay became part of the Southern Pacific coast division main line.

However, the southern end of the system from San Jose to Santa Cruz was reclassified as a branch line by 1915, useful only to lighter locomotives, as two or three were required to move trains over the grade. Beginning in 1927, it was used by SP's Suntan Special seasonal excursion trains which came down the San Francisco Peninsula every summer Sunday and took passengers right to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.[5] The Boulder Creek branch was dismantled in 1934 after a few years of service by a McKeen railmotor.[2] The tracks through the Santa Cruz Mountains suffered major damage during a storm on February 29th 1940. The last train ran on 26 February 1940 and the line was officially abandoned on 4 June 1940.[6]

The line from San Jose to Los Gatos remained in freight service after the last commuter train ran in 1955.[2] The two southernmost tunnels (#8/Mission Hill and #6/Rincon) continued to be used until 1993, when a fire inside the Rincon Tunnel led to a landslide which collapsed it.[7] The Santa Cruz depot was used for SP's surviving coastal line from Watsonville Junction until the building was sold the 1970s and converted to a restaurant.[6]

Tunnels

North portal of Summit Tunnel, 1895

In total, the line would include eight tunnels, of which five were built for SPCR, and two were previously built for the Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad (#7/Hogsback and #8/Mission Hill),[8]: 87, 91  south of where the two lines met at Big Trees;[8]: 96  the Felton was absorbed into the SPCR by 1879.[9] Two were daylighted (#1/Cats Canyon) during or prior to the conversion to standard gauge in the early 1900s.[8]: 134  Two survive today (#5/Zayante and #8/Mission Hill), although only the Mission Hill tunnel still carries rail traffic.

South Pacific Coast Railroad Tunnels[10]: 15 

Number Name Length Notes

Original Regauged

1 N/A

Cats Canyon 191 ft (58 m) Approx. 0.3 mi (0.48 km) south of Los Gatos Station, built through a rock outcropping in Cats Canyon. Daylighted as an open cut in 1903 during the conversion of the railroad to standard gauge.[11]

2 1

Summit / Wrights 6,200 ft (1,900 m) Longest. Ran from Wrights Station to Burns Creek near Laurel, crossing underneath Summit Road. Portals sealed in 1942.[12]

3 2

Laurel / Glenwood 5,793 ft (1,766 m) Second longest tunnel. Connected Laurel to Glenwood, crossing underneath the present location of California State Route 17. Portals sealed in 1942.[13]

4 3

Glenwood / Mtn Charlie / Clems 913 ft (278 m) connected Clems, under a ridge, to Mountain Charlie gulch. Portals sealed in 1942.[14]

5 4 Zayante / Storage Vault 250 ft (76 m) One of the shortest tunnels, in Zayante. It is currently being used as a records storage facility by Iron Mountain.[15]

6 5

Coon Gulch / Rincon 338 ft (103 m) In San Lorenzo Gorge; originally built in 1879 to ease a sharp curve around a rock outcropping that had previously damaged trains. Damaged by fire in 1993 and bypassed.[7]

7 N/A Hogsback 282 ft (86 m) Also in San Lorenzo Gorge; it was originally 127 ft (39 m) long when it opened in 1875 and lengthened in 1879, but it collapsed in 1898 and was daylighted.[16]

8 6

Mission Hill 927 ft (283 m) In Santa Cruz itself, carries the route under Mission Santa Cruz. As initially completed, 918 ft (280 m) long.[17]

The construction of Tunnel #2/Summit started in 1877, with Chinese workers under O.B. Castle.[8]: 102  It would take nearly two years and 30 lives to complete, as it crosses the San Andreas Fault and workers encountered oil and natural gas seepage which would explode.[8]: 96  One series of explosions, early in the morning of November 18, 1879, claimed multiple lives.[18] It was destroyed by a 5 ft (1.5 m) lateral shift following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and had to be dug again; with the broad-gauge conversion, the work was not completed until March 1909.[8]: 140–142 

Three of these tunnels were sealed shortly after the line was abandoned: #2/Summit, #3/Glenwood (Laurel), and #4/Mountain Charlie (Clems). Under contract to Southern Pacific, the F.A. Christie railroad salvage firm removed the track and trestles and, when this was completed in April 1942, dynamited these three tunnels. Although a long-persistent rumor holds that destruction of the tunnels was motivated by post-Pearl Harbor fears of a Japanese invasion of the United States West Coast, the decision to dynamite them predated the Pearl Harbor attack and was made solely for business reasons.[19] Tunnel #5/Zayante was also part of the abandoned line, but it was used as a private road after the tracks were abandoned and then as a storage site.[15]

Narrow gauge locomotives

Number Wheel

Arrangement

Builder Builder

Seril Number

Date Built Disposition by 1909 Notes

1 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 3715 1875 Sold before 1894. Originally lettered San Joaquin & Northern #1

2 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 3970 1876 Scrapped 1902.

3 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 3971 1876 Sold to Colusa & Lake Railroad #4 in 1910. Scrapped after the C&L closed.

4 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4214 1877 Scrapped 1901.

5 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4222 1877 Sold to Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation Company #5 in 1906. Scrapped 1926.

6 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4223 1877 Moved to the San Bernardino & Redlands Railway in 1906. Moved to the Carson & Colorado #6 in 1917 after electrification of the SB&R. Scrapped 1926.

7 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4224 1877 Renumbered in 1905 to #26.

8 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4225 1877 Scrapped 1898.

9 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4956 1880 Sold in 1908 to Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company #5. Scrapped 1937.

10 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4960 1880 Sold to Northwestern Pacific #10 Later renumbered NWP#87, scrapped 1917.

11 2-6-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 5649 1881 Moved to Carson & Colorado #11 Rebuilt in 1924 to a 4-6-0. Scrapped 1934.

12 2-6-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 5650 1881 Moved to Carson & Colorado #12 Rebuilt in 1924 to a 4-6-0. Scrapped 1934.

13 2-8-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 6157 1882 Moved to Carson & Colorado #13 sold in 1915 to Lake Tahoe Railway & transportation Company #13. Scrapped 1927.

14 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 7249 1884 Sold to Northwestern Pacific #85 Wrecked 1924, rebuilt and renumbered to NWP#93. Scrapped 1935.

15 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 7236 1884 Sold to Northwestern Pacific #19 Later renumbered NWP#86, sold to Duncan Mills Land & Lumber Company, scrapped 1926.

16 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 7604 1885 Moved to Carson & Colorado #9 Scrapped 1911.

17 4-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 7605 1885 Moved to Carson & Colorado #10 Scrapped 1933.