South Pacific Coast Railroad facts for kids
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Newark, California |
| Reporting mark | SPC |
| Locale | California's San Francisco Bay Area |
| Dates of operation | March 29, 1876–July 1, 1887 |
| Successors | South Pacific Coast Railway Southern Pacific Transportation Company |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge after 1909 |
| Previous gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) |
| Length | 77.5 miles (124.7 km) |
The South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) was a steam train system in California. It used a special type of track called "narrow gauge" (3 ft (914 mm)). This means the tracks were closer together than standard tracks. The railroad ran between Santa Cruz, California and Alameda. From Alameda, passengers could take a ferry to San Francisco.
The railroad started as the Santa Clara Valley Railroad. Local strawberry farmers created it to transport their crops to San Francisco. It also offered another option besides the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1876, a wealthy businessman named James Graham Fair bought the line. He extended it into the Santa Cruz Mountains to carry lots of lumber from the redwood forests. The narrow-gauge tracks were later bought by the Southern Pacific. They were then changed to a wider "standard gauge" (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge).
Contents
How the Railroad Began
The South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) officially started in 1876. It bought the unfinished Santa Clara Valley Company railroad at Dumbarton Point. Dumbarton Point was a place where farm products from the Santa Clara Valley were loaded onto boats for San Francisco.
The SPC built train repair shops in Newark. A narrow-gauge line to San Jose was finished in 1876. In 1877, the SPC ferry Newark began connecting service from Newark to San Francisco. The railroad grew quickly. In 1878, the SPC line reached Los Gatos. A new company, the Bay and Coast Railroad, built bridges and filled land along the eastern San Francisco Bay. This extended the line from Newark to Alameda. The ferry connection to San Francisco then moved to Alameda. New SPC ferries, Bay City and Garden City, made trips more frequent and reliable.
Building Through the Santa Cruz Mountains
It took two years and eight tunnels to extend the SPC through the Santa Cruz Mountains. This part of the line went from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz, which was a very busy seaport in 1880. The SPC also leased the Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad. This gave them a route through Santa Cruz to the city's pier. A large wooden flume used for transporting lumber was replaced by a 7 miles (11 km) logging train line in 1883.
In 1886, another branch line was built to the New Almaden mercury mine. The main SPC line was also extended from Alameda to Oakland. Smaller train lines, pulled by horses, served Centerville (now Fremont) and Agnews State Hospital.
What the Trains Carried
Commuter trains carried people from East Bay towns to the San Francisco ferries. Two daily trains went to Santa Cruz. Four local trains ran daily on the logging branch to Boulder Creek. Special excursion trains took people from the ferries to resorts in the South Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains. Freight trains carried important goods like redwood lumber, mercury, sacked lime, and gunpowder from the California Powder Works. They also transported local farm products.
Southern Pacific Takes Over
By 1887, the SPC was a very important transportation company in California. The Southern Pacific Railroad paid six million dollars to buy it. They wanted to add it to their own transportation network.
In 1893, a winter storm caused a huge landslide in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This meant the tracks needed major repairs to get trains running again. The Alameda ferry terminal burned down in 1902. A new, modern terminal was built. Ferry service from this terminal stopped in 1939 when the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened.
Before the tracks were changed to standard gauge, the narrow-gauge line had 23 locomotives (train engines), 85 passenger cars, and 500 freight cars. The process of changing the tracks to standard gauge was stopped by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The line through the Santa Cruz Mountains was badly damaged. One tunnel, where it crossed the San Andreas Fault, moved 5 feet (1.5 m) sideways! The bridge over San Leandro Bay was also damaged and later abandoned. The conversion to standard gauge was finished in 1909.
Some of the SPC's narrow-gauge locomotives were sold to other railroads. These included the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, the Carson and Colorado Railway, and the White Pass and Yukon Route.
Standard Gauge Trains Run
After the 1906 earthquake, the tracks in Alameda could only be used for local trains. In 1911, these tracks were electrified. They became part of the Southern Pacific's East Bay Electric Lines until 1941. The rest of the line, from San Jose to San Leandro Bay, became part of the Southern Pacific's main coast division.
However, the southern part of the system, from San Jose to Santa Cruz, became a branch line by 1915. It could only be used by lighter locomotives. Sometimes, two or three engines were needed to pull trains up the steep hills. Starting in 1927, this line was used by Southern Pacific's "Suntan Special" excursion trains. These trains brought passengers from the San Francisco Peninsula every summer Sunday. They took people right to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The Boulder Creek branch line was taken apart in 1934. The tracks through the Santa Cruz Mountains were severely damaged during a storm in February 1940. The last train ran on February 26, 1940. The line was officially closed on June 4, 1940.
The Tunnels
Four tunnels remained until the line was abandoned. The longest tunnel was 6,200 feet (1,900 m) long. It ran from Wrights Station to Burns Creek near Laurel. It went under Summit Road. The second longest tunnel was about one mile (1.6 km) long. It went from Laurel to Glenwood, crossing under where California State Route 17 is today. The third tunnel, about 900 feet (270 m) long, went from Clems under a ridge to Mountain Charlie gulch. The shortest abandoned tunnel is in Zayante. It is now used to store records by Iron Mountain.
A company called F.A. Christie removed the tracks and bridges for Southern Pacific. When this was done in April 1942, they blew up the tunnels. Some people thought the tunnels were destroyed because of fears of a Japanese invasion during World War II. However, the decision to blow them up was made before the Pearl Harbor attack. It was done for business reasons.
The line from San Jose to Los Gatos continued to be used for freight trains. The last commuter train ran on this section in 1955. The Santa Cruz train station was used for Southern Pacific's remaining coastal line. This lasted until the building was sold in the 1970s and turned into a restaurant.
Ferry Boat Service
The first place to catch a ferry was built at Dumbarton Point in 1876. The Alameda ferry terminal opened on March 20, 1878. This made the ferry ride to San Francisco shorter. With two ferries, the company offered trips every hour between Alameda and San Francisco starting in July 1878. These three large side-wheel passenger ferries, powered by steam engines, were also used on other routes when Southern Pacific owned them.
| Name | Number | Builder | Launch | Tonnage | Length | Beam | Depth | Horsepower | Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark | Collyer | 18 April 1877 | 1783 | 268' | 42' | 12.8' | 1200 | 30 | |
| rebuilt | 1903 | 2197 | 268' | 42' | 18.8' | 1200 | 18 | ||
| 130118 | rebuilt | 1923 | 2254 | 268' | 42' | 18.8' | 1400 | 18 | |
| Bay City | 3068 | Collyer | 18 May 1878 | 1283 | 230' | 36.8' | 13.6' | 800 | 13 |
| Garden City | 85592 | Collyer | 20 June 1879 | 1080 | 208' | 37' | 13.6' | 625 | 19 |
The Newark Ferry
The Southern Pacific company moved the Newark to their Oakland pier. From there, it made trips to San Francisco. The Newark had a small flood when another Southern Pacific ferry, the Oakland, hit it in fog on December 7, 1908. On November 9, 1920, the Newark's engine stopped in the middle of the bay. It drifted for over an hour before tugboats pulled it to shore. In 1923, the Newark was taken to the Southern Pacific shipyard. It was rebuilt into the largest ferry in San Francisco Bay that carried only passengers.
The rebuilt ferry was renamed Sacramento when it was launched in January 1924. It started service on February 9, 1924. It could travel at 14.5 knots (about 16.7 miles per hour) and was so big it completely filled the San Francisco Ferry Building slip. It was designed to carry 4,000 passengers, but only had seats for 1,900.
After the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1936 and 1937, Southern Pacific ferry service for passengers was reduced. By 1939, only one route remained, between San Francisco and the Oakland Pier. The Sacramento became the backup boat. It was used when the ferries on that route needed repairs. As other ferries wore out during World War II, the Sacramento became one of two boats actively used. It had a major mechanical problem on November 28, 1954. The ferry was stripped of its machinery and towed to Southern California. It was used as a fishing platform near Redondo Beach, California. It sank during a storm on December 1, 1964.
The Bay City Ferry
The Bay City stayed on the Alameda route even after Southern Pacific bought it. It survived a crash with a lumber schooner called Tampico on a foggy day in 1906. On April 5, 1911, it lost a rudder and had several lifeboats smashed. This happened when signals were misunderstood, causing a crash with the Southern Pacific ferry Berkeley.
On July 8, 1912, the Bay City lost power when its engine's main shaft broke. It drifted in the middle of the bay until a tugboat arrived to pull it to shore. Another Southern Pacific ferry, the Melrose, crashed into the Bay City in thick fog on January 26, 1913. The Bay City was repaired after each accident. It continued to serve the trans-bay route until it was taken apart for scrap in 1929.
The Garden City Ferry
The Garden City was built with a narrow-gauge track (3 ft (914 mm)) on its main deck. This allowed it to carry freight cars to San Francisco. However, it could also carry passengers. It often served as a backup ferry when the other two ferries needed repairs. Southern Pacific used the Garden City as a relief boat for their car ferry route. This was on the old "creek route." The Garden City stayed on the "creek route" as a passenger ferry when car ferry service moved to the Oakland pier.
On Christmas morning, 1921, the Garden City tried to cross the bay during a strong storm. It steamed against the wind for 90 minutes. This trip normally took only 18 minutes. The ferry found its destination slip was taken by another ferry, the Edward T. Jeffery, which was seeking shelter from the storm. The other ferry eventually left the slip. However, the Garden City could not steer in the strong wind. It started drifting when its rudder broke while trying to return to San Francisco. A rescue tugboat arrived and began towing the ferry. But the tow line broke, and the ferry drifted into the Key system pier. The pier was badly damaged. The ferry passengers were soaked by waves that were 20 feet high as they crawled to safety.
Southern Pacific retired the Garden City the next year. But train and ferry traffic remained very busy through the 1920s. So, the boat was brought out of retirement many times for temporary service when other boats needed repairs. After its last trip in 1929, the old ferry was tied up as a fishing resort in Eckley, California. Eckley is now part of Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline Park. The remains of the Garden City can still be seen from the park's Eckley fishing pier.
What's Left Today
Some parts of the South Pacific Coast Railroad's old system are still in use or can be seen today.
Train Tracks
- The north-south line from Oakland, California to San Jose, California is now operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. Between Newark, California and San Jose, it is used by Amtrak's Capitol Corridor and Coast Starlight trains. It is also used by the Altamont Corridor Express.
- The Dumbarton Cutoff, which connects Niles and Newark, is just south of the old SPC branch line from Newark to the Fremont Amtrak station.
- The line running southwest from San Jose towards the Santa Cruz mountains still exists as far as Vasona Junction. It is also operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. This path is shared with a light rail line (opened in 2005) of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority up to Campbell, California.
- The western end of the Santa Cruz mountain crossing, from Olympia, California to Santa Cruz, California, is now the Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway. This is mostly a tourist train, but it also carries lumber.
Stations
- Agnew Depot was used by the Southern Pacific. It was bought by the California Central Model Railroad Club in 1963.
- San Jose Diridon station is built on the same spot where the original South Pacific Coast San Jose station once stood.
Images for kids
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"Views on the South Pacific Coast Railroad" featuring locations in Santa Cruz County (1882)
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Schedule and fares for March 4, 1887
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Postcard photo of the Southern Pacific Big Tree station and locomotive #21, circa 1910s
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Bay City operating under Southern Pacific ownership.
