Santa Cruz Local with ex-D&RGW power
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 12:07AM We went camping at Big Basin near Santa Cruz this weekend. On the way back home to the Bay Area today, we took Highway 1 and was excited to catch the Santa Cruz local ambling along among the artichokes and brussel sprouts a few miles out of Davenport which is the end of track for this ex-SP branch.
The Santa Cruz local originates in Watsonville about 20 miles east of Santa Cruz. I’ve seen this train most times I’ve been to Santa Cruz Boardwalk which basically means the weekend. At the Boardwalk, the train threads its way first along the walking path next to the roller coaster then runs out onto one of the most congested streets in Santa Cruz before continuing up the coast. Great street trackage action!
I don’t think that there is much business on the branch. The train seems to be set up to bring coal and empty cement cars to the cement plant at Davenport. If you are more familiar with the operations of this train, please click the “comments” link below and post what you know.
You can explore the route on this map of the region.
The local today was led by three tired old UP GP40’s that were once the pride of the D&RGW. Although tagged, faded and grimey, those girls look great and the black and yellow stripes still look striking. They are all probably GP40-2’s, the last unit has the sight glass window in the long hood, I haven’t checked the other two.
Okay, we have to stop, now!
Fortunately for me, there are a couple of eating places at Davenport and it was close to lunch time. I pulled in and parked, the family went in an ordered while I attended to business. At this location, the tracks are in a shallow cut only fifty yards from the highway. I had time to scramble down the embankment and up to the beach side of the cut which put the sun at my back.
While I waited for the lead unit to round the curve into range, another photographer and his wife showed up and also set up ahead of my locaton. He was doing well with his wife happily carrying a large equipment bag for him! You’ll also see another guy in the clip shooting stills on the other side of the cut. That’s two more photographers than I would have expected here on a Monday.
I went back to the cafe and sat down with teh family just as the food had been placed. Excellent timing!! After lunch, no one other than me was keen to watch the units switching the cement plant, even Mitchel wanted to give it a miss, so with a 1-3 vaote to miss out on all that great switching action, we continued on our way, back to the ‘big smoke’.
Reader Comments (6)
I commute via AC Transit and Caltrain to Stanford three days a week. Caltrain runs through a small yard in So San Francisco adjacent to 101. Mornings, there is a pair of beat up old SP GP-38s moving cuts of cars to/from local industries. Evenings they're parked on a siding, along with three old D&RGW units. Perhaps this "local" travels a bit farther?
The units at South San Francisco are the power for the local that runs up to the city. There was a good article on it in Trains a few months back.
It's nice to see a few remaining SP and D&RGW units still working off their final miles. Same for the older BNSF units too.
I get on the train in SF, and indeed the ex SP/Cotton Belt units can be found anywhere from SF down to Redwood City, I assume they are the ones the Trains article discusses (plus, I doubt they need 5 units for the local). The three ex D&RGW units, however, I never see in the morning, which implies they spend the day south of where I get off in Palo Alto. Since they looked very much like the units in the video (at least the graffiti looked similar), the mix of cars is similar to what is seen in the SSF yard, and Watsonville is only about 40 miles down the line, they might simply keep going.
In any case,today I intended to check the numbers, only to discover the usual SP units and four almost shiny UP painted GP-40s where the D&RGW units are usually parked...
Hi Marc,
It would be interesting if the train does somehow originates in SSF. I'd be curious to know the actual routing of cars if that is the case.
- Steve
As far as I know, it's MWF out of Watsonville. The units in SSF only do the local jobs (Broadway and Mission Bay).
I get on the train in and indeed the Cotton Belt units can be found anywhere from down to Redwood City.