SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The rail line that runs between Pajaro and Davenport has a shadowy economic presence, noticeable only when something goes wrong, as it did in Monday’s derailment in the Seascliff area, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.
But the line once was a visible, vital link in the county’s economy, carrying everything from sprouts to schoolchildren, from timber to tourists.
Monday’s derailment caused only a hiccup in the schedule of RMC Pacific Materials, the only company that uses the rails, a company official said. The train carries coal to the company’s cement plant in Davenport, and brings cement south for distribution.
Union Pacific spokesman Mike Furtney said the line wouldn’t reopen before the first week of December. First, the cement inside the derailed cars must be removed, a job that started Thursday, he said. Track repair is expected to start after Thanksgiving.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation, Furtney said.
Another local line is the spur owned by Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad that runs from Santa Cruz to Felton. That is used primarily for tourist trains in the summer, but also lumber and freight occasionally is hauled from Santa Cruz to Felton.
Had the main Pajaro to Davenport line been shut down in the first half of the last century, things would have been different.
The railroad between Watsonville and Santa Cruz was built in 1876 to carry timber and agricultural goods, said local historian Ross Eric Gibson.
But it soon gave birth to the county’s tourism industry. Along with a line running from Los Gatos, it was part of the “Suntan Special,” which brought tourists to Beach Street until Southern Pacific Railway shut it down in 1962.
Trains started running between Santa Cruz and Davenport in 1906.
“It carried everything that they needed along the coast,” said Alverta Orlando, an amateur historian and longtime Davenport resident.
Children rode the caboose of whatever freight train was passing through to attend Santa Cruz High School, she said, and people would flag the train down as if it were a city bus to get to town.
In 1939, Southern Pacific pulled up the rails between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz so it could increase its freight charges, Gibson said.
“The city of Santa Cruz was up in arms because they didn’t think tourists were going to want to switch to buses,” Gibson added.
But the Suntan Special ran for 23 more years, taking the southerly route through Watsonville.
After World War II, the train’s importance gradually faded. Now the trains carry mainly cement — to build the roads and bridges for the cars and 18-wheelers that replaced them.