Painting by Jack Wilson

Wright's Station in 1890s Los Gatos was a bustling, rural train stop--although local historian Bill Wulf says the engine never was used between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz.

Picture from the Past

Railroads once battled here to gain their right-of-way

By John S. Baggerly

'This letter is a follow-up to my phone call conversation regarding your latest column [April 21] in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times," writes Gerald S. Marshall of Los Gatos. "As I stated, the notion that the Southern Pacific Railroad created the narrow gauge RR between Alameda and Santa Cruz/Boulder Creek, et al., is completely erroneous."

Thanks, Gerald.

There was more than a "friction" between the Central Pacific (later Southern Pacific) and the South Pacific Coast railroads, particularly because the SPC offered competitive service, at least from Alameda (and San Francisco, via ferry) and San Jose/Santa Clara. The tale of the SPC is well documented in several books written by Bruce McGregor. My reference, in this case, is titled Narrow Gauge Portrait, South Pacific Coast, dated 1975 and published by Big Trees Press.

According to McGregor: "Original sections of the narrow gauge were built (partially) as part of the scheme to connect a scow landing on the southern part of San Francisco Bay and San Jose to provide a transit for strawberry crops; the original railroad, the Santa Clara County railroad, went bankrupt in 1875 when winter rains washed out their incomplete earthworks into the bay."

The SPC then bought what was left and incorporated that stretch into its line between Alameda and San Jose. The start of the SPC was born in 1876, when Alfred E. "Hog" Davis began laying track on the high tidal plain of southern San Francisco Bay. On March 3, 1977, the San Jose Argus reported the "fitting out of a splendid place of resort on the Alameda, opposite the Pacific Coast depot spot."

The gist of the tale is that the SPC, under staggering odds, built a narrow-gauge railroad between Alameda and San Jose/Santa Clara, fought with the Central Coast to gain a crossing of the two companies' tracks and, thanks to public opinion about the "little guy" versus the "octopus," succeeded in being the first railroad, in 1880, to compete at close quarters with the CP after a decade of fierce and profitable gaming for a million dollar-a-year tourist and excursion trade between San Francisco and the coast.

With regard to Los Gatos, the book says the permanent mainline depot was located by 1878, and the telegram announcing the completion of the SPC railroad to Santa Cruz reached Davis on Saturday, April 9, 1880.

Finally, in 1887, the Southern Pacific (nee CP) leased the SPC, ultimately purchased it and subsequently "broad gauged" the railroad and operated it until Lexington Reservoir was conceived and the railroad right of way was eliminated.

Here's another letter, this one from Howard Theobald of Los Gatos: "Some of these transportation experts should go back to 1887, look at the rail system that developed and question why. Why was it a good idea then, and now all we have is a packed, dangerous highway between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz? Why not a train that runs between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz, then a bus service to various parts of the valley?"

Local historian Bill Wulf observes that the engine shown in today's photo, although dramatic, never appeared on the Los Gatos-Santa Cruz run.

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