Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph

These railroad tracks that once ran alongside University Avenue gave youngsters dreams of working on the railroad.

Picture from the Past

Railroad tracks, train depot inspired many young boys

By John S. Baggerly

With University Avenue homes so near to the former railroad tracks, it was natural that local boys would dream of a career in railroading. Such was the case of Neal Vodden, who became an engineer and worked the San Francisco to Los Angeles run.

Today's photograph is one of many "visibility photos" shot by the Southern Pacific Railroad so that officials might study the condition of streets crossing their tracks. This photo was taken in 1930 on Royce Street, looking eastward toward homes on the east side of University Avenue. West of the railroad tracks, Royce Street entered--and still does--N. Santa Cruz Avenue.

In part, this photograph offers a chance to answer the much-asked question: "Where did the railroad go?" The railroad connected Los Gatos with San Francisco and Santa Cruz by meandering through tunnels in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The first San Francisco connection was by ferry to Oakland, from Oakland by rail to San Jose and hence to Los Gatos.

That brings us to the Los Gatos Depot at the corner of W. Main Street and S. Santa Cruz Avenue, across the street from what today is Lyndon Plaza, former location of Hotel Lyndon. One tree stood on the railroad property and still remains; numerous other trees and a water fountain have been added. This is the Town Plaza, setting for the Music In The Plaza summer series. It was at one of these events that a friendly stranger asked "Where did the train go?" after hearing that performers and spectators were located on former railroad property.

The above mention of the late Neal Vodden becoming a Southern Pacific Railroad engineer recalls that his younger brother Hohn "Jack" Vodden is still a Los Gatos resident. His life took a different course. He worked for Sterling Lumber Company on University Avenue, opposite the University Avenue School, now Old Town. Jack Vodden became co-owner of Los Gatos Lumber Yard further north on University Avenue at the present location of Campo di Bocce. The Vodden brothers were sons of Neal Vodden Sr., a former Los Gatos postmaster.

Jack Vodden has a precious memory of the early days of the railroad, when Hispanic laborers spent their evenings singing to a lone guitar. The Chinese, too, worked on the "line," Vodden recalled.

Another University Avenue kid who seemed born into railroading is Dick Murdock. As a half-pint blond youngster he looked so longingly at a big engine near his home on University Avenue that an engineer broke company rules and gave him a ride to the Los Gatos station. It wasn't long before young Murdock acquired a camera and was shooting pictures of railroading at the station.

Murdock played football at Los Gatos High School and, not long after his 1935 graduation, started on an engineering career in the Sierras out of Sacramento. With a talent for writing, Murdock sold railroad stories, both fiction and real, and when last heard from was still writing from his home near Martinez.

Other rail buffs are Los Gatos historian Bill Wulf and Eddie Chase, a second generation employee of the Los Gatos Post Office, now working in San Jose. Chase is the grandson of a Los Gatos piano tuner who played piano accompanying the first silent motion pictures.

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Columnist John Baggerly came out of retirement to write today's column. He promises more on occasion.

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