June 5, 2015
Santa Cruz, CA
BOOKS ARE FLYING OFF SHELVES!
Since the release of Santa Cruz Trains: Railroads of the Santa Cruz Mountains in early March 2015, interest in the topic of Santa Cruz railroading has exploded! People have contacted me from all over the Bay Area, sending me information and interested in selling my book. Clearly the decision to release the book in print format was a good move and I thank everybody who encouraged me to do it. Thus far, the book as sold over 250 copies with the book now available at The Train Shop in Santa Clara, the San Lorenzo Valley Museum in Boulder Creek, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, and Bookshop Santa Cruz. But I am always looking for more venues, especially in the Los Gatos area, so if you know any place that may be willing to sell Santa Cruz Trains, let me know!
FIRST REVISION NOW AVAILABLE
With all these sales, it was inevitable that some people would find small mistakes and errors in the text, so I have worked hard to fix as many of these as possible. As of now, the current edition of the book available on CreateSpace is the First Revision (June 2015). Future purchasers of the book will see a few minor changes throughout but nothing too major except one: the dates for all the Boulder Creek Branch stops have been changed from 1930 to 1934. The earlier date corresponded to when regular passenger service ended, but the latter date is when the route (and stops) was actually closed. I sincerely apologize for the mistake but it seems to be the biggest issue. The only other important mistake I corrected is that access to the Summit Tunnel’s southern portal is actually on private land, so legally it is trespassing. Sorry!
ADDENDA TELLS ALL!
For those of you who purchased the original version, fear not! An Addenda is here that notes all the corrections and, even better, it includes a lot of new content. This Addenda has been in the works since before the book was even approved for final publication in early March and I have just been adding to it and adding to it.
The Addenda includes a full list of revisions from the first edition, three new appendix entries including a timetable comparison map, a list of all known bridges, and a chart of railroad bridge types. It also includes three new pages of photographs of Rincon and Wright and two new articles about the Wilson Bros Spur and the Cement Works Spur, both in the Potrero District area of Santa Cruz. It’s all fun new information that I am sure you’ll all love.
You can download the addenda from here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tzsi3xyowy3ihw2/addenda1.3.pdf?dl=0
Keep the information and the corrections coming. I want this book to be beautiful and as perfect as it can be, so if you find something wrong in any way, let me know. Also, if you are browsing through local records, Newspapers.com, or library resources and find something that I may not have covered, let me know! I already have two more articles in the works for a future Addenda and I am more than happy to add a few more to the mix.
Thank you for all your support and keep local Santa Cruz railroading alive!
Santa Cruz Trains: Railroads of the Santa Cruz Mountains is available now on Amazon.com at https://amzn.to/36fmmXC.