To Live Oak and the North Coast!

Greetings all. It has been three months since my last update and I thought it was time for another one. I have been working hard researching and writing Santa Cruz Trains: Railroads of the Santa Cruz Coast, almost to the exclusion of all other projects. I’ve cut back my monthly (once weekly!) blog posts to only quarterly. I have set aside working on Ernest Otto’s Our Old Santa Cruz… books. And I have delayed further research and writing on Santa Cruz Trains: The Road to San Francisco, except where it overlaps my current research. This has allowed me to focus more than has been the case in previous years.

I am very happy with the progress I’ve made, too! As of the end of March 2026, my progress is now (completed chapters in bold, completed since the last update in bold green, and partially completed in Italics):

Acknowledgments
General Introduction and Methodology

PART 1: Southern Pacific’s Watsonville Branch
Part 1 Introduction
1–Carnadero
2–Nema
3–Miller
4–Corporal
5–Sargent
6–Betabel
7–Newria
8–Chittenden
9–Logan
10–Aromas
11–Sand Cut
12–Vega
13–Watsonville Junction

PART 2: The Santa Cruz Railroad
Part 2 Introduction
1–Watsonville
2–Nuga
3–Ellicott
4–Cristo
5–Manresa
6–Leonard
7–Farley
8–Aptos
9–New Brighton
10–Capitola
11–Soquel
12–Opal
13–Del Mar
14–Twin Lakes
15–Seabright
16–Casino
17–Santa Cruz Union Depot

PART 3: The Loma Prieta Railroad
Part 3 Introduction
1–Ready
2–Molino
3–Loma Prieta
4–Spring Creek
5–Monte Vista (I)
6–Monte Vista (II)

PART 4: The Ocean Shore Railway and Coast Line Railroad
Part 4 Introduction
1–Santa Cruz (OS)
2–California Street (CL)
3–Garfield Avenue (OS)
4–Younglove Avenue (CL)
5–Orby (CL)
6–Rapetti (OS)
7–Wilder (OS) / Dairy Buildings (CL)
8–Wilder (CL)
9–Parsons Beach (OS)
10–Scaroni (OS) / Gordola (CL)
11–Enright (OS) / Majors (CL)
12–Lagos (OS) / Laguna Creek (CL)
13–Yellow Bank (OS) / Yellowbank Dairy (CL)
14–Liddell (OS) / Liddell (CL)
15–Davenport (OS) / Lower Crossing Davenport (CL)
16–Davenport (CL) / Bluegum (OS)
17–Davenport Landing (OS)
18–Scott (OS)
19–Scott Junction (OS)
20–Folger (OS)
21–Swanton (OS)

Appendix 1: Stations by Mile Marker
Appendix 2: Station Name Changes
Appendix 3: Timeline of Events
Glossary
Bibliography and Credits
Index

Those who are extremely attentive may have noticed that Park Street has been removed from The Santa Cruz Railroad station list. Including this station was always a problematic issue. While it was the original northern terminus of the Santa Cruz Railroad (under the name Cherry Street), it was transferred to the Mountain Route after the Santa Cruz Union Depot opened in 1892 and remained with it until after 1940. In other words, it already appears in Santa Cruz Trains: Railroads of the Santa Cruz Mountains and that won’t change with any second edition, so why include it in both places? The Santa Cruz Union Depot, on the other hand, that will appear in both books and that was always the plan.

I hope to be done with Part 2 by the end of April. I’m a bit worried about the Introduction chapter because it needs to cover so much, but that can’t be avoided. The real question is where to end the history of the Santa Cruz Railroad/Santa Cruz Branch? My original plan was to end it with the acquisition of the line by the county in 2012, but I have received some pushback and encouragement to push the date forward to the recent transfer of common carrier rights to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. I’m hesitant to do so since it makes recent politics a stronger element of the history. I have avoided this in the individual station chapters, but I should probably mention it in the introductory chapter. .:.sigh.:.

My great dread is Part 1. Despite featuring 21 chapters (perhaps 20 chapter if I decide to combine Scott and Scott Junction), I think this will be a shorter section than both Parts 1 and 2. There’s just less to say about most of the stations. Only Davenport and Swanton have settlements, and most of the West Side stations were short-lived flag-stops or catered to various industries, which will be covered more specifically in a future book. The same can be said for most of the other stations, which catered to a few farms or dairies each. This should make researching them easier.

The problem is organisation. Between Santa Cruz and Wilder, the Ocean Shore Railway and the Coast Line Railway (Southern Pacific) followed different paths through the West Side. How should I organize these? Currently, I have organized them geographically east to west, but this causes them to alternate between the two, which isn’t ideal. Beyond Wilder, the routes parallel until reaching Davenport and several stations were across from each other, but each had a few unique ones and almost all of them had different names. How should I format these? And above all else, how can I differentiate the two railroads along the North Coast? It’s a lot to consider and I still haven’t come up with a good solution. I have some ideas, but I don’t know what the best approach will be. If you have a suggestion or preference, send me a note at author@santacruztrains.com.

I think that’s it for this quarter. Hopefully by July, everything on this list will be bold black or bold green except for Part 4. If you’re a subject matter expert or have a background in editing and would like to help edit this book, let me know! Otherwise, stay tuned for more updates and announcements in the coming months. Ciao!