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Mount Hermon & Tuxedo Stations (Part 2)
The webmaster, Dan Dawson, at Mount Hermon contacted me earlier this week offering to give me a tour of the historical archives at Mount Hermon, specifically in relation to the Southern Pacific...
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Union Mill Spur
Located at just a third of a mile south of Eccles, the Union Mill of Zayante Creek maintained a spur near the present site of Olympia Station Road. The two locations never seemed to have overlapped, as...
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Dougherty Mill (#1) & Zayante (#1)
The Santa Clara Valley Mill and Lumber Company operated a number of mills in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the earliest of which was located along Newell Creek. Commonly known as Doughertys or Dougherty's...
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Sunset Park Picnic Stop
Upper Los Gatos Creek showing Wrights and Sunset Park(Map courtesy Duncan Nanney)Unlike most flag-stops and stations along the Southern Pacific's Mountain Route, locations such as Sunset Park were...
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Call of the Wild Flag-Stop
Call of the Wild near Eva Picnic Stop(Map courtesy Duncan Nanney)Much like its neighbors Eva and Sunset Park, Call of the Wild acted primarily as a Southern Pacific Railroad picnic stop, though it...
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Mountain Charlie Tunnel
Mountain Charlie Tunnel – South Portal,2008 (Courtesy Brian Liddicoat)South Pacific Coast Tunnel #4 went by many names, but its two most common were Mountain Charlie Tunnel or Clems Tunnel. Formally...
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Alma Station
Survey Map of Alma and Lexington(Courtesy Duncan Nanney)While a ghost town is generally an abandoned town or village, like many of those found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the creation of Lexington...
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Eva Picnic Stop
Map showing Eva (Courtesy Duncan Nanney)Like it's neighbors, Eva was primarily a picnic stop located in the hills north of Alma along Los Gatos Creek. Originally called Forest Grove by the 1899 Station...
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Oil City & Aldercroft Stations
Site of Aldercroft Station (Courtesy Duncan Nanney)Nothing significant was at Aldercroft when the South Pacific Coast Railroad first rode on through Los Gatos Creek in 1878. The land was owned by the...
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A.K. Salz Leather Tannery Spur
Salz Leather Tannery Spur today, heading into Las Animas ConcreteAn extremely short spur on the Southern Pacific's Mountain Route was the A.K. Salz Leather Tannery facility located between Golf Links...
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Graniterock Spur
Mountain Route main line at left. Granite Rock Spur at right.A little-noticed and lesser-known spur in Santa Cruz between Salz Tannery's spur and Eblis is the Graniterock Spur located currently on...
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Lyndon "Lexington" Flag-Stop
Locations of Lexington and Alma(Courtesy Duncan Nanney)The submerged town of Lexington began its life in 1848 before the South Pacific Coast Railroad passed through Cats Canyon and into the Los Gatos...
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San Lorenzo Lumber Spur
Image of the ProBuild Spur from Google Maps.Spur at left, Roaring Camp narrow-gauge roundhouse at right.Immediately across from Felton Station, the ProBuild Spur, also known briefly from 2004 to 2006...
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Los Gatos Tunnel (#1) & Cats Canyon
When the South Pacific Coast Railroad began running its line up Los Gatos Creek in 1878, it encountered the steep and dangerous Cats Canyon before opening up into the Los Gatos Creek Valley where...
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Los Gatos Station & Depot
The 1925 update of the original 1878 passenger depot at Los Gatos.(Courtesy Los Gatos Public Library)The South Pacific Coast Railroad's venture over the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1878 set many precedents...
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Bulwer Flag-Stop
Location of Bulwer (top of Vasona Reservoir).(Courtesy Duncan Nanney)An extremely late entry into the Southern Pacific's Mountain Route dossier was the small flag stop near Vasona Junction called...
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Vasona Junction & Stop
A SP train approaching the wye at Vasona Junction, 1940s(Courtesy Los Gatos Public Library)Vasona Junction is a strange place. Forty years ago, it was an important Southern Pacific Railroad...
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Los Gatos Manufacturing Company Spur
Los Gatos Manufacturing Company Spur, c. 1885.Los Gatos would have been little more than a picnic stop had it not been for the economic development brought to the area by James Alexander Forbes in...
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Jackass Flats Trestle
Jackass Flats Trestle from East Zayante Road.In Zayante near the junction of East and West Zayante Roads, there is a short trestle that crosses Zayante Creek. This trestle has been popularly known as...
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Mount Hermon Trestle
The Mount Hermon Trestle, historically also known as Zayante Trestle #2, passes just south of the site of Redwood Camp in the Mount Hermon Association property. The bridge has a long history of use and...
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