The Ocean Shore Railroad was a railroad intended to run between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and financial difficulties prevented the railroad from completing construction. It operated as two discontinuous segments from 1905 to 1920: San Francisco to Tunitas Glen, and Swanton to Santa Cruz.
Early railroad attempts The San Francisco, Santa Cruz & Watsonville Railroad Company The first attempts to construct a railroad between San Francisco and Santa Cruz began as early as 1870, with the organization of the San Francisco, Santa Cruz, & Watsonville Railroad Company. The railroad was to be funded via public money, however, most records cut off around 1872 so it is speculated that two other railroads had taken away the public interest.
San Francisco, San Mateo, & Santa Cruz Railroad Incorporated in 1875, the railroad was funded by residents of San Mateo County in order to construct a line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz via Spanishtown (now Half Moon Bay). The railroad hired a surveying team, which published a final report in March 1876 detailing the feasibility. However, it is assumed the railroad went under due to lack of finances, as no other paper traces are found.
San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad Company Incorporated in September 1879, the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad Company was conceived to be a narrow-gauge railway running between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz, the line would have connected with the Santa Cruz Railroad and allowed for the exchange of freight. The San Francisco County Board of Supervisors granted the railroad permission to construct trackage from Fulton and Larkin Streets, and down away from the city, however construction was stalled after multiple business owners along the route launched lawsuits.
Said lawsuits took away time and money, as by 1881 the railroad had promised to construct a line to the border of San Mateo County, but in reality had not laid a single rail. Between 1880 and 1881 the railroad attempted to increase revenue by taking out mortgages and distributing stocks. In 1881, the Santa Cruz Railroad had gone bankrupt, which largely cut off a lot of funding for the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad as some investors had put much of their fortune into the Santa Cruz Railroad too. Plans were redrawn to enter Santa Cruz.
In around January 1881, the railroad was reorganized to become a standard gauge line, and filed for incorporation to construct tracks through Half Moon Bay. Around May 1881, various rumors were circulating around San Francisco in relation to the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad. These rumors included that the line was going to extend to Santa Barbara, and that it was secretly going to be a part of a new Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway transcontinental route along the coast.
After the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had ended some bitter rivalries in December 1881, on Christmas Eve it was stated that the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad's multi-state plan (involving the California Central Railway) was merely a ploy to scare the Southern Pacific Railroad into reducing the cost of freight switching at junctions with the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe. The railroad did, however, intend to construct a line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
The announcement had dire consequences, and in early 1882 the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors voted to delay the acceptance of the franchise to allow the running of the railroad in the city itself. By November 1882, the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad had indefinitely ceased development of the line, and after numerous economic crashes, the line was abandoned without a single track laid.
The railroad was in fact reorganized though into the San Francisco & Santa Cruz Railway, however, the railroad went bankrupt and had to shut down.
San Francisco & West Shore Railway Company Incorporated in March 1892, the line intended to construct an electric interurban railway between San Francisco and Santa Cruz via a tunnel at San Pedro Point (now Pedro Point, just south of Pacifica). The railroad was conceived to carry basically only freight of the coast-side villages. However, for unknown reasons, in November 1892 the Mayor of San Francisco rejected the proposal for the railroad to run its line on 25th Street and Potrero Avenue, which led the railway to frantically reorganize its plans.
The railroad tried to fight the opposition of the plans in San Francisco in the Supreme Court, but failed. In 1894 a government study on the feasibility of the railroad was released, but nothing more was heard, suggesting that the line lost revenue and funding.
It should be mentioned that the railroad was suspected of being owned by the Aitchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad, and the San Francisco & South Coast Railroad Company was formed by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors, and was backed by the Southern Pacific. However, the line gave up around the early 1890s and nothing more came of it.
West Shore Railway Company Incorporated in April 1895 as the West Shore & Valley Railway, the line intended to construct a line between San Francisco and Tulare via Santa Cruz. The line would have crossed the Diablo Range, which would have been a monumental feat. In July 1895 however, the line was reorganized to form the West Shore Railway Company, whose goals were to build a standard gauge railway line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The new West Shore Railway was meant to haul freight and passenger service, at a time estimate of two hours and ten minutes between the two cities.
The acquisition of former right of ways and properties of the San Francisco & West Shore Railway was quick, and apparently had already begun construction of a right of way in April 1895. A passenger station would have been built at 25th & Potrero in San Francisco and was financed primarily through business-men in New York.
Due to the reluctance of property owners willing to hand over properties to the railway, construction was largely stalled as the construction costs kept rising. Between 1895 and 1898 there was no work actually done, which was unsettling to the financers. In March 1899, the railroad had stated that they wished to be sold to the Vanderbilt Company, in direct competition to the Southern Pacific. However, the Directors had rejected this last-minute, and the railroad had lost a lot of finances. In December 1899 the railroad's franchise in San Francisco expired, and subsequently, the line had given up all hopes of ever achieving a route and abandoned plans.
Bay & Coast Railway Company Incorporated in June 1889 to construct a standard gauge line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, the line was a private company and had unknown financers. Due to how the railway would have entered San Francisco on a major street, the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors required that the railway build track by September 1901, as all the other past railroads had failed to do this. The railroad failed to do this, and subsequently, the franchise expired and by February 1902, the line was shut down.
The San Francisco & Southern Railway Company In September 1903, the San Francisco & Southern Railway was formed to construct a line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, via the same route as its predecessors. Funded primarily by investors on the East Coast, the line was required by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors to construct a section of track immediately in San Francisco. However, most paper-records dropped off around this time, so nothing more is heard about the railway.
Initial railroad plans
Originally incorporated as the Ocean Shore Railway Company on May 18, 1905, the plan was to run a 1500 volt Alternating-Current double-tracked line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, operating with interurbans and electric freight motors. Other plans that were originally considered, would have operated the railway under 3300 volts alternating current, utilizing both third rail and overhead catenary wiring. The railway was backed primarily by a group of very successful and wealthy business-men of San Francisco, including future railroad president: J. Downey Harvey. Notable people include: J.A. Folger, and Horace D. Pillsbury.
The railroad would have followed the route of its predecessors along the San Mateo Coast, and would have had a large yard in the center of Santa Cruz.
Further plans called for subsidiaries such as the Ocean Shore & Eastern, which would have run a line between Santa Cruz to Watsonville where it would have connected with other Ocean Shore Railroad related schemes, such as the Fresno, Coalinga, & Monterey Railroad, which aimed to connect Fresno and Monterey via somewhere around the Pacheco Pass.
Real estate plans all along the coast were also envisioned, such as a massive boardwalk and amusement park at Granada, with cheap affordable housing being found at Montara. El Granada was one of the only towns developed by the Ocean Shore Railroad, with its circular street pattern design.
Ultimately, the ideal of a 1500 volt alternating current double-track line would not come to fruition, and neither would the railroad ever connect San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The plans for the Ocean Shore & Eastern and the other Ocean Shore Railroad subsidiary plans never came to be either due to lack of interest or the financial crash that occurred subsequently after the devastating 1906 Earthquake.
History Construction began on September 17, 1905, with the grades being dug out at points in Santa Cruz and Spring Valley ( southwest of San Francisco). Problems began almost immediately when Southern Pacific hastily built a new spur track in Santa Cruz blocking the intended route through town to the wharf. For power and right of way on the south end, the company would go on to purchase the electrified streetcar system of Santa Cruz, the Union Traction Company. The sale was announced on February 5, 1906.
The April 18, 1906 earthquake caused major damage, with parts of the roadbed and construction equipment sliding into the Pacific and investors incurring extended losses. This would fatally delay completion of the railroad. The Santa Cruz streetcars reverted to their original stockholders after the Ocean Shore stopped making payments after the disaster. A tunnel was built at Pedro Point just north of Devil's Slide. There were numerous bridges and trestles along the route. The tracks from San Francisco were completed as far south as Tunitas Creek, south of Half Moon Bay. The tracks north from Santa Cruz were completed as far north as Swanton, north of Davenport. Full electrification at the outset of operations was seen as infeasible, but tracks within the city of San Francisco were electrified (with a regular trolley system) as a stipulation of franchises for operating on city streets. The rest of the line was operated with steam locomotives, and later, with self-propelled rail cars. A never-built branch would have split from the mainline and run along what is now 19th Avenue, Eucalyptus Drive, 47th Avenue, Rivera Street, and 48th Avenue to Golden Gate Park.
The southern section opened in May 1906 to Swanton with regular service starting in June. The parallel Coastline Railway was completed in 1907 and purchased by the Southern Pacific, depriving the Ocean Shore of freight traffic. The northern section opened on October 2, 1907 to Tobin. With a financial panic brewing, it was hoped that starting service would generate revenue to help complete the line.