Railroads: Early Coast Railroad Companies

There have been many attempts to construct a railroad between San Francisco and Santa Cruz along the coast, in all cases to circumvent the monopoly possessed by the Southern Pacific Railroad. What is remarkable is that none of them succeeded, and only two ever even built track. This is the story of those that failed. (For information on the two that partially succeeded, see Ocean Shore Railroad and Coast Line Railroad)

San Francisco, Santa Cruz & Watsonville Railroad Company (1870–1872)

The earliest known coastal railroad scheme was incorporated on March 26, 1870 for what became a standard 80 miles of track between San Francisco and Watsonville along the coast. Capital stock for the company was set at $3,000,000, divided into 30,000 shares of $100 each. It took over two years before further action was taken on the company but on September 20, 1872, a formal order by the City and County of San Francisco was filed outlining the proposed railroad in more detail. In it, the order outlined that the railroad would run from "at or near the intersection of Frederick street with First avenue [in San Francisco]; and thence, by the most practicable route, to the southern boundary line of the said city and county; thence along the Coast Range, between the summit thereof and the ocean, to Halfmoon Bay, Spanishtown and Pescadora [sic], in the county of San Mateo; thence by the most practicable and convenient route to the town of Santa Cruz and Watsonville, in Santa Cruz county." Since the firm planned to use public money for at least part of the route, the matter had to go up for a vote in San Francisco. Nothing more is said of the company after this date, suggesting that the terms of the order were untenable. It also faced stiff competition from two other railroad projects with grander visions that were simultaneously competing for votes in the 1872 election.

Narrow-Gauge Railroad Company (1870-1871)
The second proposal for a coast route was the simply-named Narrow-Gauge Railroad Company, founded in Fall 1870. This route optimistically planned to link San Francisco to the Arizona state line via a coastal route of 700 miles. The plans were for the line to pass directly through Santa Cruz County, following much the same route that the Santa Cruz Railroad would take a few years later. From there, it would cross the Pajaro River and pass through Castroville and down the Salinas Valley, much like the Southern Pacific Railroad soon did. However, in November 1871, it was revealed that the railroad was only every a paper company created by the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad to encourage competition with other railroads along the proposed route. 

California Southern Coast Railroad Company (1871)
Before the Narrow-Gauge Railroad had even collapsed, another even grander scheme was being hatched beginning on March 23, 1871, when the California Southern Coast Railroad (also called the San Francisco & San Diego Coast Railroad Company) was incorporated with the intent to run a railroad line from San Francisco to San Diego along the coast. Surveying began in April and continued through September, with teams locating a line to Los Angeles with plans to continue to the state border near Fort Mojave, where it would connect to the planned Southern Pacific Railroad (which was incorporated by this date but progressing only slowly from within California). The route was promoted most strongly by General William Roscrans, who sought to open up Southern California. Interestingly, this route too was intended to be narrow-gauge suggesting it may have had a relationship or even been identical to the previous company, especially since they had almost identically-stated goals. Its disappearance from all newspapers after September 1871 also suggests a connection.

Pigeon Point Railroad Company (1871)

A railroad of more limited scope was incorporated on July 17, 1871 as the Pigeon Point Railroad Company. Its stated goal was to build a 6.5-mile-long railroad of unknown gauge from Pigeon Point to New Year's Point (Ano Nuevo) in San Mateo County. The capital stock was set at $30,000 with Horace Templeton, Thomas W. Moore, William A. Bolinger, Josiah P. Ames, and George Hearst as the first board of directors. The San Francisco Examiner speculated that it was built to parallel and support the Pigeon Point Water and Lumber Company's canal, which company was incorporated the same week. Nothing appears to have happened with either company as no railroad was built nor canal dug. The last mention of the firm was in late August 1871.

California, Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company (1872)
The pattern of incorporations continued when, on August 23, 1872, the California, Atlantic, and Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated with a bold plan to connect San Francisco to St. Louis via a coastal route that would first pass down the coast to Los Angeles before reaching the Colorado River, where it would connect to an outside line. The scheme was certainly popular—nearly 1,500 San Francisco citizens subscribed to stock valued at $800,000 prior to incorporation. By the end of the week, another 500 had subscribed amounting to a total of $1,587,900, a strong sign of confidence in the project.

San Francisco & Colorado River Railway Company (1872)
Concurrently with the California, Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, the San Francisco & Colorado River Railway Company was established in August 1872 with an identical goal. Despite a heavy advertising campaign through the late summer and early autumn and the unusual request for a bond from the citizens of San Francisco, the project faltered just before the November election. On October 21, it was revealed that the directors had pulled their proposition due to resistance from the business community of the city. The company issued a statement at this time hinting at the fights to come: "We do not propose disbanding our organization, though at this time we see no prospect of making head against the monopoly which with another year's vigorous labor, will be beyond the probable power of the aid which the city and county could give to check or overcome it." The megalithic Southern Pacific, not yet five years old, was already providing to be an insurmountable threat to any potential rival.

San Francisco, San Mateo & Santa Cruz Railroad (1875-1876)
Yet another attempt to bridge the gap between San Francisco and Santa Cruz along the coast came on February 28, 1875 when the San Francisco, San Mateo & Santa Cruz Railroad Company incorporated. The goal of this company was specifically to run along the San Mateo County coast, presumably to link up with the Santa Cruz Railroad to the south and one of several potential connections in San Francisco. Unlike many of the other attempts to construct this route, this attempt was financed almost entirely by San Mateo residents. Surveying was completed in July 1875 south from Half Moon Bay (Spanishtown). Further surveying was conducted through to the end of the year, with a final report filed at the end of March 1876. Nothing more is heard of the line after this, however, suggesting that financing fell through or the project was co-opted, as would happen several more times.

San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad Company (1879-1887)
In September 1879, the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad set to work getting permits to construct a narrow-gauge track from Fulton and Larking Streets in San Francisco and thence down the coast to Half Moon Bay. Approval for the company to begin construction was given by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors on 6 November 1879. Numerous technical obstacles and lawsuits, most begun by proprietors of commercial businesses along the city routes the railroad intended to take, delayed construction. From mid-1880, reports were regularly issued by the company that the railroad would be completed to the San Mateo County line (which line is unclear) by the end of the year, but this was still the rhetoric in January 1881 and no actual progress had been made. Meanwhile, the railroad company took out multiple mortgages and released additional stocks to try to increase revenue. New York bankers were the company's primary investors, while a New Yorker, Col. Lyman Bridges, was hired to build the route.

Original 1880 stock certificate for the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad Company. [Pacifica History]

When the Santa Cruz Railroad went bankrupt in 1881, it derailed plans for the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad to connect to that line through to Pajaro and further south. Some of the primary financiers of the Santa Cruz Railroad were also stockholders in the San Francisco & Ocean Shore, and most pulled their funding. Without a connection through Santa Cruz, the railroad had to reevaluate their plans and plan to build a new line through the city separate from the now-Southern Pacific-owned Santa Cruz route. It was an expensive problem but one for the future.

The company trucked on. On January 22, 1881, a newspaper article suggested that property sales in Pacifica would soar due to proximity to the new line, while industries further from the line along the Central Coast would devalue and disappear. Another article a month later supported this story and suggested that property values were already increasing. Surveyors began popping up all along the planned route, including in Santa Cruz and Pescadero. On May 20, articles of incorporation were filed for the railroad to extend its track to Santa Cruz from Half Moon Bay, thereby confirming that the company planned to build an entirely new route through Santa Cruz County. The entire line was also now planned to be standard-gauge to match the track width of the Southern Pacific. However, construction on the route still had not begun.

Map of the proposed San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad, 1881. Map by E. Wells Sackett & Rankin. [PBA Galleries]

Suspicious rumours began circulating in May 1881 that the entire company was secretly owned by the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, although that line had actually already gone bankrupt the year before. Other rumors spread that the new railroad intended to continue south of Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara and beyond, while in July, the plans for the new California Central Railway leaked that suggesting that the railroad would become a part of a new transcontinental scheme under the direction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (which in 1879 purchased the Atlantic & Pacific). Col. Bridges, acting as company spokesperson, announced that the route between San Francisco and Santa Cruz should be completed no later than 1883, while other railroad companies (or subsidiaries) were responsible for connecting to this line near Pajaro.

Dire news arrived on December 10, 1881, however. The Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel reported that the rivalry between the Sante Fe Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad had come to an end. Plans to build the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad were not immediately abandoned, but the end was imminent. On Christmas Eve, it was revealed that the massive multi-state railroad plan was mostly a rouse, designed to frighten the Southern Pacific into reducing the cost to switch at Santa Fe junctions. However, the railroad really did intend to connect San Francisco and Santa Cruz, but the news of the con spooked the county governments. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to delay granting of the franchise to the SF&OS in early 1882. For the next year, the supervisors demurred, punishing the company for their trickery. But this cost the railroad money and supporters. Desperate, the railroad company attempted to bypass San Francisco by passing through the military property to the north of the city and then down Ocean Beach. But this angered the board more and, on November 22, 1882, they indefinitely postponed development of the railroad within San Francisco County.

The story of the first San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad came to an inglorious end without a single piece of track set. Whispers of the line continued to appear in the newspapers throughout 1883 and was eventually consolidated into the United States Central Railroad late that year..

California Central Railway (1880–1883)

Not a coast railroad but rather a subsidiary of the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railway, the California Central Railway Company was incorporated on October 5, 1880 to connect the southern terminus of the SF&OS at Santa Cruz to Fresno Flats near Minturn via an unspecified route, and from there continue to the California State line at McBridge's Pass, Nevada. There was also hope that a branch line to Yosemite would be constructed. The company was also consolidated into the United States Central Railroad in 1883.

United States Central Railroad (1883–1884)

With the collapse of the San Francisco & Ocean Shore project, a new railroad project arose that hoped to connect San Francisco to Denver via a coast route through Santa Cruz. The company incorporated on October 30, 1883 as the United States Central Railroad Company and was a consolidation of the San Francisco & Ocean Shore and the California Central, and the Denver, Hot Springs & Pacific Railroads. It had a capital stock of $75,000,000.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 1884 that: "The United State Central presents the best scheme so far offered for building an independent and competitive line from San Francisco to Denver, where it is expected to connect with the extensive system of roads owned by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. The route, as is well-known, has its deep-water terminus at North Beach. Thence the route is by the park to the ocean beach, which it follows to Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz the route tends easterly across the Coast range and the San Joaquin valley to the Sierra, which it crosses just south of Yosemite. It then passes through Southern Nevada and Southern Utah to Denver.... Contracts are just ready to be let for grading on the Santa Cruz and Yosemite divisions, and joint-stock companies are being formed for the building of hotels and founding of watering places at convenient distances from San Francisco, which, it is hoped, will some day rival Long Branch and Cape May."

Following the above article, nothing more is heard of the railroad and the project seems to have quietly collapsed.

San Francisco & Santa Cruz Railroad (1888)
This short-lived coastal railroad scheme under the leadership of J. A. Waymire arose in the aftermath of the collapse of the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad in April 1888. The group behind the project hired F. T. Newberry as chief engineer and he spent most of the month surveying a route down the coast between Colma, south of San Francisco, and Pescadero—the original route did not actually include an extension to Santa Cruz, although that was clearly the ultimate goal. Despite drafting a promising survey, the investors backed out in July prior to incorporation, making this the only coastal railroading scheme to decide against forming a formal corporation.

Pacific Railroad Company (1889)
F. T. Newberry wasn't done, however. On December 12, 1889, the company that J. A. Waymire hinted would be formed in the near future came to fruition—the Pacific Railroad Company—a Colorado firm but with the same intention of those that came before it. It sought to construct a standard-gauge railroad line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz via Half Moon Bay, a total length estimated to be 100 miles. Newberry was appointed as one of the directors, as well as several other prominent San Francisco investors.

San Francisco & West Shore Railway Company (1892-1894)
A decade after the collapse of the San Francisco & Ocean Shore Railroad project, a new company was formed called the San Francisco & West Shore Railway Company to attempt what its predecessors had failed to accomplish. The company was incorporated on March 9, 1892, to build an electrified railway between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay, although most expected at the time that the route would eventually continue onward to Santa Cruz and beyond.

San Francisco & West Shore Railroad line along the San Mateo County coast, August 1894.
[Library of Congress]

Unlike the other railroads, this route's initial plan was to carry freight exclusively, primarily dairy, eggs, and agricultural products from the Half Moon Bay and San Pedro Valley areas. Surveying of the line began immediately after incorporation and, also unlike the other lines, plans were to build a tunnel through San Pedro Point further inland rather than at the tip as the Ocean Shore Railroad eventually did. On November 28, 1892, the mayor of San Francisco vetoed plans to allow the San Francisco & West Shore Railway to build tracks down 25th Street and Potrero Avenue, effectively ending the railroad since the company had no other method of entering the city. The company fought the veto in the state's supreme court, but ultimately lost, although they continued surveying and purchasing materials throughout 1893. Meanwhile, a government survey map produced in August 1894 still suggested the feasibility. Rumors of the line being taken over by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad cropped up frequently throughout its short existence, but these were ultimately unfounded.

San Francisco & South Coast Railroad Company (1892-1893)
Around the same time that the San Francisco & West Shore formed, another concern (or possibly the same) incorporated under the name San Francisco & South Coast Railroad Company. Due to opposition by the San Francisco supervisors and their favoritism toward the Southern Pacific Railroad, the company was unable to begin work until February 1893. The proposed route was to extend to Half Moon Bay via Colima following much the same route as the West Shore around Pedro Point. According to the newspapers at the time, most of the right-of-way was purchased outright for the project and even machinery for construction was obtained. The company also invested in oil prospecting in the area. Like most of the other companies, its ultimate fate is unknown.

West Shore Railway Company (1895-1899)

West Shore Railway survey map blueprint, 1896. [UCSC Digital Collections]

Established as a direct successor to the San Francisco & West Shore Railway, the West Shore & Valley Railroad was founded in April 1895 to connect the cities of San Francisco and Tulare, north of Bakersfield, via a coastal route through Santa Cruz. By the time the company finally incorporated on July 11, 1895, the name of the company had become the West Shore Railway and the plans were reduced to just connecting San Francisco to Santa Cruz via standard-gauge track. The new corporation purchased all the rights-of-way, surveys, and other material from its predecessor for a cost of $150,000.

How much of this railroad was actually begun is not entirely known. As early as April 1895, reports in the San Francisco Call claimed that "a good deal of the grading has been done. There have also been purchased a large number of ties and other materials...." Furthermore, the article reports that "a complete survey of the line has been made, and all the necessary right-of-way promised."
The existence of a large blueprint for the entire line (half of which is visible at right) published in 1896 does indeed suggest that this operation made it significantly further than its three predecessors, although it seems highly likely that most of this was completed by the 1892 iteration of the firm. Like its predecessors, New York financiers also were brought on to help fund the project and significant capital was raised throughout 1895, but also like them, a lot of the company's funding was promised but never delivered or bound to stocks and bonds of questionable value. Plans were in place to build a major station at 25th Street and Potrero Avenue in San Francisco and a freight yard near the Spreckels refinery there.

Early projections estimated that the track would run for 80 miles and transit times between Santa Cruz and San Francisco would begin at two hours, ten minutes, although they predicted that would become faster as the roadbed settled into place. Like its predecessor, the West Shore Railway was intended primarily for freight usage, although passenger service was not ignored and, indeed, was emphasised in some of their early marketing. The company hoped that the railroad would make the abundance of undeveloped farmland along the coast more accessible, thereby increasing their customer base. Likewise, they expected to reap some benefit from the numerous redwood forests located just off the proposed main line. As of September 1895, the company estimated that the cost of construction would sit at around $2,350,000.

However, the true story of the railroad only began to appear over a year after it had been incorporated. The transfer of the older San Francisco & West Shore Railway to the West Shore Railway was only completed in August 1896, meaning that the new company did virtually nothing in the intervening year. In April 1897, another article discussed the fact that nothing of note had still been done, although the company's president, R.S. Thornton, stated that much had been done behind the scenes. The problem was that portions of the right-of-way remained in private and city hands. One of the most obstinate property-owners along the line was that of D.D. Wilder, who refused to sell or lease his land to the railroad. Others likewise hesitated. Thus, the railroad was quickly suffering the same fate of those that came before.

As the months passed, the same dismissive rhetoric was told: work on the railway would begin shortly; work will begin next month; everything is in place to begin construction. But the tide turned against the West Shore Railway. Estimates on costs were rapidly increasing and not enough locals along the route were interested in subscribing to the company. 1897 and 1898 passed without any actual work being done on the railway, despite numerous statements from the company insisting construction was imminent. The failure of California's Enabling Act in 1899 stalled the railroad—it would have provided necessary funding and other support to complete the route. However, it also provided the company one last opportunity to correct its past mistakes.

On March 25, 1899, plans were released that the entire railroad venture was to be sold to the Vanderbilt Company as a direct competitor to the Southern Pacific along the California Coast. Their goal was to build a route through California that would connect to other non-SP lines out-of-state. For all intents and purposes, the West Shore Railway was to become a different company. But fate intervened again. The board of directors revolted and refused to sell out to the Vanderbilts, and the company essentially died as a result. At the end of 1899—three months after Cornelius Vanderbilt himself was dead—the franchise permit with the City of San Francisco expired and nothing more could be done for the line. The West Shore Railway was defunct.

Bicycle Railway Construction Company and the Shore Line Bicycle Railway Company (1895–1896)

By far the strangest and most ambitious of all coastal railroad projects was incorporated on July 24, 1895, even while the West Shore project was gathering funds. The Bicycle Railway Construction Company hoped to build a Boynton bicycle railway from San Francisco along the coast to Santa Cruz, as well as to the north to Napa. It had a capital stock of $300,000, $198,000 of which was held by W. H. H. Hart. The other directors, who held the subscriptions for the remaining stock, were Sumner W. Bugbee, Prentiss Selby, Edward Dexter, and James L. Wheat, representing San Francisco, San Diego, and Chicago interests.

Scientific America lithograph of a Boynton Bicycle Railroad car running in East Patchogue, New York, in 1894. [Robert Kopolovicz]

The so-called Boynton Bicycle system, designed by Eben Moody Boynton, was originally a steam train that ran on a single steel rail with a reinforced wood beam overhead to provide stability. Only functioning versions of this system operated, both in New York. The first was a test train run in Brooklyn from 1890 to 1892. The second was a suburban test train that ran in East Patchogue in 1894.

The specific route between San Francisco and Santa Cruz was incorporated as a subsidiary on August 16, 1895 under the name Shore Line Bicycle Railway Company. The proposed route would have used electric locomotives and promoters advertised speeds of up to 100 mph, which was groundbreaking at the time. Grander dreams saw a route continuing through Santa Cruz County and south, eventually reaching Los Angeles. A shorter extension to Capitola was included in the original plans with the financial and popular support of Frederick A. Hihn. Surveyors set the cost per mile of the route at $7,500, including equipment costs, and Hart and Bugbee fronted most of the initial cash for the project, with Eastern financiers funding the remainder. 

Unsurprisingly, the concept never took off anywhere despite at least four rival design plans for locomotives and the two trial runs on the East Coast. A dismissive letter from the Street Railway Review in November 1895 made clear to Santa Cruz residents how little success bicycle railroads had had on the East Coast and how this company was more likely than anything a scam. After a year of heavy publicity and frequent discussions in newspapers, the project evaporated following a final blast of hot air by one of its projectors in the Sentinel on May 12, 1895.

Bay & Coast Railway Company (1899-1902)
Within months of the proposed buy-out of the West Shore company, a new firm was founded to build a coastal route. The Bay & Coast Railway Company officially incorporated on June 26, 1899 to build a 100-mile track between downtown San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Like the three companies that came before, the Bay & Coast was, at least on the surface, a private company with no ties to other operations. This ended up being its downfall. The railroad desired to run its train directly into San Francisco along a major road, but because of its limited operation range, the county board of supervisors denied them access. After two years of negotiations with the city, their project was finally approved with the requirement that they build $25,000 worth of tracks by late September 1901. They defaulted on this requirement and, after several extensions into February 1902, the franchise was forfeited and the company closed.

San Francisco & Southern Railway Company (1903)
One last railroading enterprise came about on September 26, 1903, with the same optimistic plans to connect San Francisco to Santa Cruz. This corporation was sponsored primarily by Eastern venture capitalists who were relying on the older surveys prepared by the West Shore Railway. Learning from past mistakes, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors required the investors to build a short portion of track immediately to demonstrate good faith before the franchise was to be confirmed. Nothing more was said of the company in the newspapers afterwards.

Citations & Credits:

• Oakland Tribune, 1881-1883.
• Sacramento Record-Union, 1881-1883.
• San Francisco Call, 1895-1901.
• San Francisco Chronicle, 1879-1883.
• San Francisco Examiner, 1870-1872.
• Santa Cruz Evening Sentinel, 1899-1901.
• Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1895-1901.
• Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, 1871-1883.
• Vonderlin, John. "West Shore Railway's BIG Plans for the Coastside." Half Moon Bay Memories & El Granada Observer. 4 July 2009.
• West Shore Railway Company, "Articles of Incorporation", 11 July 1895, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz Count Records, Folder #235.