Western Railroad Discussion > Santa Cruz Local question

Anybody know what days the Santa Cruz Local (CA) is operating these days? I had heard earlier in the Fall that they were going to increase operations to Davenport to 4 days/week. Did this happen? While in Aptos this past Saturday I heard the southbound train roll through my cousin's neighborhood at about 5pm. Is this normal to be operating on Saturdays?

Thanks.

SW1200

Not really. The current schedule is Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

I'm about a half mile from the tracks, so I have the benefit of hearing them rock n' roll through town when the surf noise isn't drowning everything out. Their 'normal' schedule has been M-Tu-W-F, but they ran 2 consecutive Saturdays in recent weeks. The most recent was probably due to the Salinas Hauler bringing in a fresh string of coal early Saturday morning.

They have been known to go to beans in downtown Aptos on their run west, and usually get through Santa Cruz between 11-1. They're usually back through SC between 3:30 and 4:30. A tree crew has been moving slowly west near Capitola recently, trimming everything back to the property line. This can cause minor delays in either direction.

Brian In Santa Cruz

brianbergtold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Their 'normal' schedule has been M-Tu-W-F,
> but they ran 2 consecutive Saturdays in recent
> weeks.

I assume that Sunday is their assigned day off? Any idea what they do on the other days? I think I heard that they were covering the Monterey Local duties down to Castroville....

Thanks.

SW1200

They run the Santa Margarita Turn on Mondays and Thursdays ATM. If the local runs to Davenport on Saturday, that's a called extra. It's not part of the standard billing. The Monterey Local was abolished several years ago in favor of a one man RCL. And at that the RCL stays inside the yard at Watsonville Junction since National closed the refractory at Moss Landing.

samreeves Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They run the Santa Margarita Turn on Mondays and
> Thursdays ATM. If the local runs to Davenport on
> Saturday, that's a called extra. It's not part of
> the standard billing. The Monterey Local was
> abolished several years ago in favor of a one man
> RCL. And at that the RCL stays inside the yard at
> Watsonville Junction since National closed the
> refractory at Moss Landing.

There is often a Saturday crew that operates the Santa Cruz, Santa Margarita, Rock Job, or Salinas Hauler as needed.

As for the Monterey Local, it actually lives on as a 2 man RCL job. This job handles work on the Santa Cruz Branch within the city of Watsonville, makes up trains in Watsonville Yard, and heads south to the cold storage facilities at Castroville when needed. The slow speed of the RCL often makes the Monterey's mainline 'sprint' to and from Castroville a problem for the dispatcher. A few weeks ago I saw it limp through Elkhorn Slough at a snail's pace. Therefore, the non-RCL Soledad Local has been known to spot Castroville as well.