Nostalgia & History > The Future of Santa Cruz in the Past

Here's the second passenger train tour of the Santa Cruz Branch in 1996. The odd looking Amtrak flexliner made a roundtrip between Watsonville and Santa Cruz on August 10, 1996. The train made stops at Aptos, Capitola before reaching Santa Cruz. Here they are stopped at Aptos during the morning run.

This was a pretty big deal to the regional transportation commission as they thought this was going to be their train of the future. No action has been taken by the RTC to date other than studies of studies which have cost several million total. UP continues to run on the swiss cheese network of brittle rail and rotten ties.

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Sam Reeves Photography
Pacific Grove, California
Website http://www.samreevesphoto.com

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[img::]https://cdn.trainorders.com/attachments/thumbs/167000/CT35960810_3.jpg[/img]

I rode the same train btwn Salinas and Watsonville. Going through Castroville it had to stop of clear the tracks as locals placed tires and old furniture on the tracks. On the return leg near Graves School the train broke down and it took them about 15 minutes to get it fired up again. The gave demos in the yard of disconnecting at speed, Neat train though.

My good friend Danny Boehr, aka Al Tuner, (now sadly deceased) was in charge of this ATK demo train and somewhere I have a hilarious account which he wrote about getting this train off the ship in Baltimore. I can't recall if this was the German ICE train set or an Israeli set of another demo train but I believe the controls were labeled in Hebrew. It all involved a train belonging to either the Germans or the Israelis being put on a ship of Liberian registry with a Lithuanian crew and a Baltimore port unloading crew made up of some other nationality which managed to put a sizeable dent in the top of one of the cars setting off a spate of shouting and fist shaking and hollering about liability issues. Now that I think about it, I believe it is/was a train of German design which ATK borrowed from the Israelis. It nearly caused an international incident in the Port of Baltimore and another ulcer for Danny. :-)
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

CarolVoss Wrote:

> I can't recall if this was the
> German ICE train set or an Israeli set of another
> demo train but I believe the controls were labeled
> in Hebrew.

The German ICE was an electric articulated trainset that tested as an electric on the NEC, then got towed around the country by Amtrak's two F69PH-AC's. That was in 1993.

The thing in Sam's picture is the IC3 Flexliner, made by Adtranz of Denmark. The two sets that demoed in California and elsewhere in 1996 were borrowed from Israel.

I seem to recall that their air-cooled engines had problems overheating when they demonstrated on the San Joaquin route down the valley. Seemed odd at the time - one would guess Israel gets pretty hot too.

Here's a report of the Flexliner's Santa Cruz trip posted to misc.transport.rail.americas back in 1996 by another departed friend, John Raina:

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John Raina, Jr.
Sat, Aug 10 1996 11:00 pm

The Danish IC3 "Flexliner" train ran on the Southern Pacific Santa Cruz Branch in
northern California on Saturday, August 10, 1996. In addition to traveling along the route of the 1950's "Suntan Special" between Watsonville and Santa Cruz, a section of the train continued
past Santa Cruz to the Wilder Ranch State Park, about five miles further down the line. I had
ridden on a special train from Berkeley to Santa Cruz in 1958, and was eager to repeat a portion
of this route. I rode the "Capitol" train from Berkeley to San Jose, and took the connecting bus to Santa Cruz to meet the special train.

This demonstration run was sponsored jointly by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transit
Commission, Amtrak West, Southern Pacific, and other local businesses and groups. They coined
the name "Coastal Cruzer" for this demonstration. According to a brochure, it was promoted to
"give local residents a view of one of the most modern, safe, and comfortable rail cars in the
world. The Flexliner train is similar to the type of rail car which could be used for passenger rail travel between Santa Cruz County and the Monterey or San Francisco Bay areas."

The Santa Cruz Branch is used by SP almost exclusively to serve the cement plant at
Davenport, California, 31.6 miles from Watsonville Jct., where it joins the SP Coast Line. It
passes the Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk, an amusement park which was originally built on SP
property and, with many changes over the years, is still a popular destination for people from the San Francisco Bay Area. Unfortunately, the track is in a poor state of repair, and although the maximum speeds for the branch are listed as from 10 to 20 miles per hour, freight trains
reportedly run at slower speeds. The route is very scenic, with many views of ocean beaches and
surrounding communities from high railroad bridges and trestles.

The "Flexliner" train used on this demonstration run consisted of two three-car trainsets,
each of which is powered by four four-hundred horsepower diesel engines mounted under the
cars. Also, each has a control cab at both ends which swings backward on hinges to permit
passengers to move freely between the coupled units. The runs between Watsonville to Santa
Cruz were made with both trainsets coupled together, while shorter runs between Santa Cruz and
Wilder Ranch, and Santa Cruz and Aptos Village, were made with each of the single trainsets.
During these shorter runs, the remaining trainset was on display at Santa Cruz.

Despite the fact that all tickets had been previously sold, I was able to purchase tickets
from people who had extras for both the round-trip from Santa Cruz to Aptos Village and the
final run from Santa Cruz to Watsonville. On these runs the train was operated slowly, between 7
and 10 mph. With the windows and doors closed, the sound of the engines is not noticeable. The
ride was smooth, although bumps caused by the loose joints between the rail sections could be
felt. The only mechanical problem that I noticed was the failure of the air conditioner in the car that I was riding back to Watsonville, but coastal fog was rolling in and one of the vent windows was opened by a crew, so I was not uncomfortable. Food service on the trains is limited by the fact that only a small closet on each trainset is used as a galley. Only beverages, pastries and candies were offered.

During the 2 pm run between Santa Cruz, Aptos Village, and return, a region-wide failure
of electrical power occured. This did not affect the run, since the trains were diesel-powered, but traffic signals adjacent to the track were disabled. The amusement park was closed, since there was no power to operate the rides. As I returned from Watsonville to Santa Cruz by car at 8pm, after the final run, power had been restored to most locations.

Together with several other "railfans," I had an enjoyable day. I wish, along with many
other people, that as a minimum regular excursion service could be offered on this route with
direct connections to San Francisco Bay Area cities. I realize, however, that extensive track and signalling work will be required along the route, and that it will not prove financially feasible in the near future.

--
John Raina, Jr.
Berkeley, California

The Israeli connection is they are one of export countries to buy these from Denmark and use them with the at speed separation for the cars splitting at jct's to continue on different routes. So far no PLA agents have blown up these cars.

mococomike Wrote:

> So far no PLA agents have blown up these cars.

Hmmm...don't think they ran the demo sets up Niles Canyon. ;^)

I saw the Flexliner twice in August 1996, both in dismal weather. On August 7, it ran what was reported as a VIP trip to Reno, returning on the 8th. The first photo shows it on the outside at Oakland Jack London Square, with the eastbound Zephyr on the inside behind Amtrak 841 (the 800's were only Genesis units on the property at the time, but not for long. P42DC #1 carries an August 1996 build date). That's John Raina in the yellow sweater nest to the closest light pole.

One of the sets had a standard US coupler fitted to one end so the cars could be towed between gigs. On August 19th it left the Bay Area on the rear of the Zephyr. Following up on the "When did the Zephyr STOP serving Oakland" thread, that day SW1 736 got a break as the Flexliner piloted the train to the station.

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