Part 2: Beach Train to Santa Cruz

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The Trip

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

We arrived well before departure time for the Beach Train and the crew was busy getting cars arranged for the day's excursions.  The line is called "Roaring Camp and Big Trees" AKA RC&BT.

Of the 3 engines in the RC&BT stable, two of them are steam with the remaining one being diesel electric.  This water tower services the steam locomotives.

We had about 30 minutes before departure time so we wandered around and spotted this recycled boiler.  The boiler was mounted on a skid and was used as a winch for logging operations and later relocated to the sawmill.  The long connecting pipe delivers steam to the piston on the right side of the photo above.  The piston drove the flywheel and belt wheel which in turn drove the sawmill.

Once we got underway we chose to sit in an open car to see the scenery.  R to L: Kathleen, Jim and Michele.

The rail line had several bridges, this one was installed in 1909.

The virgin redwood trees were dense, but had sparse ground cover.

We rolled into Santa Cruz and discovered that they have a huge homeless problem.  There were people sleeping in the dirt, on sidewalks and in doorways.  These folks also leave plenty of trash behind.

The train had to pass through Mission Hill Tunnel to get to the boardwalk.

One odd aspect of this train line is that it runs down the center of an active road.

The tracks went past a true homeless camp.  Above, this  young couple are thinking real hard about making a baby while the fellow on the right plays his harmonica.

Close to the boardwalk, the train's conductor had to disembark and block traffic.

The tracks went right past the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  Very convenient since that was our destination.

The rides at the boardwalk were in full operation.  Above, the "barf-o-tron" works on a bunch of young customers.

The cableway carried passengers above the fray of the boardwalk.  Note the passenger.

Another style barf-o-tron in motion swinging the passengers in a sweeping pendulum motion.

At the top of the swing, the passengers were fully inverted.

Kathleen and Michele looked good in grass skirts.

The tallest ride launched riders to the top of the tower and then drops them to a soft landing.

We walked out to the pier and saw an area where crazy folks were in the frigid water.

From the pier we could see a pod of seals lounging in the calm water.

The pier gave us a good view of the Santa Cruz boardwalk beachfront.



Time for one photo and then we have to head back to the train.



This homeless fellow has his manditory begging sign and stray dog "prop", but failed to stay awake.



Our motor idling right next to the boardwalk.  We loaded up and started rolling back to Roaring Camp.



These conservative folks were surprised by the train (and likely everything else that they saw at the boardwalk).



As we started rolling we spotted the women's volley ball league holding competition.



At a road crossing on our way out of town we encountered this nice restored car with some mechanical issues.



A photo of our diesel-electronic locomotive back at Roaring Camp.



We had the presence of mind to pack a picnic basket with goodies that would be our lunch.  After chow, Kathleen headed out to shoot one of the incoming stream trains.



We heard more steam whistles indicating that another engine was inbound to our location.  I walked down to shoot a few photos.  The engineer dropped the speed but also vented excess steam.



Both steam motors in the RC&BT are Shay designs with triple steam cylinders, a crank shaft, U-joints and differentials on each driving axle resulting in all-wheel-drive.



We took a short walk back into the redwood forest and spotted these deer feeding in the dappled sunlight.



The Shay design allows each axle of the locomotive to be a driving axle by using bevel gears between the drive shaft and the axle.  This design provides much more torque than the conventional design but at the cost of reduced top speed.  Since these locomotives were used primarily in logging, the lack of top speed was never an issue.



The triple cylinder design provides smoother torque delivery due to the 120 degree offset of actuation between the cylinders.



While I was inspecting Shay #1, #7 came into the station "heavy" (with passengers/cargo).

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2018, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.