Having grown up in Santa Cruz and just recently moved away to go to UCSB, I have kept up with the developments at Cemex and according to the security guard at Cemex (who asked me and a friend to leave the property while we were exploring the shuttered quarry off Bonny Doon Road), the plant will not reopen until atleast 2010. The original 6 month closure has been extended (unofficially so far) due to the economy and the chromium problem that seems to still persist.

Now, dont quote me on this, just passing on the words of a Cemex employee.

My friends at UP who work(ed?) the Local doubt they will ever travel north of the SC wye again, except to eventually retrieve the stored cement cars in Davenport.

This is very sad to a railfan who learned to love trains on the "Big Cement Train" and learned photography and chasing on the SC Branch. I wonder if all I will be able to show my kids (hopefully, far in the future) will be an empty r.o.w. next to HWY 1 north of SC.