I had business in Santa Cruz this afternoon and thought I would stop by the tunnel under Mission Street to see if the RCBT&P track crew was still doing any work. I have been photographing them whenever I was in town over the last month.






Over the last month RCBT&P inspected the tunnel and replaced all the rail. After completing that work an outside contractor was hired and they have been working for the past week replacing the rotted redwood timber sets in the tunnel with steel sets. I always liked the exposed tree roots adjacent to the tunnel portal and put on a wide angle lens to take this shot.




They were out of ties and were expecting a delivery of more ties from Felton soon. I had a package to drop off at UPS and figured I had time to make it there and back. As soon as I got back one of the track crew says they can see one of their locomotives coming down the line towards Highway 1. It has been four months since I have seen any power on the line in Santa Cruz and it was a welcome sight seeing them cross Highway 1.




They brought with them a bundle of ties loaded on a 1920’s vintage flatcar.




#2641 was not able to clear the rotted timber set laying adjacent to the track so the Case 580E was brought up to clear the offending timber.




Just enough clearance to get by.




They went over the switch towards the tunnel portal.




The switch was thrown and they headed back down the main to Felton. It was late and I had to get going too.