Gary Hunter Wrote:
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> I believe the Suntan ran from Oakland. I've seen
> pictures of Daylight 4-8-4s as road power only as
> far as Watsonville Jct. I believe the coaches
> were always the Harriman Subs as previously
> referenced. Big power was changed at WJ for
> branch power (4-6-0s, 2-8-0s) or even an SD-9. I
> seem to recall the small steam couldn't make main
> line speeds. After steam, it was, as I have
> gathered, a pair of Torpedo boat geeps. Also in
> terms of train practices, the passengers would be
> loaded and discharged at the Boardwalk, but the
> Santa Cruz yard was the "parking" area. Rolland,
> could it be that you rode the Coast Daylight as
> far as WJ? It ran from SF. I have been interested
> in the Santa Cruz branch for years and tried to
> find as much information about the passenger era
> as possible. I lived in SC from 1962 to 1977. I
> have ingested stories from people who lived there,
> and the train crew, that some of that mentioned
> activity inside and in-between the cars and other
> "passenger behaviors" were contributory to the SP
> deciding that Labor Day 1959 would be the last
> Suntan Special. It sure would be fun if a certain
> black-widow GPP-9 and Harrimans known to exist in
> the Bay Area could be arranged into a historical
> recreation of a Suntan.


There were plans to store Southern Pacific 2097, 2143 and 2156 at Davenport about a year and a half ago. I would not be surprised to see something eventually develop between SC&MB and the GGRM. SC&MB has a GP9 that will eventually be painted in a Southern Pacific heritage color scheme.