Suntan Special
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Service type | Seasonal excursion train | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Discontinued | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First service | 1927 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last service | September 1959 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former operator | Southern Pacific Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Termini | San Jose, California San Francisco, California Oakland, California Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - Casa del Rey Hotel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average journey time | 3 hours 15 minutes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service frequency | Summer Sundays and holidays | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Suntan Special (sometimes styled as Sun Tan Special) was a summer excursion train service operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California, from 1927 to 1959.
When Suntan Special service began, trains operated from San Jose along the over-the-mountain South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPCR) route through Los Gatos until that line was destroyed by storm damage in February 1940.[1] Service resumed starting in April 1940 over a longer overland route, continuing down the Coast Subdivision mainline from San Jose through Gilroy, turning at Watsonville Junction in Pajaro onto the Santa Cruz Branch originally established by the Santa Cruz Railroad, and finishing the trip to Santa Cruz via Watsonville, Aptos, and Capitola.[2] Regular passenger service along the SPCR line was short-turned at Los Gatos, with buses continuing to and from Santa Cruz.[3]
The first train ran to Santa Cruz via Los Gatos over the Fourth of July weekend in 1927 and was called the "Popular Excursion"; it was simply a way to use rolling stock made idle by the holiday, but proved to be successful enough that additional excursions were run on Labor Day (September 5) and Admission Day (Sept. 9) that season.[4] For 1928, excursions ran every two weeks (plus holidays) starting from Memorial Day (May 30, 1928) until Admission Day, and weekly service started in 1929.[4] The Suntan Special name was applied starting from October 1930.[4] The original service held departures from San Jose (Cahill station) until the departure point shifted to San Francisco (Third and Townsend Depot) in 1932 with at least three sections every summer Sunday and holiday. A section from Oakland was added in 1934. In 1932, approximately 3,500 passengers[5] from the San Francisco Bay Area each paid $1.25 (equivalent to $29 in 2024 adjusted for inflation) for a round trip visit to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Up to seven double-headed sections originating in San Francisco, Oakland, or San Jose were required to carry these passengers.[6] Service was suspended by World War II from 1941 through 1946, but resumed in July 1947,[2] carrying about 900 passengers per trip.[7] Before the war, the seasonal service operated from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September; this was shortened to Independence Day through Labor Day in 1947.[2] Postwar service consisted of one round-trip excursion train each Sunday and an extra trip on the Fourth of July.[8]
The train would reach Santa Cruz at approximately 11:30 AM and depart on the return trip at approximately 6:15 PM.[8] The train consists usually had an open-air observation car at the rear and featured on-board snacks and coffee served from trolleys.[9] Average one-way trip time was 3 hours, 15 minutes from San Francisco, as the poor condition of the road bed between Watsonville Junction (Pajaro) and Santa Cruz limited the train to just 18 mph (29 km/h), taking an hour to traverse the Santa Cruz Branch off the Coast Subdivision mainline.[2] The change from the over-the-mountain route through Los Gatos to the overland route via Watsonville Junction (Pajaro) increased the trip time by only 10 minutes.[3]
In 1956, the train carried a peak of 15,485 passengers on 13 excursion trips taken that season, but this declined to 7,752 passengers for the 1959 season.[2] The last train ran in September 1959.[10][11] The passenger agent for SP, Joseph B. Haggerty, called it a "money-losing train."[2]
