Swanton Pacific Railroad

The Swanton Pacific Railroad Society operated an historic one-third scale, 19 in (483 mm) gauge, railroad at Swanton Pacific Ranch in Davenport, California, 15 miles (24 km) north of Santa Cruz, California. The one-mile (1.6 km)-long railroad lies along the Ocean Shore Railroad right-of-way that was to run from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. The scenic trip, through a valley in the coastal mountains, crosses Scott Creek on the Ed Carnegie Bridge, passes a Christmas tree farm, and ends at a wye where passengers observe railroad operations that turn the locomotive.

Swanton Pacific Railroad (SPRR) equipment and facilities included:

  • Four steam locomotives and one original passenger car from the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition's Overfair Railway in San Francisco.
  • Reconstructed cars made of Overfair Railway parts and equipment from the 1975 Calistoga Railroad
  • GE U25B Diesel locomotive 1:3 replica and cars built in 1963 by the Keystone Light Railway Products Company in Pennsylvania
  • Roundhouse, turntable, car barn, machine shop, and workshop
  • Four full-size cabooses, one of which was founder Al Smith's office at Orchard Supply Hardware
  • California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) projects include a railroad crane, a car for passengers with disabilities, and a train station.

Swanton Pacific's (SP) "Lazy Espee" brand also acknowledges the Southern Pacific Railroad, one of Al Smith's former employers.

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