South Pacific Coast Railroad
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| Reporting mark | SPC |
|---|---|
| Locale | California's San Francisco Bay Area |
| Dates of operation | March 29, 1876–July 01, 1887 |
| Successor | South Pacific Coast Railway Southern Pacific Transportation Company |
| Track gauge | standard after 1909 |
| Previous gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) |
| Length | 77.5 miles (124.7 km) |
| Headquarters | Newark, California |
The South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge steam railroad running between Santa Cruz, California and Alameda, with a ferry connection in Alameda to San Francisco. The railroad was created as the Santa Clara Valley Railroad, founded by local strawberry growers as a way to get their crops to market in San Francisco and provide an alternative to the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1876, James Graham Fair, a silver baron, bought the line and extended it into the Santa Cruz Mountains to capture the significant lumber traffic coming out of the redwood forests. The line was originally laid with 52-pound rail on 8-foot (2.4 m) redwood ties; and was later acquired by the Southern Pacific and converted to standard gauge.
SPC was incorporated in 1876 to purchase the unfinished Santa Clara Valley Company railroad at Dumbarton Point. Dumbarton Point was then a landing to transfer agricultural produce from the Santa Clara Valley onto sailboats for transport to San Francisco. Railway shops were built in Newark and a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line to San Jose was completed in 1876. The SPC ferry Newark offered connecting service from Newark to San Francisco in 1877. In 1878 the SPC was extended from San Jose to Los Gatos; and the subsidiary Bay and Coast Railroad completed a line of trestles and fill along the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay from Newark to Alameda. The ferry connection to San Francisco shifted to Alameda as SPC ferrys Bay City and Garden City increased the frequency and reliability of connecting service.
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