Any Train Stuff Around Monterey?

An SP 0-6-0 in the park, but it was not in good shape last I saw it.  Also steamers in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, but I have never been able to find either.

Just north of Santa Cruz is the Roaring Camp RR. It is in Felton, up in a patch of redwoods. You can drive up there, or you can park at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz and take a train from there (diesel) up to Roaring Camp. I have ridden that a few times and the scenery is incredible. They have several steamers, including a Heisler and a Shay. Being summer, the whales are not in the bay quite yet, so a whale watching outing would probably be fruitless. Check out Roaring Camp, you won't be disappointed.

Weather permitting, we will check that out.

The Santa Cruz train that Bob2 mentions is narrow-gauge and located in Felton which is just north of Santa Cruz, on the north side of Monterey Bay.  This is their website:  http://www.roaringcamp.com/

East of Monterey is the Bonfante Train Ride located in the town of Gilroy.  If I recall correctly it's within the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme park and is a perimeter ride, à la Disneyland Railroad.  I want to say it's 15" gauge, not completely sure.  Anyway here's the website: http://www.gilroygardens.org/

I seem to recall the one Bob mentioned in Watsonville, I seem to remember it is part of a KOA campground, also 15" gauge and there used to be a coffee shop/restaurant nearby that was famous (at least locally) for the waiters & waitresses "flipping" the coffe cups on the saucers.  I haven't been up that way in over 5 years so I'm going by vague recollection.

Thanks for the clarifications, John. I don't think we'll take time away from Big Sur, etc., for a 15-gauge ride though and the Theme Park itself doesn't interest us.

There's also the Niles Canyon Railway which runs steam excursions & runs on part of former SP trackage.

http://www.ncry.org/

It's more out of the way though, probably about an hour and a half drive northeast of Monterey.  It's located just east of Fremont on the east side of the Bay.

It might be workable in your travel plans, depending on whether you're flying in or driving.  If you're coming in from San Francisco airport then the Niles Canyon trip can be part of your diversion on the way down to Monterey.  Or if you're flying in & driving from Sacramento you can stop by there on your way also.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that we will be driving over from Phoenix. We'll spend a night at the Navy Lodge at Port Hueneme and then 4 nights at the Navy Lodge at Monterey before going back through Port Hueneme for another night. We were going back through Yosemite, but decided we'll make that a separate trip because of the fires. I think we'll have 1 day to do train related stuff, so I'll take a look at Niles Canyon and decide between it and Roaring Camp. Might end up not having time to do either, we'll be celebrating our 40th anniversary 4 years late, postponed 4 times for one reason or another. So, the priority goes to whatever my bride wants to do.

Edit: I just checked and it only runs on Sundays, so that's a non-starter for this trip.

Congrats on your 40th anniversary!

It's not too late to cancel the car drive and fly in to CA instead.  Would free up a lot more time to take in those points of interests in addition to what your wife wants to do! 

Thanks. It's actually a celebration that will be 4 years late though, so it will be #44 for us on the 4th.

I rode enough planes from place to place during my Air Force career, so we drive everywhere we go now. Since we're retired, time is not important and we can always go back if we find more to do in a given area. I'm a meticulous route planner, so we rarely take the same route to/from anywhere. The sole exception is our annual spring trip to Cape Canaveral and Savannah, but even then we mix things up between 4 different routes. Our longest road trip was 18,700+ miles in 90 days based out of Indian Head MD, up to Canada twice (Montreal once and Algonquin NP once) and all the way down to Key West, in 2009 in our 1999 Montana van (to be replaced with a Prius next fall). We've driven to all lower 48 states and I dream of driving to Alaska some day.

Monterey is only about 10 hrs away and there are any number of military lodging facilities in central and southern California, so it's just a matter of making reservations. For this trip, we'll be spending a night coming and going at the Navy Lodge-Port Hueneme and then we'll be at the Navy Lodge-Monterey for the 4 nights in Monterey. There's a train store in Burbank not far off the freeway we might stop at.

We rented a Prius back in 2010 and loved it, and I'm looking for another one to rent for this trip. I'm a little concerned about downsizing from the van, so I'm looking for one last bit of validation. Like I said, we go to the southern East Coast every year, minimum 3 day/2 night trip each way, but the days of needing a 6-passenger vehicle are over, the grandsons are all grown up. We want a green vehicle and besides the mileage, the biggest draw of the Prius is the hatchback design. My brother drives a Sonata Blue and while the trunk is large, it's still a trunk and takes some maneuvering to get things in just right. A hatchback is the compromise with the easy access of a van.

Anyway, I appreciate the thought, but we'll get back to that area again.

Dave: Good for you on your 40th and your trip to Monterey. You got it right. Don't miss seeing Big Sur and a drive down the PCH. The Salinas train depot is close by and interesting to see with it's history and the Southern Pacific.

Sounds like a plan Dave, hope you have fun.

Since it sounds like you're coming up from the south on Pacific Coast Highway, don't forget to make a stop at Hearst Castle since it's along the way, just a little over the halfway point from Port Hueneme to Monterey.

Dave,

Roaring Camp runs during the week through the end of Oct. My kids gave me a ticket to Roaring Camp as ENGINEER FOR A DAY. I sat in the engineers seat for almost half the trip to the top of the mountain, blowing the whistle and handling the controls. What a trill. I drove engine #1, a narrow gauge Shay.

The scenery on this trip is well worth the ride alone. Beautiful redwood trees, many trestles, slow and easy 1 1/2 hour trip to the top of the mountain and back, and great weather in Oct. I know you and your wife will enjoy it, so try to fit it into your schedule if you can.

Congrads,

RAY

I will try to fit Salinas in on the way back from Roaring Camp. We haven't been to Big Sur, but we have been to other parts of the coast. We have an internet friend in Cambria that we hope to finally meet. I think that will bring our total to 23 since 2009 that we've met in person.

I forgot about the Hearst Castle, we might enjoy a stop there on the way back to Port Hueneme.

On the schedule. One of the things we've wanted to do more of was scenic railroads that are close to our routes, so this fits right in.

They have different types of tour packages you can do at the grounds.  Majority of them last up to 45 minutes, except for the evening tours which are about an hour and 40 minutes.  I'd do the Grand Rooms tour if going as a first-timer.  At any rate, I would give yourself at least an hour and a half to also factor in looking around the visitor center.

I'd recommend getting reservations made in advance if possible as it can help cut down on wait times.

http://www.hearstcastle.org/

Definitely nothing else like it.

Happy 44th Anniversary Dave to you and your wife. When I lived in Saratoga, the Monterey Peninsula was all about the ocean drive in Carmel and GOLF. She may not like the golf part, but you might. Your wife will probably like all of the local shops in Carmel however. 

Hope you have a fabulous trip.

Carmel and the Pebble Beach area is a great drive thru town however there is a $27.00 toll road in order to enter the area for non-residents!!!!

The people came and listened
Some of them came and played
Others gave flowers away
Yes they did
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey

You missed the 46th anniversary of the predecessor to Woodstock, the Monterey Pop Festival.




What, me worry?

I checked out the website earlier and saw the options. I'll talk it over with my wife after we get back from Wisconsin on the 2nd. There's always a chance something will come up and we'll have to cancel again. The suggestion to buy tickets beforehand is appreciated and I can do that while in Monterey.

No golf for me, just going for the scenery and aquarium, and hopefully to meet an internet friend in person. Three days will go by fast; one day for our friend, another for the Roaring Camp RR and the 3rd for the aquarium. That doesn't leave much time for too much else.

Okay, thanks for mentioning that. I googled it and found you are talking about the 17-Mile Drive. Since we did that back in the 70's before there was a fee, we don't need to do it again. The site I found recommends an alternative and that's what we'll do. It also says you can get a refund if you eat at one of the Pebble Beach Company restaurants if you just have to see the Lone Cypress or Pebble Beach. Funny, they say if you spend more than the $25 toll, they deduct it from your bill. It's funny because I think it's impossible to spend less than $25 at any of those restaurants. The one they recommended, Roy's, doesn't even offer an online menu for their Pebble Beach location.

The toll for the 17-mile drive is $9.75 for non-residents--my wife and I just took this drive a little over a week ago celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary in Monterey (a second honeymoon, our first honeymoon was also in Monterey).

Trip Advisor also says the fee is only $9.25 and you can get validated by eating in a restaurant. I guess the sites quoting $25 are outdated. Thanks for the info.

The ~$9 toll for non-residents is a lot cheaper than the ~$9,000,000 it costs to be a resident along that route....

I've been waiting for a certain reply to this thread, but I guess only very few of the old guys like me still recall what Monterey originally meant to the world of model railroading. It was the site of John Allen's famous Gorre and Daphetid Railroad. Nothing but a memory now.

Jim

I was tempted to mention it, but since John's Gorre and Daphetid no longer exists (destroyed by fire shortly after his death in '73) I felt it was of little use to mention in context of this thread, plus the blasphemous fact it was HO, well... 

Actually we are privileged to have some of the very few surviving structures/artifacts from his Gorre and Daphetid layout on display at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum where our club layout resides.

His modelling heyday was before my time, but I became familiar with John Allen's work and his layout over the years.  No doubt he was a major influence in model railroading, just as Frank Ellison was.

I guess I need to ask. Which route is best, the one going up through the forest for $26? Or the one going down to the beach for $28? Or should I plan on spending the whole day and trying both, forest then the beach?