Ocean Shore Railroad

Once past the Laguna-Delaware transition curve, Delaware Avenue follows the route of the Ocean Shore Railroad, which existed from 1905 to 1920. The railroad terminated in Santa Cruz at a depot up the hill to the south of the Southern Pacific RR Union Depot (now Depot Park), and just to the north of the 1877 Lynch house.

• Santa Cruz Trains has an article that includes an annotated detail from the 1906 Lawrence aerial photo showing part of the eastern end of the rail line where it deviated from today's Delaware Avenue. The 1906 photo annotation is by Peter Nurkse, from his article "Notes on the 1906 Aerial Panorama of Santa Cruz by George Lawrence", online in the SCPL Local History Articles. The SC Trains article notes that the Santa Cruz boarding area was at the end of the line across Santa Cruz Creek from the SP tracks. There was only a small shelter building there, however, so the company had a ticket office in a larger structure on Bay Street, next to the cut that took the tracks under Bay.
• One claim in the SC Trains article is, I believe, incorrect. The two photos show a steep bank next to the tracks near the terminal. That's the bank that remains today adjacent to the Rail Trail, which tells me that the tracks were down near the level of the SP tracks, rather than atop the bluff, as claimed in the article.
• The San Vicente Lumber Company built a mill adjacent to the rail line, near the man-made dam that created what remains today as Antonelli Pond. The railroad brought logs to the mill from timber-cutting operations in the Swanton area.
• Just past where Delaware Avenue ends at the Seymour Center entry road and parking lot is a short trail with interpretive signage about the Ocean Shore RR.
• The Last Whistle (1974 book) is a history of the Ocean Shore RR. Other relevant publications are listed in the Santa Cruz Trains article.

A 2026-02-20 online article in SFGATE notes that the former Ocean Shore RR Vallemar station has long housed a restaurant that is soon to close. The restaurant owners collected and displayed a lot of Ocean Shore photos and other memorabilia in the bar (photo at right).