A monument to engineering, and a feat that was unsurpassable by any other railway in the Bay Area of California. It is the most charming aspect of the Ocean Shore Railroad, and possibly the most infamous. We know Devils Slide today as the treacherous stretch of road that the Cabrillo Highway went through, plagued by storms and landslides. Since the opening of the Tom Santos Tunnel, the former route of the Cabrillo Highway has been turned into a pedestrian path, designated as a rail-to-trail. Though it may seem steep for a railway to incline it, the Ocean Shore Railroad actually did not go above the Devils Slide, it clung to a ledge on it. Just like the ledge, we observed in San Francisco, the railway wrapped around the Devils Slide, via the Pedro Point Tunnel, and came out on Pacifica. The landslides were partially the reason that the Ocean Shore Railway was driven to bankruptcy.
The route of the Pedro Point Tunnel, transitioning from a noticeable right of way clinging to a ledge, to a simple flat line along the cliffs.
It was the entire plan of the Ocean Shore Railroad to connect San Francisco and Santa Cruz via the coast. It was not an easy task, and engineers knew that the Devils Slide would be the hardest portion of the line. When the line to El Granada was completed, engineers hailed it as a miracle. They claimed that the rest of the line was going to be a breeze building, but as Chris Hunter stated, "It was not the cast."
The Devils Slide portion of the railway was completed in 1907, after tirelessly using work gangs and steam shovels to carve out a berm to the side of the cliffs. The work was tiresome, especially when plagued with the 1906 earthquake, which effectively threw the railway equipment to the side.
The work gangs, which were primarily Greek, carved out a ledge.
The railway used the Pedro Point Tunnel to access the Devils Slide. From here, on google maps, we can see the railway curve, as well as a ground displacement and rubble, from when the tunnel was blown up by federal agents in the 1930s. I will make a post up on that later.
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Above, we can observe the remains of the ledge, and the condition it is in. Since abandonment in the 1920s, it has been plagued from the constant pounding of ocean surf, and the changing formations of the cliffs. It is virtually impossible nowadays, to get to the ledge, and to revitalize it.
A sideways look of the ledge reveals the chaotic condition it is in that the ledge is in. If only the workers of the time came back to see their engineering feat, a masterpiece, crumbling away.
Then, the line curves from the straight stretch on the Slide. In the photo shown above, the curve is relatively destroyed, from watershed creeks and landslides from previous years. When trains rolled across it, the view was spectacular. The below picture is a view from the Rockaway Beach curve, but the right of way of the Ocean Shore Railroad is still noticeable. This view greeted weary travellers and beach-goers, to a land of opportunity. Much of the towns of the San Mateo coast can be credited to the Ocean Shore Railroad's aggressive marketing campaign, in conjunction with Real Estate Companies that sought to sell flatlands, to ease the house congestion of San Francisco.
Only this view remains, as in our post of the Rockaway Beach section, using a very steel trail this ledge is accessible, cut away from the rest of the berms.
The railway then follows a certain, relatively, straight stretch of track. Travellers on the Ocean Shore Railroad could only look two ways, face a rocky cliff, or face the majestic bright blue Pacific Ocean. The railway used a variety of cuts to pass along the cliff, to make a cheaper option in building the line. Though it would cost them bankruptcy, it provided the railway with tourism for a couple of years. One can dream though, that if the railway made it to through the Roaring Twenties, that thousands of tourists could have flocked to areas like Linda Mar, and Tunitas Creek. If the railway had persevered through the Great Depression (just like much of the right of way and bridges), it would've provided agricultural transport, and if the railway had made it into World War Two and the Cruisin' Era, tourists and industry would flourish among the coast.
Possibly the most famous picture from the Ocean Shore Railroad. This view can observe a passenger train along the slide.
Landslides like these plagued the Ocean Shore Railroad, just like it did to the Cabrillo Highway.
The railway then continued, probably curving along that big stump shown in the above screenshot. Most of the area nowadays has eroded away, but a faint line that resembles the ledge remains. The cuts are sort of visible, though may have become formed with landslides over time.
A close up to the line reveals the faint trace of the ledge, as well as multiple rocks jutting out from the once laborious tasks of cutting into the hillside.
Yet, as it continues, traces of the berm becomes more and fainter. At this point, it has disappeared from the constant erosion of the ocean shore. However, I believe that white line to the right of the image could be the ledge. I imagine that the Cabrillo Highway built atop that certain section of the line (as we do have knowledge that the sections of the Cabrillo Highway between the Tom Santos Tunnel and Half Moon Bay were indeed used by the Ocean Shore Railroad), leaving only a white rock trace of it.
It can be imagined though, for the Cabrillo Highway descends into the area where the white line follows and the ledge. Technically, this portion of the line is the best-preserved, as the cuts still remain. In the right, we can see the large railway cut that was blasted by the engineers, later widened to accommodate the highway. I have visited this area myself, thanks to the transformation of the highway to a pedestrian walkway, and can reveal that the cuts are tall!
I can presume this is the approximate location. This image reveals the sheer size of the cuts, in comparison to the passing commuter train.
An image, taken by me, reveals the size of the cuts. This is at the entrance to the trail, a little bit further from our current position.
The line then curves, via multiple cuts shown in the image, to where the Tom Santos Tunnel is now located. Originally, these were supposed to be a series of tunnels, which I presume would have been much safer, but the engineers decided to use the much cheaper version. The image that I took, above this screenshot, reveals the size of this. I have walked the entire trail (very tiresomely I must add), and can say that these huge! Unfortunately, I must leave you all here today readers. If you are wondering about my uploading times, I upload when I please and when I have the time.
A little photo, to tell you what there is to expect in the next posts!
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