The authors of Railroads of Los Gatos, Edward Kelley and Peggy Conaway, threw a party to announce their new book, and people came by the carload. As many as 200 railfans and historians packed the Council Chambers Thursday night for a book signing, slide show of historic photographs, and to ask questions of a distinguished panel of participants.
"The passing of the steam engine happened about 50 years ago," young historian and steam engineer in training Edward Kelley told the crowd, "but there are people in town willing to keep it alive."
Before the presentation and panel Q & A, the line for book signings stretched around the room and out into the lobby. Extra chairs were brought in to accomodate the crowd. When a panelist mentioned coming into Los Gatos in the 1940s to see the Southern Pacific steam train, he mentioned a specific locomotive number, and there were several heads in the audience nodding with recognition.
Like the book, Mr. Kelley's slide show, "Keeping the Steam," drew a straight line between the town's original 1878 narrow gauge line and the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad in today's Oak Meadow Park. Standard gauge track, with 4' 8-1/2" between the rails, was added to the narrow gauge (3' 0") rails around the turn of the century. Service to Santa Cruz ended circa 1940, making Los Gatos the end of the line. At about this time, retired SP engineer Billy Jones (1884-1968) built his scaled-down railroad on his 9-acre prune orchard on Winchester Blvd. just north of Daves Avenue. (If you are interested in Los Gatos history or you're a train buff, chances are you know this story well.) The last train to Los Gatos came and went before 1960. After Billy Jones passed away, volunteers led by Bill Mason moved his railroad to Oak Meadow Park, where it has been running ever since.
"We didn't see much of our Dad," Billy Jones' daughter Betty Ermert told the crowd. "Many mornings he'd catch the first train to San Francisco at 4:45 a.m., and he wouldn't come home until 10 at night." Betty explained that her father bought the ranch in 1917 and she and her sister Geraldine grew up and went to school here. Because their father was so busy, "Christmas was often two days early or two days late." When she married, Geraldine was given a half-acre parcel from the 9-acre prune orchard and she lived "right at the first curve," she said. Many mornings she hoped to escape the blast of the little train's whistle.
Images of Rail: Railroads of Los Gatos, $19.99 from Arcadia Publishing, 0-7385-4661-5. The book is available at many retailers, but copies purchased at Forbes Mill benefit The Museums of Los Gatos.
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