"Billy" Jones in SPCo. publicity photo

Acknowledgements:
For, whom without, Railroadsof Los Gatos would not exist:

Paul Kopach
Betty Ermert
Geraldine Peters
Jim Holmes
Phil Reader
Tom Shreve
Eddie Chase
Charles Bergtold
Barbara Baggerly
Dick Sparrer
Jack Vodden
Charles Givens
Elayne Shore-Shuman
Peter Panacy
Barbara Phinney
Charlie Hopkins
Dave Adams
Tom Moungovan
Ken Middlebrook
Stephanie Mathews
Stephanie Hatch
Pat Dunning
Dudley Warner
Lyn Dougherty
Dudley Warner
David Loyola
Pacific Loco. Assn.
Town of Los Gatos

Even in his relatively short life, Edward Kelley had watched a gradual transformation of his hometown, a change surely even more dramatic to lifelong residents of the Northern California town. Mom-and-pop businesses were replaced by chain retailers. Prune orchards became strip malls and compact housing developments. And, by the mid-1990s, Highway 85 had paved its way through the West Valley, running a route almost parallel an older, iron road which once served the same importance to area commuters.

The ghost of the fabled, serpentine rail line over the Santa Cruz Mountains during its heyday - charging through Cat's Canyon, steaming through mile-long tunnels at Summit and Wrights, and down the steets of Santa Cruz to Monterey Bay - seemed surreal to young Kelley, who was well familiar with what, in his lifetime, remained only as auto roads, parking lots, a few tunnel portals, and barren 15-something miles of right-of-way. His fascination with the steam locomotive and the slower, simpler, and less-superficial time it represented, lead to what has become a lifelong quest of awareness; to help preserve - in physical, operating form and in memory - this important piece of our past for future generations, along with the memories of the people who were a part of it. And, most especially, that of Los Gatos.

In 2003, Peggy Conaway, director of Los Gatos Public Library, co-founded Hooked on Los Gatos, a joint project with Museums of Los Gatos, with then-Museums Executive Director Laura Bajuk. The collaboration's goal was to actively celebrate the rich history of our town by preserving, and making available to the public, treasured historic photographs, newspapers, and other manuscripts. The Xerox machines were evicted to become the "History Room," and librarian Paul Kopach and his volunteer staff were soon at work scanning and indefinitely preserving historic images, both from the library and museums' own collections and gracious local contributors. In 2004, Peggy Conaway assembled the best cross-section of these images to write the first of three Los Gatos books from Arcadia Publishing, Images of America: Los Gatos. The reception was strong and, soon after, the Conaway collaborated with fillmakers John Wainright and Valerie Archer on a DVD documentary, Los Gatos: Then and Now, which premiered with much acclaim at CineCats '05.

After receiving Conaway's book as a gift, Kelley, who had authored numerous articles on railroad history and self-published a book, toyed with the idea of proposing his own Images of Rail volume devoted to the rail-minded subject closest to him - that of the legendary Santa Cruz Mountain line. His own railroading experience gave him a unique perspective on the subject, not just from learning and experiencing steam first hand, but, most importantly, it's culture; one brimming with stories. (As an old adage says, “A railroader allows nothing - not even the truth - to stand in the way of a good story!") It was Kelley's goal to not only document locomotives and rolling stock, but to pay homage to the most important and all-too-often-overshadowed element of railroading; the people.

In the Fall of 2005, he contacted Arcadia Publishing, who expressed great interest in his idea. Upon learning his age, however, a justifiably questioning editor at Arcadia contacted Conaway about a possible partnership with the aspiring 18-year-old author. Kelley had the general knowledge of railroading and the skills to research and write the manuscript, while Conaway, an experienced Arcadia author, brought invaluable expertise of the publishing process, and had the means and connections to execute such a work. The two hit it off, and thus, the unlikely partnership began in November, 2005, when the two set off to document Los Gatos's railroading past.

For the next six months, Kelley and Conaway assembled and scanned hundreds of rare, never-before-published photographs, interviewing railroaders and railroad historians alike. Betty Ermert and Geraldine Peters provided photos and memories of their father, Billy Jones. Modern-day seam professionals Phil Reader and Tom Shreve shared "tales of the rails" from their teachers - Neil Vodden, Charlie Hoyle, and Charlie Ward - and Ward's photography and artwork. And Jim Holmes and Charlie Hopkins, friends of Jones' who rescued and restored a narrow-gauge Heisler locomotive at the Daves Ave. ranch, recited priceless "back on the SP" stories that deserve a book of their own. And there were more.

Despite overwriting the manuscript by severeal thousand words, a family health crisis, and a catastrophic hard drive failure that took a Wisconsin clean room to save, the manuscript was completed by the deadline, following a nearly 36-hour work day and 10 cups of coffee (no biggie to a college student!) The final result was received on October 31, 2007, which, despite a few unfortunate interventions by a copyeditor over "Train" vs. "Locomotive" numbers, met the authors' relative satisfaction.

On December 7th, 2007, Kelley and Conaway publicly launched their book in a celebration and book signing hosted by Museums of Los Gatos at Town Council Chambers. Preparations were made months in advance to include a panel discussion, feature presentation, and makeshift railroad museum, with borrowed artifacts from the Pacific Locomotive Association, Phil Reader, Eddie Chase, and well-known antiquarian Chuck Bergtold. The predicted turnout was between 60 and 80, however, by the time of the keynote program of the event, all 178 seats of Town Council Chambers - plus the added folding chairs - were filled, with an additional audience watching from KCAT-TV monitors in the lobby! Some commented it was the best-attended event in Council Chambers in recent memory, with attendees journeying from as far as Pinole and San Luis Obispo.

The popularity of Kelley's Keeping the Steam presentation, which spotlighted both the railroad and the people behind it, brought requests for more. Since the launch, Kelley and Conaway have been invited to present at the Los Gatos Kiwanis, the Central Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, and the opening of a new history exhibit at Forbes Mill. Additionally, Kelley and Conaway have received media coverage in Metro and the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, and were interviewed on the NBC-11/KNTV Morning New. (To see selected coverage on the project, please visit the press page).

See photos from the December 7th Launch Celebration!