 SPCR # 17 outside the reconstructed north portal in Wrights in 1893, prior to the standard gauging of the line. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Line | South Pacific Coast Railroad |
| Coordinates | 37°08′17″N 121°56′54″W / 37.13806°N 121.94833°W (north portal) 37°07′34″N 121°57′49″W / 37.12611°N 121.96361°W (south portal) |
| Status | Abandoned |
| Operation | |
| Opened | May 10, 1880 |
| Closed | 1942 |
| Technical | |
| Length | 6,157 feet (1,877 m) |
| No. of tracks | 1 |
The Wrights Tunnel (also known as the Summit Tunnel, Tunnel 2, or Tunnel 1 after the daylighting of the Cats Canyon tunnel) is a railroad tunnel located in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties, California. Opened in 1880 after almost two years of construction involving numerous fatalities, the tunnel was at one point the longest tunnel in California and one the longest tunnels in the United States. It carried the tracks of the narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad which ran trains from San Francisco to Santa Cruz until the railroad was acquired by Southern Pacific Railroad, which upgraded the tracks to standard gauge and continued operating trains through the line and its tunnel until a major storm in 1940 washed out certain sections of the track in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After two years without rail traffic, Southern Pacific abandoned the line. Subsequently, the United States Army Corps of Engineers collapsed both portals with explosives, destroying the northern portal in the process. The interior of the tunnel remains intact along with the south portal, but the conditions of the interior are unknown, particularly since the tunnel crosses the San Andreas Fault and no person has entered the tunnel in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake.