To supply beets to his Watsonville refinery, Claus Spreckels constructed a narrow gauge railroad from the Pajaro Valley beet fields to the factory using primarily Chinese labor. Incorporated in 1890, the Pajaro Valley Railroad extended as far south as Moro Cojo ranch in 1891, and also served the Moss Landing wharf. With construction of the new refinery, the railroad was expanded from Moro Cojo to Spreckels and the name was changed to the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad--but it was known locally as the 'Dinky Line' because of its tiny engines. Branch lines extended south over the river bridge to Buena Vista, where beets were grown, and north, passing east of Salinas near the present airport terminal, to Alisal Canyon where Spreckels obtained limestone. In 1908, a branch line of the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad was extended from Spreckels Junction into Salinas to carry passengers to and from the refinery. This was a route attempted by the Salinas Railway Company in 1897, but their operation was unsuccessful and folded in 1900. Approximately 1915 marks the heyday of the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad; its lines had reached 54 miles. It consisted of nine locomotives, six passenger cars, two baggage cars, three combination freight and passenger cars and 260 freight cars. Riding the railroad from Salinas to the Alisal end for picnics was a popular pastime. The Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad hauled an incredible 174,480 tons of freight, and in 1919 it carried a record 158,871 passengers. But by the 1920s the truck, passenger car and bus, as well as the larger Southern Pacific Railroad, were cutting into its business. Regular passenger train service was the first to go, on November 24, 1925. By 1927 the freight routes were failing, and in June of 1928 the railroad petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon all of its routes. On December 5, 1929, the entire operation--40 miles of right of way, buildings, maintenance structures, 7 locomotives, 24 boxcars, 140 gondola cars, 4 flatcars, 3 dismantled dump cars, 2 combination baggage and passenger cars and 3 coaches--excluding cash on hand, 2 standard gauge steam engines, 2 busses and tracks within the Spreckels Factory yard, were sold to the Southern Pacific Company for only $10.00!

One of the truly high steppers used on the Burlington was the class N-1 2-4-2 Columbia type built by Baldwin in 1895 and assigned to the road as No. 590. The engine was an experimental design, and was to handle a train of six cars from Chicago to Galesburg in three hours, for an average speed of over 54 mph. It was one of the first engines designed for burning bituminous coal with a wide firebox placed to the rear of the driving wheels and over the trailing truck. The boiler was of a straight-top type with a combustion chamber extending forward from the firebox. Unfortunately this combination did not prove entirely satisfactory, and the engine was rebuilt in 1897 with a new firebox, the combustion chamber being omitted. The 2-4-2 type had 84¼ inch drivers with cast steel centers. The first pair of drivers was equalized with the leading truck, and underhung springs were used under all wheels. The cylinders were 19X26 inches and inboard piston valves of 10 inches diameter were located above the front frame extension. The valve link motion was placed entirely between the driving wheels. The tender appears to have been influenced by European design, since it was of a six-wheel type with all three axles held in place by a rigid frame. The springs on the second and third axles were connected by equalizing bars. Although the N-1 engine was never duplicated, its design features were adopted on the 4-4-2 type locomotives that were to follow. In 1905 the Columbia type was rebuilt to a 4-4-2 wheel arrangement, reclassed as P-4, re-numbered 2599 and retired in November 1929.