Every year, 2.5 million visitors drive into this narrow, 40-mile-long verdant valley and transform its pastoral vineyards into a giant traffic jam. Especially in the fall, when the grapes are being harvested, exhaust fumes pollute the morning dew as thousands of motorists vie for space on the two-lane state highway that is this winemaking region`s main north-south thoroughfare.
For local residents and vintners, the eternal pursuit of fermented grapes breeds conflicting emotions: Anguish over the presence of horn tooting, exasperated intruders and joy over an annual financial bonanza of $140 million in tourism dollars.
”The harvest usually starts in late August or early September and that`s when the crush of people matches the crushing of the grapes,” said Jack C. McCormack, president and chief operating officer of the soon-to-be-launched Napa Valley Wine Train.
”But we have the solution. By 1990, we figure the train will be carrying 400,000 passengers a year up and down the valley. And that means about 200,000 automobiles will be parked at our main station in Napa instead of clogging the roads.”
By March, McCormack expects to be operating five round trips daily over 21.3 miles of a former Southern Pacific Railroad branch that parallels the main highway and slashes like an arrow through the rows upon rows of vineyards that carpet the valley.
Diesel locomotives will power the train loads of daytime visitors to some of America`s premier wineries as this region marks the 150th anniversary of the first grape plantings here.
In the evenings, a supper train will majestically roll behind a restored steam locomotive, towing two diners and four lounge cars serving 30 varieties of Napa Valley wines and gourmet meals rivaling those of the golden era of rail passenger travel.
The wine train is an idea that has been kicking around in local circles for years as the Napa Valley has emerged as one of California`s leading tourist attractions.
It wasn`t until 1984, however, when the Southern Pacific moved to abandon the trackage, that local residents decided to do something about it and hired McCormack to corral financial support and make the venture a reality.
In April, Vincent DeDomenico, former owner of the San Francisco Bay Area`s Golden Grain Macaroni Co., acquired a majority interest in the project to bankroll the $2.25 million purchase of the railroad.
Since then, 12,000 ties along the single-track line have been replaced, three passing sidings have been installed and bridges and structures are being refurbished to accommodate passenger trains of up to 10 cars.
McCormack is shopping around the U.S. and Mexico for 12 of the heavyweight, 1920s Pullman-built cars that once graced some of the nation`s finest trains.
The cost of the venture will reach $6 million after the track rehabilitation and purchase of locomotives and rolling stock are completed.
”We project first year gross revenues at $1.5 million, with revenues escalating to about $9 million by our third year,” McCormack said. ”That should yield an 18 to 20 percent return to investors.”
Though he helped buy a railroad, DeDomenico is not a rail fan. His interests lean more toward the subtleties of the kitchen as vice president of the 5,000 member American chapter of La Chaine des Rotisseurs, a Paris-based gourmet society.
The 70-year-old pasta king sold the business founded by his parents in 1912 to Quaker Oats Co. last year. But he continues as the company`s chairman, presiding over the production of 50 shapes of pasta.
”We`re going to provide riders with a gourmet wining and dining experience on the train,” DeDomenico said. ”We`ll feature Napa Valley wines and fresh produce exclusively.”
By February, McCormack plans to begin test runs at an average speed of 18 miles an hour, providing free rides and free meals to valley residents in a public relations campaign designed to win their hearts through their stomachs. Initially, some of the area`s 104,000 residents feared the wine train would increase the flood of visitors with a honky-tonk attraction that would destroy the valley`s natural beauty.
But assurances that the train will operate with tasteful elegance have abated much of the opposition, McCormack said.
”Anything that will take cars off the highway can`t hurt,” said Mike Robbins, operator of the Spring Mountain Winery near the railroad`s northern terminus at St. Helena.
Robbins` property, site of a Victorian mansion used as the centerpiece for the TV series ”Falcon Crest,” is a tourist attraction in its own right. Burt Kallick, a former Chicago restaurateur who exports California wines to Northern Europe, predicts that the train will make touring the wineries more pleasant.
”There`ll be less stress and strain and more opportunity to taste the grape without worrying about driving home,” Kallick said.
With luck, McCormack plans to offer visitors a drive-free vacation by extending his operating rights 12 miles south of Napa to Vallejo on San Pablo Bay for a ferry to San Francisco.
Ferry service was resumed last year after a hiatus of more than 50 years, he said.
”We`ll give people a convenient and fun filled way to see the valley,”
McCormack said. ”This is one railroad that won`t have to advertise a destination. The whole valley is our destination.”
Plans call for the wine train to operate daily during the peak season of April through October and five days a week the rest of the year with emphasis on the weekends.
Visitors buying wine by the bottle or the case will have their purchases delivered to the Napa station by train for pickup on the way home to make shopping as painless as possible. Uniformed Redcaps will handle such chores.
To avoid crowding at some of the valley`s 155 wineries, the train`s promoters plan to arrange visits by reservation only. At some stops, tourists will be able to walk into the wineries; at others, buses and limousines will deliver them to off-track sites.
”An actual round trip will require 3 hours and 20 minutes,” McCormack said. ”But depending on the number of stops a passenger chooses, the trip could be an all-day outing.
”They`ll be able to disembark and spend a couple of hours at a winery and then catch the next train.”
An all-day pass will cost $20 with lesser amounts charged for one-way and round-trip fares. The gourmet dinner trips are expected to run about $40.
The branch line began operations as a tourist railroad in 1864 when a promoter laid tracks in an attempt to attract Bay Area residents to hot springs resorts in the valley, McCormack said.
By the 1870s, as resort traffic diminished, the railroad began hauling freight, principally alfalfa and cattle. By the 1920s, prunes became a major source of revenue. But by the 1930s, cars began to invade the valley and passenger service was doomed.
Today, in an era of freight-only railroads, the wine train is the ultimate incongruity-a passenger carrier that will supplement its operations with cargo.
For every evening, after the last train load of tourists has cleared the tracks, McCormack intends to haul freight from businesses along the line to a connection with the Southern Pacific at the southern end of the valley.
And that service, McCormack predicts, will remove some of the semitractor trailer rigs that also must wind their way along roads clogged with visitors from virtually every corner of the world.
Among potential customers are a paper company, a furniture distributor, several wineries and, of all things, a beer distributor.
”We think we`ll pick up some more customers because we can offer some very attractive freight rates,” McCormack said.
Two former Canadian National Railroad passenger diesel locomotives built in 1956 have been purchased for the train. And McCormack is negotiating for the purchase or lease of an ex-Union Pacific Railroad steam engine of 1913 vintage that was used until a year ago in tourist service on northern California`s Sierra Railroad.
Staff members, however, have not decided whether the equipment will be painted in a classic, passenger-train scheme of burgundy with gold leaf trim or in an artful blend of dark green, champagne gold and burgundy.
Robert A. Dwyer, executive director of the Napa Valley Vintners Association, said the wine train should help market the area in a period of intense competition.
”It will be another component to the wine experience for visitors,” he said. ”However, on the debit side, tourism always is a problem in a rural area. There is concern that the train could exacerbate that problem.”
Dave Henderson, hospitality services director for the Charles Krug Winery, expressed similarly mixed emotions.
”Many of the larger wineries are at their capacity for visitors during peak hours,” he said. ”If the train is a runaway success, we might have problems. But if it takes people off of the highways, it`ll be great.”
