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History
Vallejo and Northern Railroad
The Vallejo and Northern Railroad was a proposed 58.15-mile (93.58 km) interurban railway line between Vallejo and Woodland, California. The company was incorporated on November 9, 1906, promoted by the same person who put forward the Dixon Branch. Terminal sites were purchased in Fairfield, Suisun, Vacaville, and Vallejo, California. Additionally, the railroad also began planning an extension from Woodland to Sacramento, going on to acquire franchise rights for running on Sacramento streets and purchasing property in Woodland. Despite the swift property acquisition, construction had not commenced, reportedly a result of the Panic of 1907. The company was merged into the Sacramento Northern Railway predecessor Northern Electric Railway in 1909 after Northern Electric floated $10 million ($358 million in 2025 adjusted for inflation) worth of bonds in Amsterdam. A single tram lettered Vallejo & Northern # 1 operated in downtown Sacramento from November 15, 1911 until 1914. Construction of what would become the Sacramento Northern Vaca Valley Line began in 1913; and line opened for service on May 16, 1914. Northern Electric combination cars numbered 103, 104, and 22 offered passenger service over this isolated branch until passenger service was abandoned in 1926. Motor #701 pulled carloads of freight transferred from barges and shallow-draft steamboats at Suisun. The line was connected to Sacramento Northern's main line via a new branch between Vacaville and Creed in 1930. Western Pacific Railroad proposed extending the Willotta branch of their Sacramento Northern subsidiary through Jamison Canyon to connect with the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad (P&SR) as late as 1932, but the Great Depression and Northwestern Pacific Railroad purchase of the P&SR prevented such expansion. The connecting line through Cordero was relocated during construction of Travis Air Force Base in 1942, and diesel locomotives replaced electric operation in 1947.
Northern Electric Railway
The original, 93-mile (150 km) route connected Chico with Sacramento. The line began as the Chico Electric Railway (CERY), in operation beginning in 1905. The company had acquired two horse-powered street railways in Chico and Marysville, which were rebuilt for electrification. CERY was sold in 1906, after only a few months of operation, to the newly-formed Northern Electric Railway (NER). Northern Electric extended service to Oroville on April 25 of that year, continuing on through Marysville to Sacramento, beginning full service on September 1, 1907. A branch from Chico to Hamilton which crossed the Sacramento River via pontoon bridge was completed a few months later.
The company initially sought to expand. The Woodland Branch began service on July 4, 1912, with an intent to continue the line to the Bay Area. The Marysville and Colusa Branch started less than a year later, which was part of a planned expansion into the Sacramento Valley's west wide. At this time, the company additionally opened the isolated Willota–Suisun–Vacaville branch, intending it as part of the eventual route to connect at Woodland. As a stopgap, passengers in Sacramento could transfer to California Transportation Company riverboats in Sacramento to continue on to San Francisco. The NER went into bankruptcy in 1914, and was reorganized into a new corporation named the Sacramento Northern Railroad (SNRR).
Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway
The Southern Division began as the Oakland and Antioch Railway, which opened its line between Bay Point and Walnut Creek in 1910, extending to Lafayette the following year. While a bridge was planned to cross Suisun Bay, this never materialized; construction began around 1912 but ceased the following year. A wooden ferry, Bridget, was built to temporarily move trains between West Pittsburg and Chipps Island. This was done simultaneously to major expansion, with a new line run across the Sacramento Delta, trackage agreements with the Key System to their transbay ferry terminal in Oakland, and a new 3,500-foot (1,100 m) tunnel through the Oakland Hills. Regular service between Bay Point and San Francisco began on April 7, 1913. Bridget was destroyed by a fire in May 1914 — OAE rented tugs and barges until a new ferry was built. Her replacement, Ramon, was put into service by the end of the year. Full service between Oakland and Sacramento commenced on September 3, 1914. The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway, as it had become known in 1912, entered receivership in 1920 and was reorganized as the San Francisco–Sacramento Railroad.
Consolidation
In 1925, the WP created a "new" Sacramento Northern Railway (SNRy), in order to group the growing collection of their interurban railroad holdings. Thus, the Sacramento Northern Railway was created from two distinct interurban railroads. Western Pacific purchased the San Francisco–Sacramento Railroad in 1922 and proceeded to acquire the stock of the NER in 1927; they consolidated operations the following year. By retaining the Sacramento Northern Railway as a subsidiary rather than just absorbing it into the Western Pacific Railroad, the WP earned more income by interchanging freight with a separate Sacramento Northern Railroad due to extra fees earned from shipper-customers by interchanging freight from one railroad (itself) to another (the Sacramento Northern). Western Pacific also owned regional sister electric railroads, the Tidewater Southern Railway (TS) (Stockton to Modesto) and the Central California Traction Company (CCT) (Stockton to downtown Sacramento). The CCT used the same downtown Sacramento terminal and ran directly on Sacramento streets.
The two divisions used different voltages as well as different methods of current collection, thus only some powered equipment could traverse the entire Chico to Oakland route. When in Oakland, SN used Key System electric power. Some equipment carried a third rail shoe, a trolley pole, and a pantograph. The differing electrical systems, third rail for the North End and trolley wire for the South End, were retained. Cars from the higher-voltage southern division could operate over the whole line, but those in the northern division were relegated to that territory.
Sacramento Northern also continued to operate streetcar services in many of its host cities. A line in Sacramento to Swanston ran between 1914 and 1932, largely subsidized by a local developer.
The combined main line extended for 183 miles (295 km) between San Francisco and Chico. At the southern end the SNRy shared track, electric propulsion power, and facilities of the East Bay's expansive Key System commuter lines. At first this used the Key System Mole in West Oakland. Then, beginning in 1939, trains began running on the tracked lower deck of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge into the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco.
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Scheduled service
At 183 miles (295 km), the railroad's Comet and Meteor services between San Francisco and Chico were the longest interurban lines in North America. It was built and operated to first-class railroad standards, such as providing dining and parlor car service and operated at speeds up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Rail service to Oroville ended in 1938 after the bridge into the town center washed out. In June 1939 the mainline runs were cut back to three weekday trains from Chico to San Francisco, one from Sacramento to San Francisco, and three from Concord to San Francisco. The fastest train was scheduled at 5 hours 43 minutes from Chico to San Francisco, and 2 hours 48 minutes Sacramento to San Francisco.
Financial issues
As with most interurban railroads in the US, the SN's return on initial investment was lower and its annual operating costs were higher than had been projected at conception. Interurbans, like most railroads, were very labor-intensive, particularly with the labor costs of maintaining motorized rolling stock and repairing electrical systems. Passenger business was less than initially projected and became increasingly unprofitable, even after SN reached downtown San Francisco via the new San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 1939. Passenger service south from Sacramento to Pittsburg ended in August 1940, and Chico runs ceased at the end of October. In January 1941, SN operated two weekday trains from Pittsburg to San Francisco and two Concord trains. Interurban passenger service totally ended on July 1, 1941. Afterwards, SN transitioned to become a shortline freight-hauling railroad. Its freight business and its relationship with the adjacent Western Pacific Railroad was the lifeblood of the railroad, keeping it in profit long after passenger service had ceased. Although it had a somewhat shorter route from Oakland to Pittsburg/Antioch in competing with the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific steam railroads, its route through the Oakland hills was steep (4%) and curvy by railroad standards plus it had on-street operation in Oakland. Freight trains usually had just a few cars on those grades with locomotives ("juice jacks") at both ends of the train. From Sacramento north to Chico, the SN competed with the Southern Pacific Railroad and, up to 1922, with the Western Pacific from Marysville south. It traversed a low density population rural farm country from Chico which contained only Marysville and Yuba City as major towns before reaching Sacramento. Thus, passenger business north of Sacramento was light and could not be expected to increase. The SN had branches to Vacaville and Dixon, Woodland, Colusa, and Oroville.
Business decline
The railway suffered from statewide business decline due to the Great Depression plus the increasing automobile use on improved roads. Interurban service ended in 1941. Streetcar service in Chico continued as a condition of letting the railroad operate freight trains on city streets. Freight service continued and was heavy during World War II. The city of Chico paid for an extension to the Chico Municipal Airport as a new Army Air Corps training base was installed there, though this line was only used for freight. After the war, streetcar service had precariously fallen off, and the company was allowed to discontinue its passenger operations in Chico after December 15, 1947.
The 1951 Lisbon Trestle Collapse, in which crewmen were injured but no lives were lost, required a costly rebuild of the long causeway trestle north of the Suisun Bay. The aging train ferry, Ramon, was removed from service in 1954 after failing a Coast Guard inspection. As a result, most traffic ceased on the main line south of Sacramento. Western Pacific arranged for trackage rights to close the gaps between Sacramento and Pittsburg. In 1956 SN reported 45 million ton-miles (65.7 million tonne-km) of revenue freight; at the end of the year it operated 349 miles (562 km) of road and 452 miles (727 km) of track. Operating revenue that year was $2.2 million (equivalent to $26.1 million in 2025), but in that year ICC included SN among the Class Is.
Reducing electrification
The SN received its first diesel locomotives in 1941 and this began its process of de-electrification. All electric operation ceased in 1965 at Yuba City after which the railway operated as a dieselized freight subsidiary of the Western Pacific. Trackage was abandoned over the years, especially that which duplicated routes on other railroads. The SN name ceased to exist with the WP's acquisition by the Union Pacific in 1983.
Present day segments
A 22-mile (35 km) segment of the SN line in Solano County is owned, operated, and electrified by the Western Railway Museum as a heritage railway. Much of the SN's former equipment is part of the museum's permanent collection.
Segments of the Woodland Branch continue to see limited freight service as well as excursion trips and railbike hires operated as the RiverFox Train. Some of the right of way in Concord and Walnut Creek were reactivated in the 1970s for use by Bay Area Rapid Transit. The streetcar line north of Sacramento to Swanston was also reactivated for the SacRT light rail service in the 1980s.
Segments of the right of way in Butte County, Contra Costa County (the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail), Solano County, and Sacramento County have been converted to rail trails.
Technical information
Electrification
Because of its history as separate railways as well as the interconnection with the Key System, SN cars had to operate under a number of different electrical standards. The North End was electrified at 600 volts DC, the nationwide standard trolley and interurban voltage at the time of construction. Trolley wire and trolley poles were used only in urban areas. In the open country, the line used a solid, uncovered top-contact third rail. Cars built originally for the North End could not operate south of Sacramento. The South End (former OA&E, Oakland, Antioch, and Eastern) was electrified largely at 1,200 volts DC until 1936, after which it operated at 1,500 volts, with areas of 600 volts in Oakland and Sacramento.
The interurban cars had to use a pantograph rather than the trolley pole on Key System rails (electrified at 600 volts) and over the Bay Bridge (electrified at 1,200 volts for the Southern Pacific); the Key System used a covered top-contact third rail over the bridge. Because of the Key System's third rail, cars that could traverse the whole system had to have their third rail shoes removed, since the top-contact shoes would have fouled the Key System rail's cover. They were normally added or removed in Sacramento. Such all-line capable cars were switchable between 600 V and 1,200 V operation; they could also operate at half power at the 1,200 V setting on 600 V overhead.
The SN's south end high-quality electrification used catenary rather than a single trolley wire, leading to the eventual exclusive use of pantographs rather than trolley poles south of Sacramento. Catenary allows the vertical supporting poles to be spaced farther apart than if a single suspended trolley wire is used, plus it is better for pantograph operation at speed due to stability (The South Shore line uses pantographs with a single trolley wire in Michigan City streets but has catenary for high speed operation elsewhere).
Cars and trains
Sacramento Northern offered dining service aboard parlor-observation cars Bidwell, Sacramento, Moraga and Alabama. The Alabama had been built in 1905 as the private car of Pacific Electric Railway owner Henry E. Huntington and was purchased by the SN. This car operated on the Sacramento Northern from 1921 until destroyed in 1931 by a fire caused by a short circuit in its coffeemaker. Sacramento Northern name trains operating between Oakland, Sacramento and Chico included the Comet, Meteor, Sacramento Valley Limited and Steamer Special
Planned bridge
The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern needed to cross Suisun Bay, and chose to do so between West Pittsburg and Chipps Island, a gap of 2,600 feet (790 m). The bay saw heavy shipping traffic and thus a high-level drawbridge with long approaches was required. Construction began in 1912; the estimated price tag was $1.5 million ($50 million in 2025 adjusted for inflation) and construction time was estimated as two and a half years. This would have delayed the opening of the railway, and so an alternative plan of a ferry service was implemented as a temporary measure. Construction of the bridge stopped in May 1913 after construction of the pier on the Contra Costa County side, because of a shortage of funds due to uncertainties brought on by World War I. The railway, not meeting revenue expectations, never did restart construction, and the "temporary" ferry service became the permanent method of traversing the waterway.
Car ferry service
The railway was one of only two interurbans to operate a car ferry, and was the longer and more ambitious of the two. The first ferry constructed, the 186-foot (57 m) Bridgit (a pun on "Bridge It") was constructed of wood in San Francisco and launched in July 1913. It was destroyed by fire on May 17, 1914.
After unsuccessful experiments with an unpowered barge, the railroad rented car floats from other railroads in the area and commissioned a new, steel ferry from the Lanteri Shipyard in nearby Pittsburg. The Ramon was constructed entirely from flat steel plate to save time, and had no curved surfaces on its hull. It was double ended with a central, raised bridge in the typical carfloat style. Power was by a 600 horsepower (450 kW) distillate engine, one of the largest constructed, which was insufficient to counteract high winds and currents in the bay.
Three tracks were installed on the deck, all long enough to carry three passenger cars or five freight cars. All three could not be used at the same time; the central track overlapped the other two, and either the single central track or the two outside tracks could be used, depending on load. All tracks were equipped with powered trolley wire.
The Ramon was retired in 1954 after a Coast Guard inspection determined that the hull plating was no longer in a safe condition, and it was scrapped locally.
Bridges and viaducts
The SN had two very long wood piling viaducts that crossed the Yolo flood plain. The Lisbon trestle near Rio Vista was built by the OAE as part of the main line on the north side of Suisun Bay; a 4,000-foot (1,200 m) section collapsed into the flood plain in 1951, with the replacement only in service a few years before abandonment. The Yolo causeway is an 11,000-foot (3,400 m) trestle built by the Northern Electric as part of their extension to Woodland.
The M Street Bridge between Sacramento and West Sacramento was built in 1911 by the Northern Electric. It was a center-bearing swing bridge truss bridge. By the 1930s, the bridge was experiencing increased congestion from both road and marine traffic and a replacement was planned by the State, County, and railroad. The Tower Bridge opened in 1935, replacing the span with a vertical lift bridge. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
California State Route 20 crossed the Sacramento River at Meridian on a bridge also carrying the Sacramento Northern's line to Colusa. The tracks were in the center of the bridge and the two highway lanes were on the sides. It was replaced in 1977.
From Wikipedia’s article on Sacramento Northern Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3