BAERA (the founder of the Western Railway Museum) Fan Trip with the 1005 in January 1957. |
The Sacramento Northern Railway's mainline spanned 185 miles not including the numerous branch lines, streetcar lines, bus lines. The Sacramento Northern also had a ferry boat, the Ramon, which brought both passenger and freight trains across Suisun Bay.
Originally, the Sacramento Northern consisted of two separate electric railways: the Oakland Antioch & Eastern and the Northern Electric Railway. The OA&E completed its line from San Francisco to Sacramento in 1913 and in 1920, both railroads merged. Passenger service stopped in 1941 and freight service in the Oakland Hills stopped in 1957 with the close of the Redwood Tunnel in Shepherd Canyon.
Click here to see a full system map.
Thornhill Drive & Moraga Avenue |
The Southern end of the line started at 40th & Shafter in Oakland and ran through central Contra Costa County to a ferry slip near Pittsburg called Mallard. Passenger trains ran to the pier and across the Bay Bridge via the Key System's Line C (Piedmont) tracks. Picnic trains ran from San Francisco to Lake Temescal and to other nice spots in Contra Costa County. Trains also brought students to Saint Mary's College in Moraga.
A lot of trackage remains in this section of the mainline mainly due to the Western Railway Museum. The section starts at Chipps, the northern ferry slip on Suisun Bay. From Chipps until Molena (the southern end of the Western Railway Museum's property), there are sections of trestle that are in various stages of decay. After a lot of these trestles, we get to Molena, where trackage remains all the way until Dozier. These 15 miles of trackage are the Western Railway Museum's. The right of way is well preserved and about 5 miles of it are restored for electric operation with more to come in the future. It is a great place to visit to ride equipment and to learn about the history of the Bay Area's railroads and other railroads too. Riding trains at the museum is pretty much the same as it was 100 years ago: same equipment and same landscape. After Dozier, where the Vacaville branch turns off, the track disappears all the way to Sacramento. Some of the coolest trackage on this section was across the landmark Tower Bridge in Sacramento. I have heard rumors that rail might once again return to this bridge.
Click to view a map of the mainline and the SN's streetcar lines in Sacramento.
Learn more at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley in Danville, CA.
The Vacaville Branch has had two lives. The first branch left the mainline at Creed. Then, when Travis Air Force base was built, because the branch trackage went right through the base, the army relocated the track to the north at no cost. The new track intersected the mainline at Dozier, where it still does today. Some years later, the UP bought the right of way, and after abandonment, the Western Railway bought it for preservation and as their primary and only connection to the mainline.
Sacramento Northern (Interurban Special #9) - Ira Swett (1950)
Sacramento Northern (Interurban Special #9) - Ira Swett (1963)
Cars of the Sacramento Northern (Interurban Special #32) - Ira Swett (1963)
Sacramento Northern Album (Interurban Special #34) - Ira Swett (1963)
Sacramento Northern Railway (Images of Rail) - Paul C. Trimble (2005)
Electric Railways Around San Francisco Bay Volume 2 - Donald Duke (2000)
Temescal Legacies - Jeff Norman (2006)
California Electric Trilogy
San Francisco Bay Area Rail Transit Retrospective
Electric Railways Around the Bay
The Sacramento Northern Electric Railway 1940
Kenneth Shattock's SN North End Video: See Key Route Group
Sacramento Northern On-Line
This site has great articles with pictures on the Sacramento Northern.
SacNorthern Group
SacNorthern is the best place to be a Sacramento Northern enthusiast.
Bay Area Rails
Bay Area Rails is a good site for looking at historic photos of the interurbans of the East Bay.
Western Railway Museum
The Western Railroad Museum is located at Rio Vista Junction, which was a stop on the Sacramento Northern Mainline. Visit!
