141-547: The Sacramento Northern Railway (reporting mark SN ) was a 183-mile (295 km) electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the state capital , Sacramento . In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oakland, Sacramento, Yuba City , Chico, and Woodland . This involved multiple car trains making sharp turns at street corners and obeying traffic signals. Once in open country, SN's passenger trains ran at fairly fast speeds. With its shorter route and lower fares,
282-659: 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
423-983: A light rail line. Tidewater Southern Railway The Tidewater Southern Railway was a short line railroad in Central California in the United States . For most of its history, it was a subsidiary of the Western Pacific Railroad . It was originally built as an interurban system, connecting to the Central California Traction Company , Western Pacific Railroad , Southern Pacific Railroad and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in Stockton, California . Its mainline went southeast from Stockton to Escalon, California and thence to Modesto, California before splitting into two branches ending at
564-606: 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
705-512: 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
846-637: A wye connecting to the Key System tracks along 40th. While trains utilized Key System trackage for the final few miles of passenger service in Oakland, SN bypassed all intermediate stops and ran direct to the San Francisco terminal. Initially, trains terminated at the Key System Mole , where passengers could transfer to ferries to San Francisco. Trains to the San Francisco Transbay Terminal lasted over two years at
987-401: A 1,200 VDC overhead system, was completed in 1913, and regular electric car service began on a 2-hour schedule. In addition to passenger service, the railway operated extensive freight service in the area. In 1916, the railway was extended to Turlock, California , and in 1917 to Hilmar, California . The lines to Turlock and Hilmar split at a junction known as Hatch, California. This portion
1128-474: A boom in agriculture which lasted through the First World War , but transportation in rural areas was inadequate. Conventional steam railroads made limited stops, mostly in towns. These were supplemented by horse and buggies and steamboats , both of which were slow and the latter of which were restricted to navigable rivers. The increased capacity and profitability of the city street railroads offered
1269-502: 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
1410-522: 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
1551-405: 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 ($ 47.4 million in 2023 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
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#17327801610051692-453: A ledge (still apparent today) just above Pinehurst Road, progressing southeast past the small community of Canyon . The line then turned north to Moraga, past St Mary's , and thence northeasterly through Lafayette, Saranap, and the valley past Walnut Creek and to Concord and Pittsburg. Some of the right of way through Contra Costa County is now used by the BART system to Concord. At Pittsburg,
1833-607: 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 ,
1974-414: A number of WP diesel locomotives, the first on the system. After the war, the acquisition of more diesel locomotives led to the rapid retirement of the railway's electric locomotives and one of the steam locomotives, although steam traction was retained until several bridges were upgraded in the late 1950s to bear the weight of diesel locomotives. TS steamer 132 was the last in operation, probably performing
2115-566: A progressive loss of their initial passenger service over the years. In 1905, the United States Census Bureau defined an interurban as "a street railway having more than half its trackage outside municipal limits." It drew a distinction between "interurban" and "suburban" railroads. A suburban system was oriented toward a city center in a single urban area and served commuter traffic . A regular railroad moved riders from one city center to another city center and also moved
2256-550: 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
2397-502: A small part of their extensive business empires, which often include real estate, hotels and resorts, and tourist attractions. For example, the Keikyu network has changed unrecognizably from its early days, operating Limited Express services at up to 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph) to compete with JR trains, and inter-operating with subway and Keisei Electric Railway trains on through runs extending up to 200 kilometres (120 mi);
2538-525: A station just outside the tunnel portal as "Eastport." The tunnel portal is no longer visible, largely as a result of a landslide which occurred during the El Niño rains of the early 1980s. The right of way ran along an extant fire trail near the spot where Pinehurst Road makes a sharp u-turn. This fire trail was previously known as Winding Way on some maps, and was originally an old 19th century logging road built by Hiram Thorn, for bringing redwood logs out of
2679-436: A substantial amount of freight. The typical interurban similarly served more than one city, but it served a smaller region and made more frequent stops, and it was oriented to passenger rather than freight service. The development of interurbans in the late nineteenth century resulted from the convergence of two trends: improvements in electric traction, and an untapped demand for transportation in rural areas, particularly in
2820-585: A term encompassed the companies, their infrastructure, their cars that ran on the rails, and their service. In the United States, the early 1900s interurban was a valuable economic institution, when most roads between towns, many town streets were unpaved, and transportation and haulage was by horse-drawn carriages and carts. The interurban provided reliable transportation, particularly in winter weather, between towns and countryside. In 1915, 15,500 miles (24,900 km) of interurban railways were operating in
2961-531: A unique herald of a " Cornucopia " and bore the legend "Serving California's Heartland". This herald was one of the most colorful and complex ever used by an American railroad and is still remembered today. One of these cars is preserved at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum and its heralds has been restored, although they have been skillfully hand-painted, rather than being decals as in the original paint scheme. TS interurban car 200
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#17327801610053102-559: Is a type of electric railway , with tram -like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms used outside it. They were very prevalent in many parts of the world before the Second World War and were used primarily for passenger travel between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural communities. Interurban as
3243-480: Is necessarily blurry. Some town streetcar lines evolved into interurban systems by extending streetcar track from town into the countryside to link adjacent towns together and sometimes by the acquisition of a nearby interurban system. Following initial construction, there was a large amount of consolidation of lines. Other interurban lines effectively became light rail systems with no street running whatsoever, or they became primarily freight-hauling railroads because of
3384-638: Is now owned by the state of Indiana and uses mainline-sized electric multiple units . Its last section of street running, in Michigan City, Indiana , was finally closed in 2022 for conversion to a grade-separated double-track line. SEPTA operates two former Philadelphia Suburban lines: the Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100) as an interurban heavy rail line, and the Media–Sharon Hill Line (Routes 101 and 102) as
3525-591: Is stored indoors, unrestored, at the Western Railway Museum . Two of the famous Cornucopia freight cars are preserved at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola , along with a former Western Pacific bunk car. This car, TS 0565-H, was used as the depot in Escalon for many years after a fire destroyed the original station. Caboose 305 is preserved in Modesto and will eventually be placed on
3666-652: The Badner Bahn , operates a classic interurban passenger service, in addition to some freight services. Some interurban lines survive today a local railways in Upper Austria are such as the Linzer Lokalbahn , Lokalbahn Vöcklamarkt–Attersee and Lokalbahn Lambach–Vorchdorf-Eggenberg . While others operate as extension of as local city tramways such as the Traunseebahn which is now connected to
3807-454: The Central California Traction Company . It also owned two steeplecab electric freight locomotives: one was a stock General Electric model, while the other was built by the Central California Traction Company from an old flatcar. Old newspaper reports and company records indicate that Jewett also built an express motor, but no photos of it have come to light publicly. The road rostered three steam locomotives, with one only being used in
3948-518: The Gmunden Tramway . Today, two surviving interurban networks descending from the vicinal tramways exist in Belgium. The famous Belgian Coast Tram , built in 1885, traverses the entire Belgian coastline and, at a length of 68 kilometres (42 mi), which is the longest tram line in the world. The Charleroi Metro is a never fully completed pre-metro network upgraded and developed from
4089-518: The Hardt Railway . Other examples include: Milan operates one remaining interurban tramway to Limbiate with another interurban route to Carate Brianza / Giussano suspended since 2011. These two lines were once part of large network of interurbans surrounding Milan that were gradually closed in the 1970s. In Japan, the vast majority of the major sixteen private railways have roots as interurban electric railway lines that were inspired by
4230-758: The Japan Railways Group along highly congested corridors is a hallmark of suburban railway operations in Japan. For example, on the Osaka to Kobe corridor, JR West competes intensely with both Hankyu Kobe Line and Hanshin Main Line trains in terms of speed, convenience and comfort. However, a number of urban lines in Japan did close as late as the 2000s, with networks in Kitakyushu and Gifu being shut down. Between Vienna and Baden bei Wien
4371-667: The Japanese National Railways network at the time. The (former JNR) Hanwa Line was a wartime acquisition from Nankai, operating 'Super Express' trains on the line at an average speed of 81.6 kilometres per hour (50.7 mph), a national record at the time. The old Sendai station terminus of the Miyagi Electric Railway (the predecessor of the JR Senseki Line ) was situated in a short single-track underground tunnel built in 1925; this
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4512-1023: The Long Beach Line in Long Beach and Los Angeles, California (this was the last remaining part of the Pacific Electric system). The Long Beach Line was cut in 1961, the North Shore Line in 1963; the Philadelphia Suburban's route 103 and the NYS&;W in New Jersey both ended passenger service in 1966. Today, only the South Shore Line, Norristown High Speed Line (SEPTA Route 100), and SEPTA Routes 101/102 remain. Some former interurban lines retained freight service for up to several decades after
4653-586: The Low Countries , Poland and Japan , where populations are densely packed around large conurbations such as the Randstad , Upper Silesia , Greater Tokyo Area and Keihanshin . Switzerland, particularly, has a large network of mountain narrow-gauge interurban lines. In addition, since the early 21st century many tram-train lines are being built, especially in France and Germany but also elsewhere in
4794-841: The Meitetsu opened their first interurban lines in 1912, what today form parts of the Meitetsu Inuyama Line and Tsushima Line . In 1913, the first section of what will become the Keiō Line opened connecting Chōfu to just outside Shinjuku with street running on what is today the Kōshū Kaidō or National Route 20 . Kyushu Electric Railroad, predecessor to Nishitetsu opened its first interurban line in 1914 serving Kitakyushu and surrounding areas, taking heavy inspiration from Hanshin Electric Railway . The fortunes of
4935-552: The Midwestern United States . The 1880s saw the first successful deployments of electric traction in streetcar systems. Most of these built on the pioneering work of Frank J. Sprague , who developed an improved method for mounting an electric traction motor and using a trolley pole for pickup. Sprague's work led to widespread acceptance of electric traction for streetcar operations and end of horse-drawn trams. The late nineteenth-century United States witnessed
5076-497: 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 Pittburg and Chipps Island . This was done simultaneously to major expansion, with
5217-725: The Sierra Northern Railway ). The track proceeds across a very long elevated wood viaduct-bridge over the wide Yolo flood plain to enter Woodland and go down Main Street to the Woodland Opera House where the interurban cars turned around. Today SERA terminates shortly before East Street several blocks east of the Opera House. The Woodland terminal was a unique Mission-style structure and was recently reconstructed. The Sacramento bound interurban cars exited
5358-609: The 1960s. 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 and Marysville by
5499-654: The 1960s. A small amount of the common stock (around 4%) was owned by private individuals and the road sent letters to them annually reporting on the company's state and finances. The end for the Tidewater Southern as a company came in 1983 when the Union Pacific absorbed the railway's parent Western Pacific Railroad . Final merger into the UP occurred in 1986, when the TS corporate structure was abolished. Since 1983,
5640-589: The 1970s, the remaining interurban tramways have enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in the form of the Sneltram , a modern light rail system that uses high floor, metro-style vehicles and could interoperate into metro networks. Various other interurbans in Europe were folded into local municipal tramway or light rail systems. Switzerland retained many of its interurban lines which now operate as tramways, local railways, S-Bahn, or tram-trains. Milan's vast interurban network
5781-519: The Central California Traction (to Stockton) had separate terminals. Pressure from Sacramento to stop loading multiple-car interurban trains on city streets led to construction of a terminal for all three in 1925. This produced the impressive two-story columned brick Union Traction Terminal along I Street between 11th and 12th Streets, near the current SacRT light rail 12th & I station . Trains left I street to circle behind
Sacramento Northern Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
5922-573: The Feather River into adjacent Yuba City, split off the branch to Colusa, then went on to Live Oak, split off the branch to Oroville, then to Gridley and to Chico where it terminated. In Chico there were yards and primary shops. The electrified Woodland branch line left the Oakland bound main line at West Sacramento and ran 16 miles (26 km) straight west toward Woodland (known as the Yolo Shortline RR until 2003 and now known as
6063-535: 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
6204-555: The Moraga Redwoods and to his mill, and then over the mountain into Oakland. Even earlier, the route up the canyon to what is now Huckleberry preserve was a cattle trail for the Spanish and Mexican ranchers, en route to a landing at the mouth of Temescal Creek on San Francisco Bay. At the sharp curve at Eastport, the tracks immediately crossed over Pinehurst road on a bridge. The right-of-way then headed down Redwood Canyon on
6345-611: The Netherlands a line from The Hague to Delft. Which opened as horse-tramway in 1866. Nowadays the line operates as Line 1 of The Hague Tramway . Line E, run by Randstadrail , was an interurban line connecting Rotterdam to The Hague and in the past also to Scheveningen. It now interoperates with the Rotterdam Metro . A large interurban network called the Silesian Interurbans still exists today connecting
6486-581: The Netherlands in earnest with the founding of the Tramweg Stichting (Tramway Foundation). Many systems, such as the Hague tramway and the Rotterdam tramway , included long interurban extensions which were operated with larger, higher-speed cars. In close parallel to North America, many systems were abandoned from the 1950s after tram companies switched to buses. Instigated by the oil crisis in
6627-625: 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
6768-579: The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern. It ran due south from Dixon to Olcott. An early branch of the Northren Electric ran between Chico and Hamilton City , primarily to move sugar beets to the sugar processing plant in the latter city. It opened to passenger service on September 13, 1907. The line crossed the Sacramento River on a pontoon bridge. The railroad additionally operated two long lines exclusively for freight. One ran into
6909-486: The SN provided strong competition to the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific Railroad for passenger business and freight business between those two cities. North of Sacramento, both passenger and freight business was less due to the small town agricultural nature of the region and due to competition from the paralleling Southern Pacific Railroad. The SN had been two separate interurban companies connecting at Sacramento until 1925. The Oakland, Antioch, and Eastern Railway
7050-455: The SN with a Southern Pacific-Union Pacific interchange at Colusa. This line branched from the southern division south of Walnut Creek at Saranap , running south and paralleling the Southern Pacific's Danville Branch . It opened to Danville on March 2, 1914, extending to Diablo Park a few months later in June. Service was provided by a single car, numbered 1051. The route proved unprofitable and service ended in 1924. Northern Electric acquired
7191-411: The SN. There a ferry boat (the Ramon ) carried an entire passenger train across to a north side landing near Suisun called "Chipps" on Chipps Island . From here the line proceeded north across an extensive marshland (including Chipps Island and Van Sickle Island ) on a long trestle. After the trestle, the tracks continued north through farmland past Montezuma, Rio Vista Junction, and Creed, where there
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#17327801610057332-441: 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
7473-419: The TS mechanical department and the Western Pacific's accounting files show that the line did in fact have overhead wire and was operating with electric locomotives. Most of the stock of the railway was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1917, but the WP began influencing TS actions as early as 1913. The railroad was operated as a subsidiary thereafter. Passenger service was abandoned in 1932 and
7614-409: The US during their heyday. While most interurbans in Japan have been upgraded beyond recognition to high-capacity urban railways, a handful have remained relatively untouched, with street running and using 'lighter-rail' stock. To this day they retain a distinct character similar to classic American interurbans. These include: The only surviving interurban line is also the oldest regional tramway in
7755-739: The US. But instead of demolishing their trackage in the 1930s, many Japanese interurbans companies upgraded their networks to heavy rail standards, becoming today's large private railways. To this day, private railway companies in Japan operate as highly influential business empires with diverse business interests, encompassing department stores, property developments and even tourist resorts. Many Japanese private railway companies compete with each other for passengers, operate department stores at their city termini, develop suburban properties adjacent to stations they own, and run special tourist attractions with admission included in package deals with rail tickets; similar to operations of large interurban companies in
7896-446: The Union Pacific absorbed Western Pacific/SN it obtained further trackage rights on the Santa Fe which extended to Port Chicago where SN had a small yard. Thus, Pittsburg trackage was removed in the early 1990s. From the Sacramento depot at present day Terminal Way, the SN's "North End" ran to a Northern Electric-built truss bridge crossing the American River and then on to Rio Linda, to East Nicolaus, then to Marysville where it crossed
8037-447: The United States and, for a few years, interurban railways, including the numerous manufacturers of cars and equipment, were the fifth-largest industry in the country. But due to preference given to automobiles, by 1930, most interurbans in North America had stopped operating. A few survived into the 1950s. Outside of the US, other countries built large networks of high-speed electric tramways that survive today. Notable systems exist in
8178-454: The United States, particularly in the states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Utah, and California. In 1900, 2,107 miles (3,391 km) of interurban track existed, but by 1916, this had increased to 15,580 miles (25,070 km), a seven-fold expansion. At one point in time beginning in 1901, it was possible to travel from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin , to Little Falls, New York , exclusively by interurban. During this expansion, in
8319-417: The border of the neighbouring City of Mississauga , unlike other Toronto radial lines which were all abandoned outside of the 1960s boundary of the City of Toronto . In Germany various networks have continued to operate. Karlsruhe revitalized the interurban concept into the Karlsruhe model by renovating two local railways Alb Valley Railway , which already had interoperability with local tram trackage, and
8460-424: The city's interurban Union Terminal and interurban car storage yard bounded by H, I, 11th and 12th streets. Trains turned into the terminal leaving the street. It then proceeded west on I to 8th, then turned south to M Street, then west on M over the Sacramento River to West Sacramento. From there it turned south on a direct line to Rio Vista and the delta river crossing on the SN ferry at Chipps. The branch to Colusa
8601-416: The commissioning of Fairfield–Suisun Army Air Base , which was built directly on the route of the railway and adjacent lands. A new connector was built to the north, bypassing the base. These lines largely operated in their own right of way except in Fairfield. A branch line to Dixon operated less than three years between 1914 and 1917. It was built by the Sacramento Valley Electric Railroad and operated by
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#17327801610058742-519: The country's railway infrastructure and cater to the post-war baby boom. The companies continued their policies of improvement they had followed before the war; lines were reconstructed to allow higher speeds, mainline-sized trains were adopted, street-running sections were rebuilt to elevated or underground rights-of-way, and link lines to growing metro systems were built to allow for through operations. Many of these private railway companies started to adopt standards for full-blown heavy rail lines similar to
8883-446: The dense vicinal tramway network around the city. Similar to the United States, in Canada most passenger interurbans were removed by the 1950s. One example of continuous passenger service still exists today, the Toronto Transit Commission 501 Queen streetcar line. The western segment of the 501 Streetcar operates largely on what was the T&YRR Port Credit Radial Line, a radial line that remains intact through Etobicoke and up to
9024-412: The discontinuance of passenger service. Most were converted to diesel operation, although the Sacramento Northern Railway retained electric freight until 1965. After World War II , many interurbans in other countries were also cut back. In Belgium, as intercity transport shifted to cars and buses; the large sections of the vicinal tramways were gradually shut down by the 1980s. At their peak in 1945,
9165-538: The earliest days of the line. Small General Electric diesel switchers replaced the steam and electric locomotives. These were later displaced by larger locomotive made by the American Locomotive Company . Western Pacific locomotives took over all operations by the mid-1970s. When traffic was heavy, steam engines and later diesels were borrowed from the Western Pacific Railroad . Electric freight motors were also borrowed from time to time from sister roads Sacramento Northern Railroad and Central California Traction until
9306-426: The early 1900s with some assistance from Thomas Edison . By the 1930s a vast network of interurbans, the Società Trazione Elettrica Lombarda , connected Milan with surrounding towns. In the first half of the 20th century, an extensive tramway network covered Northern England , centered on South Lancashire and West Yorkshire . At that time, it was possible to travel entirely by tram from Liverpool Pier Head to
9447-417: The early years, is now gone after use in the 1950s–1960s as a grocery store. Downtown Sacramento streets, particularly east and south of the Tower Bridge, carried many SN and Central California Traction tracks. Freight service from Oakland to Lafayette ceased on March 1, 1957. Overhead wire and tracks were removed and the Shepherd Canyon tunnel sealed. The former roadbed from St Mary's College through Lafayette
9588-419: The east at 339 miles (546 km) and had provided Pittsburgh-area coal country towns with hourly transportation since 1888. By the 1960s only five remaining interurban lines served commuters in three major metropolitan areas: the North Shore Line and the South Shore Line in Chicago, the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway in northern New Jersey, and
9729-473: The electrification was abandoned. The TS never owned or operated a maintenance facility for its locomotives and cars. All work on the interurban cars and electric locomotives was performed by the CCT at their shops in Stockton. Repairs on TS steam and diesel locomotives, as well as freight cars and cabooses, were performed by the Western Pacific. In the 1950s, the railroad built up a sizable fleet of freight cars, mostly insulated boxcars. One series of 25 cars wore
9870-410: The end of Shafter, the track crossed College Avenue next to Claremont Junior High School and started a long curving 4% grade into the Oakland hills in the Rockridge district of Oakland. It then crossed the Temescal Canyon inlet of Lake Temescal via a bridge. During the preparations for the Broadway (Caldecott) Tunnel project, this inlet was filled in and the Sacramento Northern tracks re-routed along
10011-406: The end of interurban service. 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
10152-475: 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 $ 24.7 million in 2023), but in that year ICC included SN among the Class Is . 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
10293-484: The facility began immediately in conjunction with the laying of tracks from the site northward along Shafter Avenue toward the hills. Although the compact yard at 40th and Shafter was the end of its right-of-way, SN trains continued west along 40th Street on the tracks of the Key System and on to the Key System 's "mole" . In later years, the trains ran over the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which
10434-551: The failed Vallejo and Northern Railroad in 1909 and proceeded to construct a route between Vacaville and Willota with a branch to Fairfield and Suisun. Passenger service ran between the line's opening in 1914 and 1926. Like other lines built by the Northern Electric, electricity was provided via third rail. Initially isolated from the rest of the system, a new connection was built from the main line at Creed to Vacaville Junction in 1930. That connection would be severed with
10575-558: The farmlands around Clarksburg and another connected the main line to the formerly isolated Vacaville line. The latter was rebuilt further north when Fairfield–Suisun Army Air Base was installed. Sacramento's first interurban terminal (for the Northern Electric Railway's line from Chico and Yuba City) was at Eighth and J Streets. Sacramento's two other interurban lines, the San Francisco–Sacramento and
10716-605: The industry in the US and Canada declined during World War I , particularly into the early 1920s. In 1919 President Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Electric Railways Commission to investigate the financial problems of the industry. The commission submitted its final report to the President in 1920. The commission's report focused on financial management problems and external economic pressures on
10857-522: The industry, and recommended against introducing public financing for the interurban industry. One of the commission's consultants, however, published an independent report stating that private ownership of electric railways had been a failure, and only public ownership would keep the interurbans in business. Many interurbans had been hastily constructed without realistic projections of income and expenses. They were initially financed by issuing stock and selling bonds. The sale of these financial instruments
10998-656: The interurban whose private tax paying tracks could never compete with the highways that a generous government provided for the motorist." William D. Middleton , in the opening of his 1961 book The Interurban Era , wrote: "Evolved from the urban streetcar, the Interurban appeared shortly before the dawn of the 20th century, grew to a vast network of over 18,000 miles in two decades of excellent growth, and then all but vanished after barely three decades of usefulness." Interurban business increased during World War II due to fuel oil rationing and large wartime employment. When
11139-497: The interurbans were the fifth-largest industry in the United States. In Belgium , a sprawling, nation-wide system of narrow-gauge vicinal tramways have been built by the NMVB / SNCV to provide transport to smaller towns across the country; the first section opened in 1885. These lines were either electrically operated or run with diesel tramcars, included numerous street-running sections, and inter-operated with local tram networks in
11280-502: The isolated Willota–Suisun–Vacaville branch, intending it as part of an eventual route south of Sacramento. 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). The Southern Division began as
11421-448: The larger cities. Similar to Belgium, Netherlands constructed a large network of interurbans in the early 1900s called streektramlijnen . In Silesia, today Poland, an extensive interurban system was constructed, starting in 1894 with a narrow-gauge line connecting Gliwice with Piekary Śląskie through Zabrze , Chebzie , Chorzów and Bytom , another connected Katowice and Siemianowice . After four years, in 1898, Kramer & Co.
11562-751: The last revenue steam work on the Western Pacific system in October 1953. Starting in the mid-1950s, the line also added a small fleet of modern freight cars, some of which survived until the early 1980s. From the late 1960s, the system's independence began to decline as it became increasingly operated by Western Pacific locomotives and crews, until it became a " paper railroad ", nominally a separate corporation but invisibly so in actual operation. Its traffic, however, continued to expand. The construction of several grain silos near Turlock, used to supply animal feed, eventually required long unit trains to bring in
11703-418: The line entered a short ravine leading to the entrance of a one mile long single-track tunnel under the Oakland Hills. The tunnel itself is still intact but is sealed at both ends. In 1994, home developers filled in the approach ravine and tunnel mouth and constructed residential homes on this fill and on top of the tunnel. The upper foot of the top of the tunnel portal could be observed in the back yard of one of
11844-608: The line was legally defined as a tramway and included street running at the two ends, but was based on American interurbans and operated with large tramcars on mostly private right-of-way. In the same year, the Keihin Express Railway , or Keikyu, completed a section of what is today part of the Keikyū Main Line between Shinagawa , Tokyo and Kanagawa , Yokohama . This line competes with mainline Japanese National Railways on this busy corridor. Predecessors of
11985-648: The long Cincinnati & Lake Erie Railroad (C&LE), and in Indiana with the very widespread Indiana Railroad . Both had limited success up to 1937–1938 and primarily earned growing revenues from freight rather than passengers. The 130-mile (210 km) long Sacramento Northern Railway stopped carrying passengers in 1940 but continued hauling freight into the 1960s by using heavy electric locomotives. Oliver Jensen, author of American Heritage History of Railroads in America , commented that "...the automobile doomed
12126-502: 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
12267-532: The mileage of vicinal tramways reached 4,811 kilometres (2,989 mi) and exceeded the length of the national railway network. Sprawling tram networks in the Netherlands extended to neighbouring cities. The vast majority of these lines were not electrified and operated with steam and sometimes petrol or diesel tramcars. Many did not survive the 1920s and 30s for the same reasons American interurbans went bust, but those that did were put back into service during
12408-607: The mountain spa resort of Hakone. Many private lines were nationalised during the Second World War. The handful that remained in the hands of JNR after the end of the war – including the Hanwa Line, Senseki Line and the Iida Line – remain outliers on the national JR network, with short station distances, (in the case of the Iida Line) lower-grade infrastructure, and independent termini (such as Aobadori Station and
12549-574: The national rail network, and, like JR commuter routes, are operated as 'metro-style' commuter railways with mainline-sized vehicles and metro-like frequencies of very few minutes. In 1957, the Odakyu Electric Railway introduced the Odakyu 3000 series SE , the first in a line of luxurious tourist Limited Express trains named ' Romancecars '. These units set a narrow-gauge speed record of 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph) on its runs to
12690-491: The new homes. A home further northeast behind the first was constructed on top of the unlined tunnel, and by altering drainage in the area caused the tunnel below the home to slowly subside. The home shifted and dropped and had to be removed. The SN track exited the tunnel into Contra Costa County at Pinehurst Road near Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve , and immediately curved over a bridge over Pinehurst Road to run southeastward through Redwood Canyon. The railroad designated
12831-481: The northwest side of Shepherd Canyon, the line headed east, then made a sharp turn northeast as it passed through a major cut in the hill. It then climbed up Shepherd Canyon to a station called "Havens" at Paso Robles Drive, named for real estate developer Frank C. Havens , one-time partner of the Key System's "Borax" Smith who was trying to encourage sales in Shepherd Canyon. At Havens, below Saroni Drive,
12972-411: 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
13113-545: The original narrow gauge network was converted to standard, which allowed a connection with the new system in Sosnowiec. By 1931, 47,5% of the narrow-gauge network was reconstructed, with 20 kilometres (12 mi) of new standard-gauge track built. A large network of interurbans started developing around Milan in the late 1800s; they were originally drawn by horses and later powered as steam trams. These initial interurban lines were gradually upgraded with electric traction in
13254-614: The possibility of extending them into the countryside to reach new markets, even linking to other towns. The first interurban to emerge in the United States was the Newark and Granville Street Railway in Ohio, which opened in 1889. It was not a major success, but others followed. The development of the automobile was then in its infancy, and to many investors interurbans appeared to be the future of local transportation. From 1900 to 1916, large networks of interurban lines were constructed across
13395-659: The private car of Pacific Electric Railway owner Henry E. Huntington and was purchased by the SN. This elegant 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 The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern needed to cross Suisun Bay, and chose to do so between West Pittsburg and Chipps Island ,
13536-521: The rail business altogether ran afoul of state commissions which required that trains remain running "for the public good", even at a loss. Many financially weak interurbans did not survive the prosperous 1920s, and most others went bankrupt during the Great Depression . A few struggling lines tried combining to form much larger systems in an attempt to gain operating efficiency and a broader customer base. This occurred in Ohio in year 1930 with
13677-573: 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. A 22-mile (35 km) segment of the SN line in Solano County is owned, operated, and electrified by the Western Railway Museum as
13818-543: The railway operated solely as a freight line, with the exception of offering passenger carriage in the line's cabooses. This situation lasted until the 1960s, with the parent company reportedly having forgotten to formally abandon the passenger tariff. The electrification was dismantled after this point except in Modesto, where a city ordinance prohibited the operation of steam locomotives. The railway therefore retained 2.1 miles (3.4 km) of electrification within Modesto, and
13959-492: The railway's two steeplecab electric locomotives. Outside Modesto, all freight traffic was now steam hauled. Additional steam locomotives were borrowed from the Western Pacific when needed. In 1940, a former Sierra Railroad steam engine was acquired. Busy traffic during World War II increased the Tidewater Southern's traffic hugely, and locomotives were borrowed from other roads to handle it, including two Sacramento Northern Railway box motors , several steam locomotives and
14100-423: The regions where they operated, particularly in Ohio and Indiana, "...they almost destroyed the local passenger service of the steam railroad." To show how exceptionally busy the interurbans radiating from Indianapolis were in 1926, the immense Indianapolis Traction Terminal (nine roof covered tracks and loading platforms) scheduled 500 trains in and out daily and moved 7 million passengers that year. At their peak
14241-479: The remaining portions of the Tidewater Southern have been the Tidewater Subdivision of the Union Pacific. In 2001, the line on Modesto's Ninth Street was abandoned, severing the railroad in the middle. The Turlock-bound grain trains now bypass the north end of the railroad and enter former TS rails just south of Modesto. The north end is still served by one train 3-4 times a week. The branch to Manteca
14382-562: The repair costs. The rise of private automobile traffic in the middle 1920s aggravated such trends. As the interurban companies struggled financially, they faced rising competition from cars and trucks on newly paved streets and highways, while municipalities sought to alleviate traffic congestion by removing interurbans from city streets. Some companies exited the passenger business altogether to focus on freight, while others sought to buttress their finances by selling surplus electricity in local communities. Several interurbans that attempted to exit
14523-433: 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
14664-705: 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. At 183 miles (295 km), the railroad's Comet and Meteor services between San Francisco and Chico were
14805-541: The terminal onto Main Street through a unique archway in the station wall. An additional branch operated on Second Street via tracks owned by the Sacramento and Woodland Railroad. The SN entered Sacramento from the north crossing the American River on a through truss bridge. It then proceeded on private right of way between 18th and 19th streets to D street where it turned west in the middle of D to 15th Street then south on 15th to I street where it turned west on I to
14946-567: The terminal to one of four tracks for passenger loading. The station burned internally 1972 and was removed around 2000. The SN mission style terminal in Woodland was unusual in that the interurban cars from Sacramento went through an arch in the station's wall to reach a rail yard in the rear. The terminal was adjacent to the Woodland Opera House. The Oakland terminal was a very compact yard and buildings at 40th and Shafter with
15087-555: The top of a new high embankment above the lake, buttressed by a massive retaining wall that still exists today. From Lake Temescal, the tracks ran southeast through the Montclair district of Oakland. It crossed into Montclair over a trestle at Moraga Avenue and Thornhill Drive, then ran along a high berm between Montclair Recreation Center and Montclair Elementary School, before crossing Mountain Blvd and Snake Road via trestle. High above
15228-599: The town was launched. After World War I and the Silesian Uprisings, in 1922 the region (and the tram network) was divided between newly independent Poland and Germany, and international services appeared (the last one ran until 1937). In 1928 further standard gauge systems were established in Sosnowiec, Będzin and Dąbrowa Górnicza (the so-called Dabrowa Coal Basin - a region adjoining the Upper Silesian Coal Basin). Between 1928 and 1936 most of
15369-748: The towns of Turlock and Hilmar . Until the mid-1930s, there were plans to extend the line to Fresno and even toward the Los Angeles area. Today, much of the line is still operated by the Union Pacific Railroad . Of all the former interurban railroads in California, the former Tidewater Southern retains the highest percentage of still operating trackage. The railway was incorporated in 1910; construction from Stockton began in 1911 and service to Modesto began in 1912 with steam locomotive -hauled passenger service. Electrification, using
15510-528: The tracks ran parallel, adjacent, and south of the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific main lines, then dropped down, turned north sharply and went under the SF and SP through an underpass to almost immediately reach the SN ferry landing on Suisun Bay . (This track layout and underpass are still shown on a 2009 Google website map of Pittsburg.) The Pittsburg side ferry landing and depot was called "Mallard" by
15651-461: The trains retain a red livery based on the Pacific Electric's 'Red Cars', true to the company's interurban roots. The Keiō Line did not fully remove the street running section on the Kōshū Kaidō outside of Shinjuku Station until the 1960s, replacing it with an underground section. Similar to passenger railway conditions in early 1900s America, intense competition still exists today between private railways and mainline railways operated by
15792-570: The two lines combined to become the Sacramento Northern Rail way under control of the Western Pacific Railroad which operated it as a separate entity. An extensive multiple-car passenger service operated from Oakland to Chico until 1941 including providing dining car service on some trains. Passenger traffic was heaviest from Sacramento to Oakland. Freight operation using electric locomotives continued into
15933-407: The upper level of Tennōji Station ). Today, trackage of the major sixteen private railways , in many places originally designed as American-style interurban railways, has been upgraded beyond recognition into high capacity urban heavy railways. Private railway companies that started out as interurbans such as Tokyu , Seibu , Odakyu , Hankyu and Tobu ; rail transportation now tends to form only
16074-478: The urban areas of the Upper Silesia . It is one of the largest interurban networks in Europe. In Łódź region, an interurban tram system connects Łódź, Pabianice, Zgierz and Konstantynów Łódzki, and formerly also Ozorków, Lutomiersk, Aleksandrów Łódzki, Rzgów and Tuszyn. Only three continuously operating passenger interurbans in the US remain with most being abandoned by the 1950s. The South Shore Line
16215-551: 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). Sacramento Northern offered dining service aboard parlor- observation cars Bidwell , Sacramento , Moraga and Alabama . The Alabama had been built in 1905 as
16356-605: The village of Summit, outside Rochdale , a distance of 52 miles (84 km), and with a short 7 miles (11 km) bus journey across the Pennines, to connect to another tram network that linked Huddersfield, Halifax and Leeds. The first interurban railway in Japan is the Hanshin Electric Railway , built to compete with mainline steam trains on the Osaka to Kobe corridor and completed in 1905. As laws of that time did not allow parallel railways to be built,
16497-449: The volume of Midwestern grain required to fill them. By the late 1970s, these trains were the main traffic on the line and led to much anger from the city of Modesto, where the mainline occupied the middle of Ninth Street, the major north-south roadway. The last locomotives and cabooses lettered for the TS were retired in late 1976. While the WP purchased most of the road's stock in 1917, it did not acquire complete control until some time in
16638-537: The war ended in 1945, riders went back to their automobiles, and most of these lines were finally abandoned. Several systems struggled into the 1950s, including the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad (passenger service ended 1950), Lehigh Valley Transit Company (1951), West Penn Railways (1952), and the Illinois Terminal Railroad (1958). The West Penn was the largest interurban to operate in
16779-628: The war years, or at least the remaining parts not yet demolished. One of the largest systems, nicknamed the Blue Tram , was run by the Noord-Zuid-Hollandsche Stoomtramweg-Maatschappij and survived until 1961. Another, the RTM ( Rotterdamse Tramweg Maatschappij ), which ran in the river delta south-west of Rotterdam , survived until early January 1966. Its demise sparked the rail-related heritage movement in
16920-510: The waterway. 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. Interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada)
17061-576: The world. These can be regarded as interurbans since they run on the streets, like trams, when in cities, while out of them they either share existing railway lines or use lines that were abandoned by the railway companies. The term "interurban" was coined by Charles L. Henry , a state senator in Indiana. The Latin, inter urbes , means "between cities". The interurban fit on a continuum between urban street railways and full-fledged railroads. George W. Hilton and John F. Due identified four characteristics of an interurban: The definition of "interurban"
17202-595: The year's end, and the line to Sacramento began service in September 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, and the Marysville and Colusa Branch started less than a year later. At this time, the company additionally opened
17343-504: Was a catenary wire powered line that ran from Oakland through a tunnel in the Oakland hills to Moraga , Walnut Creek , Concord , Pittsburg , to Sacramento. It was renamed the San Francisco–Sacramento Railroad briefly. The Northern Electric Railway was a third rail powered line that ran from Sacramento north through Marysville and Yuba City to Chico. It was renamed the Sacramento Northern Rail road in 1914. In 1928,
17484-446: Was a branch west to Vacaville and Travis Air Force Base. In 1913 a spur was built that connected Rio Vista Junction to the town of Dixon to the north, but it was unprofitable and was abandoned after a year or two. Past Creed, the line continued to Dozier and Yolano before crossing the four-mile-long Lisbon trestle into West Sacramento . This trestle collapsed in July 1951 as a steeple cab-powered freight train of steel plate for Pittsburg
17625-501: Was abandoned in the early 1990s. The Tidewater Southern only ever owned three interurban electric passenger cars; all were built by the Jewett Car Company in 1912 and bought new. This roster was unusual in that all were combine cars, each having a freight section. The Tidewater was one of the few interurbans to never roster a "pure" electric passenger car. When extra capacity was needed, passenger trailers were borrowed from
17766-674: Was also reactivated for the SacRT light rail service in the 1980s. Segments of the right of way in Contra Costa County and Sacramento County have been converted to rail trails . In June of 1911, SN's predecessor, the Oakland and Antioch, purchased a parcel of land from the Realty Syndicate (associated with the Key System) for its planned terminal yard at 40th Street and Shafter Avenue in Oakland. Construction of
17907-649: Was built by a nominally independent company and leased by the Sacramento Northern. Passenger services operated between 1913 and 1940. From Colusa Junction, east of Yuba City, the line runs almost directly east through Tarke and Meridian , alongside and north of the Colusa Highway, California State Route 20 . It crossed the Sacramento River on a narrow combined rail and vehicle bridge before turning northeast and running to Market Street in Colusa. In 1992 this track and unusual Meridian bridge were still in use and provided
18048-513: Was built near the site of the Key mole, to San Francisco's downtown Transbay Terminal , connecting by way of the Key's tracks on Yerba Buena Avenue and 40th Street. This service ended with the railroad's passenger service in 1941, but freight interchange with the Key System continued until that system's demise. The main line ran on single track north up the center of Shafter Avenue in a residential area, passing Emerson Elementary School at 49th Street. At
18189-461: Was chosen to start electrification on Katowice Rynek (Kattowitz, Ring) - Zawodzie line, after which Schikora & Wolff completed electrification of four additional lines. In 1912, the first short 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge line was built in Katowice . In 1913, a separate standard gauge system connecting Bytom with suburbs and villages west of
18330-487: Was common. Receivership was a common fate when the interurban company could not pay its payroll and other debts, so state courts took over and allowed continued operation while suspending the company's obligation to pay interest on its bonds. In addition, the interurban honeymoon period with the municipalities of 1895–1910 was over. The large and heavy interurbans, some weighing as much as 65 tons, caused damage to city streets which led to endless disputes over who should bear
18471-459: Was converted to the popular Lafayette–Moraga Regional Trail . The following year, freight service only extended from Walnut Creek to Sacramento. The ferry Ramon was removed from service in 1954, so SN, through parent Western Pacific, had to obtain trackage rights on the Santa Fe from Stockton to Pittsburg where SN trains could reach SN tracks and freight shippers in Pittsburg and Concord. When
18612-720: Was crossing it. At West Sacramento, just west of the Tower Bridge, the line to Woodland left the southbound main line and headed west. Past West Sacramento, the line entered the city of Sacramento by way of the "M" Street Bridge (1911), and later by way of its replacement (1935), the Tower Bridge , which is still in use. The SN progressed through downtown streets onto I Street to reach the substantial columned two-story brick and stone Union Traction Depot ("Union Terminal") on I Street between 11th and 12th. Union Terminal, also used by Central California Traction trains to Stockton in
18753-554: 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
18894-518: Was light and could not be expected to increase. The SN had branches to Vacaville and Dixon , Woodland, Colusa , and Oroville. The railway suffered from statewide business decline due to the Great Depression plus the increasing automobile use on improved roads. Passenger service ended in 1941, though streetcar service in Chico continued until 1947. Freight service continued and was heavy during World War II . The 1951 Lisbon Trestle Collapse, in which crewmen were injured but no lives were lost, required
19035-414: Was never electrified and never operated passenger service, being purely for freight. Also in 1917, a new mainline was built into Stockton; the previous line ran to the east of the WP and SP lines and partially used Central California Traction Company trackage. A freight-only branch to Manteca, California was constructed in 1918. While many references list this branch as being unelectrified, evidence from
19176-425: Was often local with salesmen going door to door aggressively pushing this new and exciting "it can't fail" form of transportation. But many of those interurbans did fail, and often quickly. They had poor cash flow from the outset and struggled to raise essential further capital. Interurbans were very vulnerable to acts of nature damaging track and bridges, particularly in the Midwestern United States where flooding
19317-648: Was progressively closed in the 1970s but parts of it were reused as the outer parts of the Milan Metro . Development of Japanese interurbans strayed from their American counterparts from the 1920s. The second boom of interurbans occurred as late as the 1920s and 1930s in Japan, with predecessors of the extensive Kintetsu Railway , Hankyu , Nankai Electric Railway and Odakyu Electric Railway networks starting life during this period. These interurbans, built with straighter tracks, electrified at 1500V and operated using larger cars, were built to even higher standards than
19458-521: 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 . In 1925 the WP created a "new" Sacramento Northern Railway (SNRy), in order to group the growing collection of their interurban railroad holdings. Thus,
19599-480: Was scheduled at 5 hours 43 minutes from Chico to San Francisco, and 2 hours 48 minutes Sacramento to San Francisco. 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
19740-642: 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
19881-621: Was the first stretch of underground railway in all of Asia, predating the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line by two years. Meanwhile, existing interurbans like the Hanshin Electric Railway started to rebuild their street-running lines into grade-separated exclusive rights-of-way. After the war, interurbans and other private railway companies received large investments and were allowed to compete not only with mainline trains but also with each other, in order to rejuvenate
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