The Ventura County Railroad is a

class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

subsidiary of

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

, connecting the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

Oxnard Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

to South Oxnard and

Port Hueneme Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits. P ...

. It began operations in 1998 under

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it ...

, leasing its lines from the Ventura County Railway , owner of lines first opened in about 1905 that have remained independent of larger carriers. The railroad serves industrial areas including the

Port of Hueneme The Port of Hueneme in the city of Port Hueneme, California, United States, is the only deep water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. Located in Ventura County on the Santa Barbara Channel, the port complex not only se ...

and Naval Facilities Expeditionary Logistics Center at

Naval Base Ventura County Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base in Ventura County, California. Formed by the merger of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme, NBVC is a diverse installation composed of three main locations — Point Mugu, Port Huenem ...

Origin

Before

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

port facilities were developed, Port Hueneme seemed a viable competitor; and VCRR's earliest predecessor, the Bakersfield and Ventura Railway, was incorporated in February 1903 to build a railroad from Port Hueneme to Bakersfield via

Santa Paula Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa P ...

and Piru Canyon. Construction began in 1907 with a main line from Port Hueneme up C Street in Oxnard, plus a westerly branch to Patterson Ranch and a easterly branch to DeBo, Petit, and Round Mountain (now on the campus of

California State University Channel Islands California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI, CSU Channel Islands) is a public university in Camarillo, California. It opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the California State University system. CSUCI is located on the Central Coast of Cal ...

). It was reorganized as the Bakersfield and Ventura ''Railroad'' in June 1908 with the Oxnard line moved to A street. A

railway turntable In rail terminology, a railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning railway rolling stock, usually locomotives, so that they can be moved back in the direction from which they came. Naturally, it is especially used in areas where ec ...

was constructed at the intersection of First and A Streets in Oxnard where gas motor cars were turned on their six to eight daily round trips until passenger service was abandoned in January 1927.Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide, 5th Edition,

Kalmbach Publishing Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

, 1996, pp. 321-322

Passenger service

The company also owned two coach trailers. Car number 003 was used as a standby switching locomotive after passenger service was abandoned.

Steam era

The property was again sold in June 1911 to the Ventura County Railway, which had been incorporated in May in the interests of the American Beet Sugar Company (renamed American Crystal Sugar Company in 1934), which owned a

beet sugar A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wit ...

factory at Oxnard. The railroad brought carloads of beets to the factory from surrounding farms; and Port Hueneme packing houses provided 1200 carloads of lemons, 200 carloads of beans, and 75 carloads of box boards annually.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

development of the Ventura County naval base enabled the line to avoid abandonment as trucks took over shipment of agricultural commodities.

Locomotives

Diesel era

Martin V. Smith purchased the line in 1958. The Ventura County Railroad, organized by RailAmerica to lease the line, began operations in September 1998. The Oxnard Harbor District acquired the Ventura County Railway Company LLC in 2003 with Ventura County Railroad continuing to operate the line."Municipal Service Review: Oxnard Harbor District"
''Ventura Local Agency Formation Commission'' (September 19, 2007)

Traffic

The railroad's main commodities are new automobiles, petroleum products and wood products. The VCRR hauls approximately 2,000 carloads annually. And they ship frozen strawberries and paper products and handle navy equipment.

Motive Power

* One

EMD GP15-1 The EMD GP15-1 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between June 1976 and March 1982. Intended to provide an alternative to the rebuilding programs that many railroads were applying to their early ...

* On
EMD GP7DE
(rebuilt from an EMD GP7U) * One

EMD GP38-2 The EMD GP38-2 is an American four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP38-2 was an upgraded version of the earlier GP38. Power is provided by an EMD 645E 16-cyl ...

References

External links

Ventura County Railroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ventura County Railroad California railroads RailAmerica Railway companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in California