The San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway, later briefly reorganized as the San Francisco and Napa Valley Railroad, was an

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Construction

In 1901, Col. J.W. Hartzell and his brother H.F. Hartzell secured a franchise to build an electric railway line, which allowed them the right to build on city streets and along county roads. The line paralleled much of the already existing route of the Napa Valley Railroad. In April 1902, the Benicia, Vallejo & Napa Valley Railroad Company was incorporated. The line originated at the port of Vallejo where it met the

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

connecting to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. From there, it headed northwards for a total of to terminate at Calistoga, passing through Napa, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, and

St. Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

. Construction of the railroad commenced in 1903 and trains began running from Vallejo to Napa following a grand opening on July 4, 1905. The line was extended to Yountville by 1907, to St. Helena on January 1, 1908, and to Calistoga on September 12, 1912. The railroad went through several reorganizations and name changes throughout its lifetime. It was named San Francisco, Vallejo & Napa Valley Railroad in 1906 and in 1911 it was renamed San Francisco, Napa & Calistoga Railway Company. The railroad remained in operation until 1937. In 1938 of track and power lines between Napa and Calistoga were removed.

Equipment

The electrically powered railroad was the first west of the Mississippi River to operate on

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

. Much of the early passenger equipment consisted of graceful wooden cars manufactured by Niles and very similar to some equipment of the

Sacramento Northern Railway The Sacramento Northern Railway (reporting mark SN) was a electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the California capital, Sacramento. In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oakland ...

. By 1931 the line operated 9 motor passenger cars with 5 unpowered trailer passenger cars, and one electric locomotive with twenty freight cars. The line used 25 Hz AC at 3,300

Volts The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defini ...

rather than the direct-current equipment used on most interurban railroads. Two steel cars built in 1933 were the last traditional interurban cars built in the United States before

PCC streetcar The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...

s were designed.

1913 wreck

On June 19, 1913, two trains of the San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway collided head-on in the worst interurban accident in the state of California. Thirteen people were killed.

Decline

Passenger service continued despite several setbacks until 1937, when the ferry service was discontinued; without the ferry traffic, the line could not survive. The last passenger trains operated on September 12 of that year, and the last mail trains on September 30. On February 13, 1938, a farewell excursion train was operated between Vallejo and Napa for the Electric Railway Historical Society of California. Following the end of passenger service, the company continued with bus service to San Francisco, but sold it to

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

in 1942. A stretch of track north of St. Helena was taken over by the Southern Pacific and used as a freight spur into the 1980s. The

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

service to

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

remained as a subsidiary of the Sacramento Northern Railway until taken over by the Navy Department in 1956. In 1957 the company was dissolved.

Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Electric locomotives served the shipyard from 1919 until the overhead electric lines became a hazard for cranes installed during wartime expansion. Two

GE 44-ton switcher The GE 44-ton switcher is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between 1940 and 1956. It was designed for industrial and light switching duties, often replacing steam locomotives that had previously been assigned thes ...

s numbered 30 and 40 took over shipyard operations in April 1942, and were joined by number 50 in August 1943. Number 40 became Sacramento Northern Railway #141 when the shipyard resumed peacetime operations in 1946. The two remaining engines were replaced by similar models owned by the United States Navy in 1956. Number 30 became Sacramento Northern Railway #147 while number 50 became

Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad was a 600 volt DC electric interurban railway in Sonoma County, California, United States. It operated between the cities of Petaluma, Sebastopol, Forestville, and Santa Rosa. Company-owned steamboats provided ...

#3.

Artifacts

The SP Depot is on Lincoln at Fair Way (formerly Railroad Avenue). There is an historical marker across the street from the Calistoga Fire Department, which is on the location of the SFNCR depot. The railroad's former car barn located at Sixth Street and Soscol Avenue in Napa was built in 1907 and is still standing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Francisco Napa Calistoga Railway Defunct California railroads Interurban railways in California Public transportation in Napa County, California Public transportation in Solano County, California History of Napa County, California Napa, California Yountville, California 1905 establishments in California Railway lines opened in 1905