Vallejo And Northern Railroad
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The Vallejo and Northern Railroad was a proposed interurban line between Vallejo and West Sacramento, California. Terminal sites were purchased in Fairfield, Suisun, Vacaville, and Vallejo, California; but the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...
temporarily prevented further construction. The company had become a subsidiary 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 ...
predecessor Northern Electric Railway by the time construction resumed. A single tram lettered ''Vallejo & Northern # 1'' operated in downtown Sacramento from 15 November 1911 until 1914. Construction of what would become the Sacramento Northern Willotta branch began in 1911; and rails were laid in 1913. A steam train operated over track from a dock on
Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...
toward Fairfield from February until the line was electrified in June. 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. 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 The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and Northwestern Pacific Railroad purchase of the P&SR prevented such expansion. The Willotta branch was relocated during construction of Travis Air Force Base in 1942, and diesel locomotives replaced electric operation in 1947.


Sources

Sacramento Northern Railway Interurban railways in California Defunct California railroads {{California-transport-stub