Vallejo and Northern Railroad

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The Vallejo and Northern Railroad was a proposed 58.15-mile (93.58 km) interurban railway line between Vallejo and Woodland, California. The company was incorporated on November 9, 1906, promoted by the same person who put forward the Dixon Branch. Terminal sites were purchased in Fairfield, Suisun, Vacaville, and Vallejo, California. Additionally, the railroad also began planning an extension from Woodland to Sacramento, going on to acquire franchise rights for running on Sacramento streets and purchasing property in Woodland. Despite the swift property acquisition, construction had not commenced, reportedly a result of the Panic of 1907. The company was merged into the Sacramento Northern Railway predecessor Northern Electric Railway in 1909 after Northern Electric floated $10 million ($339 million in 2023 adjusted for inflation) worth of bonds in Amsterdam. A single tram lettered Vallejo & Northern # 1 operated in downtown Sacramento from November 15, 1911 until 1914. Construction of what would become the Sacramento Northern Vaca Valley Line began in 1913; and line opened for service on May 16, 1914. 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. The line was connected to Sacramento Northern's main line via a new branch between Vacaville and Creed in 1930. 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 and Northwestern Pacific Railroad purchase of the P&SR prevented such expansion. The connecting line through Cordero was relocated during construction of Travis Air Force Base in 1942, and diesel locomotives replaced electric operation in 1947.

Sources

Hilton & Due 1960, p. 398.
"Prepare to build new railroad". San Francisco, California: Newspapers.com. The San Francisco Call. November 10, 1906. p. 14. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
^ Hilton & Due 1960, p. 400.
"Industrial Development in Superior California During the Past Week". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. December 5, 1908. p. 14. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Franchise is Passed by Board". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. September 26, 1907. p. 3. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Valley news in a nut-shell". The Marysville Appeal. Marysville, California. February 23, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Franchise has been forfeited". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. November 17, 1908. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Says railroad intends to get busy". The Sacramento Star. Sacramento, California. December 1, 1908. p. 4. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"Merger of Electric Lines Reported". The Sacramento Star. Sacramento, California. May 5, 1909. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
"To begin train service". The San Francisco Daily Journal of Commerce. San Francisco, California. May 16, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
Laflin, Addison (1952). "The Vallejo & Northern and Other Electric Railroads of Solano County". The Western Railroader. 16 (158). Francis A. Guido: 3–8.

Bibliography

Hilton, George W. & Due, John Fitzgerald (1960). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-4014-2. OCLC 237973.

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