Vallejo and Northern Railroad

The Vallejo and Northern Railroad was a proposed 58.15-mile (93.58 km) interurban railway line between Vallejo and Woodland, California.[1] The company was incorporated on November 9, 1906,[2] promoted by the same person who put forward the Dixon Branch.[3] Terminal sites were purchased in Fairfield, Suisun, Vacaville, and Vallejo, California.[4] 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.[5][6] Despite the swift property acquisition, construction had not commenced,[7] reportedly a result of the Panic of 1907.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] Northern Electric combination cars numbered 103, 104, and 22 offered passenger service over this isolated branch until passenger service was abandoned in 1926.[3] 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.[3] 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.[11]

Sources

1. Hilton & Due 1960, p. 398.
2. "Prepare to build new railroad". San Francisco, California: Newspapers.com. The San Francisco Call. November 10, 1906. p. 14. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
3. Hilton & Due 1960, p. 400.
4. "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.
5. "Franchise is Passed by Board". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. September 26, 1907. p. 3. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Valley news in a nut-shell". The Marysville Appeal. Marysville, California. February 23, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Franchise has been forfeited". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. November 17, 1908. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Says railroad intends to get busy". The Sacramento Star. Sacramento, California. December 1, 1908. p. 4. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Merger of Electric Lines Reported". The Sacramento Star. Sacramento, California. May 5, 1909. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "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.
11. 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.