Northwestern Pacific Railroad
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The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and
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with freight and
Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is a rail line and bicycle-pedestrian pathway project in Sonoma and Marin counties of the U.S. state of California. When completed, the entire system will serve a corridor between Cloverdale in north ...
(SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a regional railroad primarily used for logging that served the entire North Coast of California, with a main line running from Schellville to
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, along with an additional portion of the line running from the Ignacio Wye to the edge of San Rafael. The "Southern End" of the line, including Schellville to Willits and from Ignacio to San Rafael is owned by SMART, while the "Northern End" was formally owned and managed by the now-dissolved North Coast Railroad Authority but is now saved for use in California's 2018 Great Redwood Trail Act, which repurposes the unused railroad right-of-way from Eureka to Willits for future use as the Great Redwood Trail.


History

In the late 1800s both the Southern Pacific Railroad (“SP”) and the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...
(“AT&SF”) had great interests in building lines north from San Francisco to Humboldt County to transport lumber south. The Southern Pacific Railroad controlled the southern end of the line from Willits south to Marin and Schellville, while the AT&SF controlled line south from Eureka through Humboldt County. Both railroads planned to build a line north, the AT&SF starting with a boat connection in present-day
Larkspur, California Larkspur is a city in Marin County, California, United States. Larkspur is located south of San Rafael, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 Census, the city's population was 13,064. Larkspur's Police Department is shared with that of the ...
, and the Southern Pacific, starting at its interchange in
American Canyon American Canyon (previously known as Napa Junction) is a city located in southern Napa County, California, northeast of San Francisco, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2020 census reported the city's population as 21,837. Its ZIP Code ...
, north through Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties to finally terminate in
Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Ba ...
. As plans went forward it became clear that only one railroad would be profitable serving Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, so the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe entered into a joint agreement, and in 1906 merged 42 railroad companies between Marin and Humboldt Bay to create one railroad line stretching from
Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...
to Eureka. Completion of the project was disrupted by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake; plans and right-of-way documents were destroyed in the subsequent fire. After a time-expedient "punt" of the route through the unstable Eel River Canyon, construction was finally completed in October 1914 when a "golden spike" ceremony and celebration was held to mark the accomplishment. There were also dozens of miles of narrow-gauge trackage in Marin and Sonoma Counties. The railroad used
ferries of San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay in California has been served by ferries of all types for over 150 years. John Reed established a sailboat ferry service in 1826. Although the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge l ...
for freight transfer until connected to the national rail network at Napa Junction by the
Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad The Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad was completed in 1888 from a terminal rail yard in Santa Rosa, California, through the Valley of the Moon to Sonoma, and then south through Schellville and east across the northern San Francisco Bay wetlands ...
in 1888. The Santa Rosa and Carquinez remained part of SP independent of the NWP with a primary freight interchange at Schellville. SP's Santa Rosa branch continued from Schellville through Sonoma to a separate terminal yard on North Street in Santa Rosa. Freight interchange was predominantly through Ignacio, but there was a second connection to the SP in Santa Rosa until the line through the Valley of the Moon was abandoned in 1935. The railroad service became popular; an early daily NWP timetable shows 10 passenger trains each way, plus dozens of freights. The rail line soon replaced steam schooners as the main means of getting lumber from Humboldt County to market. Rail service to inland areas facilitated local development of the lumber industry. In 1929 the AT&SF sold its half-interest to the Southern Pacific, making the NWP a full SP subsidiary.


The SP era

Passenger service boomed until the 1930s, when improved roads and highways made traveling and shipping by motor vehicle more accessible. By 1935 freight and passenger service diminished because of the Great Depression. With the onset of
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, freight shipments rose while passenger service remained constant. Freight service on the NWP increased in the 1950s owing to an increase in lumber demand due to the post-war
housing boom Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...
. Branch lines were dismantled during the 1930s. The
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branch became redundant following purchase of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad in 1932, and
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adopted the former alignment between Leddy and Sebastopol. The
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
extension reverted to a logging line after NWP service ended in 1933.
Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...
's River Road adopted the former alignment of the Guerneville branch from
Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...
to Duncans Mills after rails were removed in 1935. Diesels were being used on all trains by 1953, with the exception of ten-wheelers number 181 and 183 pulling passenger trains numbered 3 and 4 between San Rafael and Eureka with number 182 on standby. The #3/#4 trains offered sleeping cars, a cafe-lounge in addition to coach cars. Passengers from San Francisco would take
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es from the
San Francisco Ferry Building The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San ...
at the base of Market Street to San Rafael. NWP locomotives 112, 140, 141, 143, and 178 plus SP numbers 2345, 2356, 2564, 2582, and 2810 were stored at Tiburon for emergency use; but steam power had disappeared by 1955. On November 10, 1958, all mainline passenger service was discontinued south of Willits. The only remaining service was a tri-weekly Willits-Eureka round trip, operated by a single Budd Rail Diesel Car, which ran until April 30, 1971. When
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
took over intercity passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, it did not continue service on the NWP.


1964 flood damage

The catastrophic Christmas flood of 1964 destroyed of the railroad in Northern California, including three bridges over the Eel River, and permanently changed the topography of the area. The line was closed for 177 days while 850 men rebuilt the railroad through the Eel River canyon. The line was reopened on 16 June 1965. In the years following the 1964 flood, the rail line was less reliable due to increased landsliding in the Eel River Canyon; but freight traffic remained high until the 1970s, as improvements to US Highway 101 cut hauling times, making trucking competitive with the rail line. An example of a 1970s work day on the NWP might look something like the following: During the final decade of Southern Pacific operation, carloads of lumber left Eureka each morning pulled by six
EMD SD9 An SD9 is a 6-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and June 1959. An EMD 567C 16-cylinder engine generated . Externally similar to its predecessor, the SD7, the SD9 was built with the improv ...
locomotives called "Cadillacs" by their crews. The train might pick up a refrigerator car of butter from Fernbridge and more lumber cars from Fortuna and Scotia before making a meal stop for its crew at the Fort Seward depot. More lumber cars might be added at Alderpoint during the long, gentle climb up the Eel River canyon. A second crew took over at Willits, where more cars from the California Western typically swelled the train to approximately one hundred cars. Five miles of 2.25 percent grade from Willits to Ridge originally required helpers, but six "Cadillacs" typically moved the train from Willits to Ridge in two sections during later years. The remaining trip down the Russian River to Schellville included a meal stop for the crew at Geyserville.


1978 tunnel fire

Many Humboldt County mills began shipping lumber in trucks when a fire caused collapse of the Island Mountain tunnel, or tunnel 27, closing the line north of Willits on 6 September 1978, and only half of that traffic returned to the rails when the line reopened on 10 December 1979. Remaining traffic revenues were insufficient for track maintenance through the Eel River Canyon, at that time the most expensive stretch of rail line in the
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. In September 1983, the SP announced that it was shutting down the maintenance-intensive NWP line north of Willits. This led to a contentious court battle since the SP did not properly notify the Interstate Commerce Commission of their intent to abandon the line. The line was ordered reopened by the U.S. Circuit Court in March 1984.


Sales and shortline development

In 1984, the SP sold the north end from Willits to Eureka to Bryan Whipple, who ran it as the
Eureka Southern Railroad The Eureka Southern Railroad was a shortline freight and excursion railroad that ran over former Northwestern Pacific trackage in California from Willits to Eureka. Origin On September 8, 1981, Bryan Whipple purchased the soon-to-be abandoned ...
under the reporting marks EUKA. The Eureka Southern operated freight trains and revamped tourist train service until bankrupted by storm damage in the Eel River Canyon.


North Coast Railroad Authority (1989-2022)

The California Legislature formed the NCRA in 1989 to save the NWP from total abandonment. NCRA purchased the Eureka Southern in 1992 and leased the line to the newly formed North Coast Railroad which operated until late 1996, when severe flooding of the Eel River led to widespread landslide damage and destruction of roadbed which remained unrepaired as of 2020. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) prohibited any train operation north of Willits in 1998. This order was amended in 1999 to allow the connecting
California Western Railroad The California Western Railroad , AKA Mendocino Railway popularly called the Skunk Train, is a rail freight and heritage railway, heritage railroad transport railway in Mendocino County, California, United States, running from the railroad's he ...
to resume operation to Willits Depot and turn trains on the wye at Willits Yard. While Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District began purchasing sections of the NWP's south end from the SP, and SP began to lease the line to the
California Northern Railroad The California Northern Railroad is one of several Class III short-line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. It operates over Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) tracks (now Union Pacific Railroad) under a long-term lease. The CFN ...
(CFNR). CFNR operated one train from Willits to Hopland, where freight cars were transferred to a second train from Hopland to Schellville. The track from Lombard to Healdsburg is owned by SMART, and the CFNR had trackage rights granted from Schellville to Willits. When the CFNR lease was terminated, the NCRA took over operations using EMD GP9 and SD9 locomotives painted in the SP "Black Widow" colors running both freight service and occasional passenger excursion service from 1996 to 1998. The line was plagued by a series of harsh El Nino storms from 1997-1998 causing significant washouts and bridge instability and when coupled with deferred annual and preventative maintenance, ultimately led the FRA to shut down all operations over the entire length of the line, the first and only time it's done so. The six EMD locomotives were returned to their lessor Omni-trax in 1998. Former SP SD9s, leased from BUGX, and former North Coast Railroad GP9s, owned by the NCRA, then were pressed into short lived service, ultimately becoming trapped at key points throughout the line by 1999 due to shut downs, washouts, and mechanical failure. By 2016, several movements including scrapping of former equipment in Eureka and returning of leased and privately stored equipment in Willits, Petaluma and Schellville had begun. In January 2001, the NWP briefly resumed service between Schellville and Cotati using three leased locomotives with reporting mark "NWPY", but service was discontinued in September 2001 because the operator lacked capital to continue operations.


New NWP (2009–2019)

In 2009, SMART began initial electrical work on the line which was paralleled by reballasting and replacement of bad ties between Schellville and Windsor. NCRA contracted NWPco, under reporting mark "NWP," reopened the line and began operations in June 2011 over the section of track between Napa and
Windsor, California Windsor is an incorporated town in Sonoma County, California, United States. The town is 9 miles north of Santa Rosa and 63 miles north of San Francisco. The population was 26,801 as of the 2010 census. Windsor was once home to a waterslide p ...
, 62 miles. In July 2011 the first freight train delivered grain to Petaluma. Trains on the NWP run from the Lombard interchange with the California Northern Railroad, up to Windsor. Service consists of about three trips weekly over the line, generally at night to avoid conflict with SMART's daytime-only passenger schedule. The railroad has hauled grain for dairy and poultry farms in
Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...
, and lumber products out of Windsor and Schellville as well as has provided occasional maintenance of way work for SMART and bulk car storage in Schellville. The only interchange with the national railroad network occurs with the
California Northern Railroad The California Northern Railroad is one of several Class III short-line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. It operates over Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) tracks (now Union Pacific Railroad) under a long-term lease. The CFN ...
in
American Canyon American Canyon (previously known as Napa Junction) is a city located in southern Napa County, California, northeast of San Francisco, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2020 census reported the city's population as 21,837. Its ZIP Code ...
. Regular passenger trains operated by SMART began in late Spring 2017 between Sonoma County Airport and San Rafael, with bus connections to the Larkspur ferry landing and city of Cloverdale. While SMART will eventually extend commuter service to Cloverdale, NCRA and NWPco had plans to open the line to the Skunk Train connection and major yard facility in Willits, but no timeline was established before NCRA was dissolved. Both agencies' plans were dependent on state and federal grants, and the success of the SMART train. Although tourist companies along with local historical groups have expressed interest in possibly opening an excursion and dinner train that would traverse Humboldt and Arcata bays, there are no plans to reopen the Eel River Canyon segment.


SMART Takeover (2019 - now)

Financial disarray and legal troubles beginning before the turn of the millennium have caused the North Coast Rail Authority to fall out of favor with state officials and the public, who have moved to replace the length of the former railroad with pedestrian trails. California's 2018 Great Redwood Trail Act includes detailed plans for investigating and resolving the Authority's debts, dissolving the NCRA, and converting its rights-of-way to rail-trail. Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) acquired from Healdsburg north to the Mendocino-Sonoma County border in September 2020, and in February 2022, took over NWP freight operations, having been approved by the US Surface Transportation Board. Today, NWPco remains contracted by SMART on a quarterly basis until studies on how to best manage the added responsibility of freight service are completed.


Predecessor lines

* California Midland Railroad extended the Eel River and Eureka Railroad up the
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
to Carlotta, and was merged into SF&NW in 1903. * California Northwestern Railway formed in 1898 for Southern Pacific Railroad to assume control of the SF&NP and extend the line from Ukiah to Willits in 1902. An extension was built from Willits to Sherwood in 1904. Merged into NWP in 1907. * California and Northern Railway was formed by
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
to build north from
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
to Arcata in 1901, and was merged into SF&NW in 1904. * Cloverdale and Ukiah Railroad extended the SF&NP from Cloverdale to Ukiah in 1889. * Eel River and Eureka Railroad connected Humboldt Bay with the Eel River town of
Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
in 1884, and was merged into SF&NW in 1903. *
Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad The Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad was formed by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway as a consolidation of logging railways extending inland from Albion, California on the coast of Mendocino County. The railroad and its predecessors ope ...
formed in 1905 for
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
to assume control of the isolated Albion River Railroad built in 1891. Merged into NWP in 1907, but never connected to the remainder of the NWP system. * Fulton and Guerneville Railroad constructed the SF&NP branch from Fulton to Guerneville in 1877. * Marin and Napa Railroad extended the Sonoma Valley narrow-gauge from Sears Point to connect with the SF&NP at Ignacio in 1888. *
North Pacific Coast Railroad The North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) was a common carrier narrow-gauge steam railroad begun in 1874 and sold in 1902 to new owners who renamed it the North Shore Railroad (California) (NSR) and which rebuilt the southern section into a standa ...
built a
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
line from
Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...
via the
Tomales Bay Tomales Bay is a long, narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States. It is approximately long and averages nearly wide, effectively separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Mar ...
coast to the Russian River in 1876. Became North Shore Railroad in 1902. * North Shore Railroad formed to assume control of the North Pacific Coast narrow-gauge in 1902. Merged into NWP in 1907. * Oregon and Eureka Railroad was formed in 1903 for Southern Pacific Railroad to assume control of logging lines around Arcata at the north end of Humboldt Bay. Selected lines to
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
were merged into Northwestern Pacific in 1911. The Trinidad extension reverted to Hammond Lumber Company control in 1933 and operated as logging branches of the Humboldt Northern Railway until 1948. *
Pacific Lumber Company The Pacific Lumber Company, officially abbreviated PALCO, and also commonly known as PL, was one of California's major logging and sawmill operations, located 28 miles (45 km) south of Eureka and 244 miles (393 km) north of San Francisc ...
built of track in 1885 to connect their mill at
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with the Eel River and Eureka Railroad at Alton. Branch lines were subsequently built up the Eel River; and these lines merged into SF&NW in 1903. * Petaluma and Haystack Railroad built from
Petaluma Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village nam ...
to Haystack Landing on the
Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
in 1864. Purchased by SF&NP in 1876. * San Francisco and Eureka Railway formed by Southern Pacific Railroad in 1903 to build a connection from Willits to
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
. Merged into NWP in 1907. * San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad (SF&NP) built from Donahue landing on the
Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
to Santa Rosa in 1870 and extended to Cloverdale in 1872. Extended from
Petaluma Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village nam ...
to San Rafael in 1879. Extended from San Rafael to Tiburon by the San Francisco & San Rafael in 1884. Extended from Cloverdale to Ukiah by the Cloverdale & Ukiah in 1889. Merged in NWP in 1907. * San Francisco and Northwestern Railway (SF&NW) formed by
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
in 1903 to consolidate the California and Northern Railway from Arcata to
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
, the Eel River and Eureka Railroad from
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
to Alton, The California Midland from Alton to Carlotta, and the
Pacific Lumber Company The Pacific Lumber Company, officially abbreviated PALCO, and also commonly known as PL, was one of California's major logging and sawmill operations, located 28 miles (45 km) south of Eureka and 244 miles (393 km) north of San Francisc ...
lines from Alton up the Eel River. Merged into NWP in 1907. * San Francisco and San Rafael Railroad extended the SF&NP from San Rafael to Tiburon in 1884. * San Rafael and San Quentin Railroad (SRSQ) was a narrow-gauge railroad formed on 25 February 1869 to connect a ferry landing at Point San Quentin with San Rafael. * Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Green Valley Railroad built the SF&NP branch from Santa Rosa to
Sebastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
in 1890. * Sonoma and Santa Rosa Railroad extended the Sonoma Valley narrow-gauge from Sonoma to Glen Ellen in 1882. * Sonoma Valley Prismoidal Railway was an early wooden monorail that was to be built from
Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
landing to Schellville in 1876. However, only the segment from Norfolk landing (later called Wingo) on
Sonoma Creek , name_etymology = , image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg , image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009 , image_size = 300 , ma ...
was ever completed. The line ceased operations in May 1877 and was converted to the narrow-gauge Sonoma Valley Railroad beginning in 1878. * Sonoma Valley Railroad purchased Sonoma Valley Prismoidal Railway in 1878, converted it to a conventional
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
, and extended it into Sonoma in 1879. Extended from Sonoma to Glen Ellen by the Sonoma & Glen Ellen in 1882. Extended from Sears Point landing to rail connection at Ignacio by Marin & Napa in 1888.


Route

NWP mileposts conform to Southern Pacific Railroad convention of distance from
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
: * Milepost 40.4 – Schellville (formerly junction with Sonoma Branch) * Milepost 28.7 – Black Point bridge over
Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
* Milepost 25.8 – Ignacio junction with San Rafael branch * Milepost 27.8 –
Novato Novato ( Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...
* Milepost 37.2 – Haystack bridge over
Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
* Milepost 38.5 –
Petaluma Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village nam ...
* Milepost 46.1 – Cotati * Milepost 53.8 – Santa Rosa * Milepost 58.5 – Fulton (formerly junction with Guerneville branch) * Milepost 62.9 –
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
(Currently the northernmost operational and open point on NWP) * Milepost 67.6 – bridge over Russian River * Milepost 68 –
Healdsburg Healdsburg is a city located in Sonoma County, in California's Wine Country. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,254. Owing to its three most important wine-producing regions (the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valle ...
* Milepost 75.8 – Geyserville * Milepost 85.2 – Cloverdale * Milepost 100.1 – Hopland * Milepost 114 – Ukiah * Milepost 120 – Calpella * Milepost 122.1 – Redwood Valley * Milepost 131.4 – Ridge summit between Russian River and Eel River drainages is highest point on line * Milepost 139.5 – Willits interchange with (formerly Union Lumber Company)
California Western Railroad The California Western Railroad , AKA Mendocino Railway popularly called the Skunk Train, is a rail freight and heritage railway, heritage railroad transport railway in Mendocino County, California, United States, running from the railroad's he ...
(AKA Skunk Train), which is still operational as a tourist line. A reconnection is planned, but as of late 2022, no timetable for this is in place. * Milepost 166.5 – line enters Eel River Canyon at Dos Rios * Milpost 194.8 – bridge over Eel River at south entrance of Island Mountain tunnel * Milepost 206.5 – bridge over Eel River * Milepost 209 – Alderpoint * Milepost 237.7 – South Fork bridge over Eel River * Milepost 255.6 –
Scotia Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...
(formerly interchange with
Pacific Lumber Company The Pacific Lumber Company, officially abbreviated PALCO, and also commonly known as PL, was one of California's major logging and sawmill operations, located 28 miles (45 km) south of Eureka and 244 miles (393 km) north of San Francisc ...
) * Milepost 261.8 – bridge over
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
* Milepost 262.7 – Alton junction with Carlotta Branch * Milepost 266.1 –
Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
* Milepost 271 – Loleta * Milepost 284.1 –
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
* Milepost 292.5 – Arcata * Milepost 295.2 – Korblex (formerly interchange with Northern Redwood Company Arcata and Mad River Railroad) * Milepost 300.5 –
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
(formerly interchange with Hammond Lumber Company Humboldt Northern Railway)


Roster


Steam locomotives


Diesel locomotives 1996–1998


Diesel locomotives 2001


Diesel locomotives post 2006


Narrow-gauge line

The NWP
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
line was built as the
North Pacific Coast Railroad The North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) was a common carrier narrow-gauge steam railroad begun in 1874 and sold in 1902 to new owners who renamed it the North Shore Railroad (California) (NSR) and which rebuilt the southern section into a standa ...
in 1873 from a
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
ferry connection at
Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...
to the Russian River at Monte Rio. Rails were extended downriver to Duncans Mills in 1876, and up Austin Creek to Cazadero in 1886. This narrow-gauge line became the Shore Division of the NWP formed by Santa Fe and Southern Pacific in 1907. Freight traffic was heavy as the lower Russian River valley was a major source of redwood lumber for rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The NWP narrow-gauge obtained additional
freight car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...
s from the South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) as the SPC was converted to standard gauge between 1907 and 1909.
Ferries 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 tax ...
''Lagunitas'', ''Ukiah'', and ''Sausalito'' carried narrow-gauge freight cars across San Francisco Bay from Sausalito to the
dual-gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to ca ...
San Francisco Belt Railroad The San Francisco Belt Railroad was a short-line railroad along the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. It began as the State Belt Railroad in 1889, and was renamed when the city bought the Port of San Francisco in 1969. As a state owned ...
. After the flooded Russian River destroyed the NWP Guerneville branch bridge at Bohemia on 19 March 1907, NWP rebuilt the bridge one-half mile downriver; and extended the Guerneville branch from Monte Rio to Duncans Mills as dual-gauge by 1909. Redwood lumber was then shipped out over the Guerneville branch. A freight transfer shed was built at San Anselmo so narrow-gauge tracks could be removed from the ferries in 1910; and more than half of the narrow-gauge freight cars were scrapped by 1912. A daily freight train operated from Occidental to San Anselmo in the morning and returned to Occidental in the afternoon. The train included a coach for Sonoma County students attending school in Tomales. A freight engine stationed at Duncans Mills was operated by the Guerneville branch freight crew as needed to bring infrequent freight down from Cazadero for transfer to the Guerneville branch until the line up Austin Creek to Cazadero was standard-gauged in 1926. Summer tourists from San Francisco still visited Russian River vacation spots via joint narrow-gauge/standard-gauge NWP "triangle" excursions until 1927 when automobile travel became more popular. Standard-gauging of the southern end of the line from San Francisco Bay to Point Reyes Station at the head of
Tomales Bay Tomales Bay is a long, narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in Marin County in northern California in the United States. It is approximately long and averages nearly wide, effectively separating the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland of Mar ...
was completed on 5 April 1920. Freight service between Point Reyes Station and Occidental was reduced to thrice weekly with freight transfer at Point Reyes Station. Lumber production from the lower Russian River valley was ended by a
wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
on 17 September 1923. After the standard-gauge line was extended to Cazadero, service north of Point Reyes was reduced to a daily (except Sunday)
mixed train A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service ...
to Camp Meeker and return until the last narrow-gauge train ran on 29 March 1930; and the remaining narrow-gauge line between Monte Rio and Point Reyes Station was dismantled that autumn. The route of the dual-gauge line from Fulton to Duncan Mills later became the popular River Road connecting all the towns from the coast to the central county.


Route

Mileposts conform to Southern Pacific Railroad convention of distance from San Francisco. * Milepost 6.5 –
Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...
* Milepost 11.7 – tunnel 1 * Milepost 12.6 – Corte Madera * Milepost 13.4 – Larkspur * Milepost 14.7 –
Kentfield Kentfield (formerly Ross Landing, Tamalpais, and Kent) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Kentfield is located southwest of downtown San Rafael, at an elevation of 115 fee ...
* Milepost 16.5 – Junction later known as San Anselmo * Milepost 18.3 – Fairfax * Milepost 20.7 – tunnel 2 * Milepost 23.1 –
Nicasio Nicasio ( ; Spanish for " Nicasius") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. It is located west-southwest of Novato, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 census the CDP population w ...
* Milepost 27 – bridge over Paper Mill Creek and highway (former hamlet of Taylorville) * Milepost 35.6 – Arroyo San Geronimo trestle * Milepost 36.4 – Point Reyes Station * Milepost 45.4 –
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...
* Milepost 50.5 – bridge over Keyes Creek * Milepost 51.9 – tunnel 3 * Milepost 53.1 – Tomales * Milepost 53.7 – tunnel 4 * Milepost 54.9 – Stemple Creek trestle * Milepost 58.8 – Estero Americano Creek trestle * Milepost 59.5 – Valley Ford * Milepost 61.9 – Ebabias Creek trestle * Milepost 62.2 – Bodega Road crossing * Milepost 62.7 – Salmon Creek trestle * Milepost 63.7 – Freestone * Milepost 65.2 – Salmon Creek trestle * Milepost 66.9 – Brown Creek trestle (this high trestle was reputedly the highest of its kind in the United States when built in 1876) * Milepost 67.6 – Occidental * Milepost 68.7 – Maquire Creek trestle * Milepost 69.0 – Camp Meeker * Milepost 70.5 – Larry Creek trestle * Milepost 70.8 – bridge over Dutch Bill Creek * Milepost 71 – tunnel 5 * Milepost 71.6 – bridge over Dutch Bill Creek * Milepost 71.7 – bridge over highway * Milepost 73.8 – Monte Rio * Milepost 77 – bridge over Russian River * Milepost 77.1 – Duncans Mills * Milepost 82.1 – bridge over Austin Creek * Milepost 84.3 – Cazadero The D.H. McEwen Lumber Company operated narrow gauge 2-cylinder Shay locomotive C/N 1823 at Cazadero briefly beginning in 1906.


Locomotives


Railroad in film

The Northwestern Pacific Railroad has been featured in several motion pictures and films, thanks to both the historical and natural backgrounds offered by the route. One of the most notable is in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Shadow of a Doubt'', which was filmed in downtown
Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
in the summer of 1942, using the stone depot and railroad yard as a background, as well as stock footage shot from an NWP passenger train. The NWP trestle at Greenbrae, Marin County, (MP 14.61) was featured in the 1971 film ''
Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...
''. Clint Eastwood made a famous jump from the trestle onto a school bus loaded with kidnapped children passing underneath. Stock footage of a Eureka Southern "North Coast Daylight" train was used in an episode of ABC's TV show "Moonlighting," starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard. The episode, titled "Next Stop Murder," aired on March 19, 1985 and was set on a murder mystery dinner train. Footage used included GP-38 #30 winding through South Fork and Shively, as well as a shot of the train passing through Tunnel #39. A 1991 television remake of ''Shadow of a Doubt'' was filmed at the Petaluma NWP depot, using former Daylight passenger equipment owned by the NCRA and Southern Pacific 6051, loaned from the California State Railroad Museum. In the 2003 film '' Cheaper by the Dozen'', the Santa Rosa Railroad Square and depot area were used as backdrops. The film ''Bloodloss'' or ''Day of Vengeance'' utilized the tracks for a filming location just south of Dos Rios in the summer of 2008.


See also

*
List of U.S. Class I railroads In the United States, railroads are designated as Class I, Class II, or Class III, according to size criteria first established by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1911, and now governed by the Surface Transportation Board (STB). The S ...
*
Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is a rail line and bicycle-pedestrian pathway project in Sonoma and Marin counties of the U.S. state of California. When completed, the entire system will serve a corridor between Cloverdale in north ...
, a commuter line using the Northwestern Pacific's former right-of-way *
Eureka Southern Railroad The Eureka Southern Railroad was a shortline freight and excursion railroad that ran over former Northwestern Pacific trackage in California from Willits to Eureka. Origin On September 8, 1981, Bryan Whipple purchased the soon-to-be abandoned ...
* North Coast Railroad * Arcata and Mad River Railroad *
California Western Railroad The California Western Railroad , AKA Mendocino Railway popularly called the Skunk Train, is a rail freight and heritage railway, heritage railroad transport railway in Mendocino County, California, United States, running from the railroad's he ...


Footnotes


References

* * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * *


External links


North Coast Railroad Authority
Current owner of the new Northwestern Pacific
Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society
A non-profit California corporation dedicated to preserving the heritage of Redwood Empire railroading
Railroads and the Redwood Empire
NWP Pictures
Northwestern Pacific Today
A record of the rehabilitation and operation of the NWP starting in 2009
Northwestern Pacific Railroad Network
A social network dedicated to sharing the heritage of Redwood Empire railroading
Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company
The official website of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad
Video footage of the Eel River floodAn NWP official's account of flood damage
* Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company Records. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Northwestern Pacific Railroad California railroads 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Narrow gauge railroads in California Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company History of Marin County, California History of Sonoma County, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area Transportation in Humboldt County, California Transportation in Marin County, California Transportation in Mendocino County, California Transportation in Sonoma County, California Former Class I railroads in the United States 1907 establishments in California Railway companies established in 1907 Railway companies disestablished in 1992 Railway companies established in 1996 Railway companies disestablished in 2001 Railway companies established in 2007 Interurban railways in California Non-operating common carrier freight railroads in the United States Eel River (California) Eureka, California American companies established in 1907 American companies established in 2007 Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit