Colfax station is an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station in

Colfax, California Colfax (formerly Alden Grove, Alder Grove, Illinoistown, and Upper Corral) is a city in Placer County, California, at the crossroads of Interstate 80 and State Route 174. The population was 1,995 at the 2020 census. The town is named in h ...

. Served by the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

'', it is unstaffed. The station was built in 1905 by the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

and was restored in the early 21st century; in addition to a waiting room, the building also houses the Colfax Heritage Museum. The platform is movable to accommodate

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

rotary snowplow A rotary snowplow (American English) or rotary snowplough is a piece of Rail transport, railroad snow removal equipment with a large circular set of blades on its front end that rotate to cut through the snow on the track ahead of it. It was devel ...

s, which are liable to scrape a platform eight inches above top of rail.

History

The first station built on the site opened around 1865. The

Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) (nickname: ''Never Come, Never Go'') was located in Northern California's Nevada County and Placer County, where it connected with the Central Pacific Railroad. The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Rail ...

began service from here on April 11, 1876, running until 1942. The modern station was built in 1905. Between January 1, 1998, and February 13, 2000, a single round-trip of the ''

Capitol Corridor The ''Capitol Corridor'' is a passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, California, San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, California, Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two ...

'' terminated at Colfax. This service ended because of low ridership. The station building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1999 as Colfax Passenger Station, with the 1880-built freight depot listed separately as Colfax Freight Station. , Amtrak plans to modify the platform for accessibility later in the 2020s.

References

External links

Amtrak Stations Database
Colfax, California Amtrak stations in Placer County, California Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach stations in Placer County, California Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1865 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1905 National Register of Historic Places in Placer County, California Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in California {{California-railstation-stub