The San Joaquin Valley Railroad is a

short line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

, among several in the Western Region Division of parent company, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates over about of owned or leased track primarily on several lines in California's Central Valley/

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

around

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

and

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

. The SJVR has

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

over

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, ...

(formerly Southern Pacific) between Fresno, Goshen, Famoso, Bakersfield and Algoso. The SJVR also operated for the Tulare Valley Railroad (TVRR) from Calwa to Corcoran and Famoso. On January 1, 1992, the SJVR was created to obtain and operate several branch lines from the Southern Pacific. The SJVR at this time operated as three separate legal entities: the SJVR proper, the Tulare Valley Railroad (TVRR), and the Port Railroad. From 1992 to 1997, the SJVR was owned by Kyle Railways. In 1997, SJVR's parent, Kyle Railways, was sold to States Rail. In 2002 SJVR's new parent, States Rail, was purchased by

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. controlled RailAmerica in December 2012. Today the SJVR remains a shortline within the Genesee & Wyoming family of railroads. There were two former San Joaquin Valley Railroads. One was incorporated by Leland Stanford and Associates in 1868 to build an line from

Lathrop, California Lathrop (, ) is a city located south of Stockton in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The 2020 census reported that Lathrop's population was 28,701. The city is located in Northern California at the intersection of Interstate 5 ...

to the Stanislaus River and was consolidated in 1870 into the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...

. The second San Joaquin Valley Railroad operated from 1892 to 1893 between Fresno and Friant over of track and was sold at

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

to the Southern Pacific. In 1992, the SJVR operated the entire former SP line from Fresno to Famoso, but a portion north of Famoso was later abandoned. SJVR interchanges with the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

at Fresno and Bakersfield and with the Union Pacific at Fresno and Goshen Junction. North Joint 1

As of 2023, SJVR has a maximum capacity of 263,000 in Clovis Branch, and 286,000 elsewhere. Also, there are a few interchanges:

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

(

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

and

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...

);

(

; Goshen, California and

Lines operated by SJVR

:''Line names taken from CPUC data.'' * Fresno – Exeter – Strathmore (Exeter Subdivision; former SP) * Exeter – Goshen Jct. (Goshen Subdivision; former SP) * Goshen Jct. – Hanford – Huron (Hanford Subdivision; former SP) * Exeter - Lindsay (Porterville Subdivision; former ATSF) * Burrel – Helm – Tranquility – Ingle ( Riverdale Branch; former SP) * Oxalis – Mendota – Ingle – Kerman – Fresno (West Side Subdivision; former SP) * Fresno – Clovis (Clovis Subdivision; former ATSF and SP) * Famoso – Hollis (North Joint Subdivision; former SP) * Maltha – Oil Jct. (Oil City Subdivision; former ATSF/SP) * Oil Jct. – Landco (Landco Subdivision; former ATSF) * Bakersfield – Gosford – Buttonwillow (Buttonwillow Subdivision; former SP) * Gosford – Millux (Sunset Subdivision; former Sunset Railway) * Algoso – Arvin ( Arvin Subdivision; former ATSF/SP) *

Trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

over UP from Fresno – Algoso (near Bakersfield) via Goshen Jct. (former SP)

History

West Side Line

This mainline route was formerly known as Southern Pacific's "West Side Line" and at one time extended from Tracy, California and then south through the West side of the San Joaquin Valley (I-5 corridor) via Patterson, Gustine, Newman, Los Banos, Oxalis and then east to Fresno via Ingle and Kerman. California Northern Railroad now operates the northern section of the line from Tracy to Los Banos. SJVR operates the southern section of the line from Oxalis to Fresno and was at one time owned by Port Railroads, Inc. (PRI; also a Kyle subsidiary) and operated by the SJVR. On April24, 1996, the PRI was merged into the SJVR. Both the PRI and SJVR were already Kyle Railway subsidiaries. The section of track between Los Banos and Oxalis was abandoned by Southern Pacific in 1993 and the tracks were removed soon after. The Southern Pacific constructed the track from Tracy to Newman () and from Los Banos to Armona (near Fresno) in 1891. Southern Pacific's overnight ''

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

'' passenger train (#57/58) operated over this line between San Francisco and Los Angeles into 1965.

Exeter Subdivision

In 2008, the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is an independent federal agency that serves as an adjudicatory board. The board was created in 1996 following the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and absorbed regula ...

approved the abandonment of the section of track between Strathmore and Jovista. This left the communities of Strathmore, Porterville, Terra Bella, Ducor, and Richgrove without any rail service. Tulare County broke off negotiations with the SJVR to purchase this section of track to preserve it for future use and possible reactivation, because beginning in September 2010, the tracks were being removed by the SJVR and the job was completed with the entire line having been pulled up in mid November. By March 2015, the SJVR embargoed the line with the rails spiked at the south end of Exeter with some crossing signals south already having been partially dismantled. This section of track, which runs approximately 8 miles to Lindsay was pending formal abandonment whereupon the rails were expected to be immediately pulled up upon STB approval. However the Cross Valley Corridor passenger train service is planning to upgrade the tracks to Lindsay and rebuild them to Porterville.

Clovis Branch

This mainline route was built by the Minarets and Western Railway in 1921 and went front from Friant to Wishon and connected with the Southern Pacific which operated the southern portion of the line with joint trackage rights. The Minarets and Western was owned by the Sugar Pine Lumber Company and was built the same year the lumber company was incorporated so that it could haul timber from the forest. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in 1933, the lumber company went bankrupt. The track north of Friant was abandoned and the Pinedale Branch was bought by Southern Pacific, where it was later known as the Pinedale Spur of the Clovis Branch. Southern Pacific later sold the spur and Clovis Branch to the SJVR which abandoned the line above North Sabre Drive in the mid 1990s and today the Pinedale Spur is preserved as the Fresno-Clovis Rail Trail.

Visalia District

The Visalia District ran from

Corcoran, California Corcoran is a city in Kings County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 22,339, down from 24,813 2010 United States census, (2010 census). Corcoran is located south-southeast of Han ...

to Calwa, California. The line was originally built by the

San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad The San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad was a California rail line between Stockton and Bakersfield constructed in the late 1890s and very shortly thereafter purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and became their Val ...

and later acquired by 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 largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

. ATSF sold this line to the Tulare Valley Railroad on December 22, 1992. The TVRR did not use the segments from Corcoran to Tulare or Visalia to Cutler. Visalia was served until 1993 and Tulare was served until 1994. By 1994 the rails had been pulled up from Corcoran to Tulare and Visalia to Cutler. TVRR filed to abandon Calwa to Cutler in 1995, and this track was also subsequently removed and was gone by 1998. The only remaining sections are a short section at LacJac (near Reedley) and a 4-mile segment between Visalia and Tulare (Ambler- connection with Goshen Subdivision, to Loma- now called the Loma Industrial Lead, which is operated as part of the Goshen Subdivision).

Porterville-Orosi District

The Porterville-Orosi District was constructed by the Minkler Southern Railway, itself controlled by the Santa Fe through ownership of the entire capital stock. The line was built in 1913 and 1914. The TVRR acquired this line from the ATSF on December 22, 1992. The line ran from Minkler to Ducor, California; south of Ducor, the ATSF ran via trackage rights on the Southern Pacific's Exeter Branch to Famoso, and then to Bakersfield on the Bakersfield Subdivision, where the line split off and entered the ATSF yard. ATSF abandoned and removed the line from Orange Cove to Minkler in 1973. Most of the remaining trackage was removed by the late 1990s. By the 2000s, few shippers remained on the line. Some shippers remained in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

and Lindsay, so this section was retained. One shipper remained at Ultra (near Ducor), where the remaining 6.1 miles of track from Ducor was left intact to serve them. This track was abandoned and removed starting in 2008. As of 2025, remaining sections include the Porterville Subdivision between Exeter and Lindsay, which is currently used mainly for car storage, and the Landco Subdivision in Bakersfield, an important connector between the UP and BNSF lines there.

Traffic

The railroad's main traffic sources are petroleum gas and agricultural products. In 2008, the SJVR hauled around 39,000 carloads.

Rolling stock

The railroad operates GP15-1s, GP40-2s, GP28s, GP20s, GP38s, GP38-2s, BL20-2s, and SE24Bs.

References

*Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide 5th ed. (Kalmbach Publishing, 1996) *Mike Walker, SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - California/Nevada Post Merger Edition, (Steam Powered Publishing & SPV, 1997) Ownership and detail of rail lines.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:San Joaquin Valley Railroad California railroads Regional railroads in the United States RailAmerica Companies based in Tulare County, California Spin-offs of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Transportation in Fresno County, California Transportation in Kern County, California Transportation in Kings County, California Transportation in Tulare County, California