California Northern Railroad

Current Suisun/Fairfield - Schellville

Presently, the CFNR only operates between Suisun/Fairfield to a connection with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Schellville, California. The CFNR also operated into Vallejo, California over the original California Pacific Railroad mainline that was constructed in 1867/1868. Due to the new construction of homes, apartments, and commercial buildings in 2010, the CFNR abandoned the line due to a new rail carrier coming in and operating the line. Mare Island Naval Base, in Vallejo, is coming back alive to the newly established Mare Island Rail Service out of Olympia with scrap metal, rock, and boating material being shipped in and out of the Island. A facility on the northern part of the island operated by rail contractor Alstom is currently repairing Capitol Corridor cars used by the Amtrak California fleet around the Bay Area for passenger service.

CFNR operates over the Union Pacific's Martinez Subdivision with trackage rights between Suisun/Fairfield and Davis during weeknights for power changes and the Suisun/Fairfield based Local which interchanges cars between Suisun/Fairfield and Davis.

1993 Operation between Schellville - Willits

Originally, in 1993 the CFNR operated much further than Schellville and their operation extended as far north as Willits, California. At Willits the CFNR interchanged with the North Coast Railroad. The North Coast Railroad ran from Willits - Eureka, California over the old NWP.

The CFNR also interchanged with the California Western Railroad at Willits. The California Western Railroad runs west from Willits to Fort Bragg, California.

Lombard Yard

Located in American Canyon, California, Lombard yard served as CFNR's headquarters for several years. Lombard Yard services such customers as Central Valley Builder's Supply, All Bay Mill & Lumber, Biagi Bros. Shipping, Hess Vineyards, and several others. Also home to CFNR's Lone Palm Shops, routine maintenance and small repairs are carried out by the CFNR shop crews there.

SP's West Valley Line (Davis - Tehama)

The CFNR currently operates over SP's former West Valley Line. This line between Woodland and Tehama was constructed by Central Pacific's subsidiary, the Northern Railway. The track between Davis and Woodland was built by the California Pacific Railroad and at one time extended as far north as Yuba City/Marysville via Knight's Landing.

The California Pacific and Northern Railway/Central Pacific came under the operational control of Southern Pacific between 1885-1888.

Construction Completion Timeline

In 2009 CFNR repaired the Thomes Creek Bridge in Corning for a connection in Tehama, CA with the Union Pacific Railroad. Currently CFNR uses the last 4 miles of the West Valley Subdivision leading to Tehama Wye as a 200 car parking lot of centerbeams for the Union Pacific Railroad. The Hamilton City Branch is also used to store centerbeams for the Union Pacific Railroad due to the closure of the Holly Sugar Beet Plant and the Sierra Nevada Beer Plant which moved to Chico. Due to a severe drop in traffic in 2011 the CFNR abolished the Monday-Friday Corning Flyer and re-established it as a Monday, Wednesday, Friday operation with the crew base being "on-call" Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Bell Carter Olive Company is still the primary customer on the Northern part of the line, along with Land O'Lakes in Orland and Artois Feed & Grain in Artois. Many customers on that end of the line have moved to private trucking companies to transport their goods due to lower prices.

SP's West Side Line (Tracy - Los Banos)

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 - 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 1996 April 24 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 (37 miles) and from Los Banos to Armona (near Fresno) in 1891. Southern Pacific's overnight Owl passenger train (#57/58) operated over this line between San Francisco and Los Angeles into the 1960s.

Primary traffic on the West Side Subdivision is food and agriculture based commodities such as Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Grain, and other Agriculture goods. An ethanol facility located near Tracy, CA is starting to maximize production which brings in more traffic for the CFNR including Grain, Corn, and fuels used to run the facility to produce the ethanol. The Tracy Crew is a Monday-Friday operation but may work an occasional Saturday if a customer needs switching out. The crew base is located in Tracy, CA where CFNR interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad.

CFNR Interchanges

Union Pacific Railroad:

Northwestern Pacific Railroad:

Napa Valley Railroad:

Mare Island Rail Service:

Pipe train

Napa Pipe is located at Rocktram, on the Napa branch. Between 1993 and 2004, California Northern ran a unit pipe train from Lombard to Roseville, CA. California Northern would pick up short cuts of cars from Napa Pipe, and assemble the train in Lombard yard, usually filling two tracks. The pipe trains would sometimes be combined with Rabanco’s MSW (Material Solid Waste) trains, forming 100+ - car trains, sometimes with two sets of helpers.

Locomotives

Motive power for the California Northern had consisted of fourteen EMD GP15-1 locomotives, two EMD SD40 locomotives, two EMD SD9 locomotives, two EMD SD9E locomotives, and one EMD SW1500 locomotive, built between the late 1940s and 1970s. Currently, California Northern owns nine locomotives, as several have been sold to other railroad companies, including Union Pacific, Fillmore and Western Railway, Trans Canada Switching, Hudson Bay, Mosaic, Twin Mountain,and San Joaquin Valley Railroad. In 2009 the railroad began a program to replace their existing fleet with new fuel-efficient locomotives, known as "gensets", or 3GS21B-DE, built by National railway Equipment. 80 percent of the funding for the purchase of these new locomotives comes from a grant from the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District

As of December 2011 the following GP15-1 locomotives have been moved from CFNR property to other RailAmerica properties across the entire system: CFNR 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111. CFNR GP15-1's 109 and 112 are being kept as backup units in case any of the new "gensets" have mechanical failures, if a train needs more motive power, or for special assignments within the CFNR property.

Control Car Remote Control Locomotive

The California Northern had one Control Car Remote Control Locomotive (CCRCL) for a time, numbered 2019. Housed inside the frame of an ex-Santa Fe EMD GP20, the unit remained in Santa Fe's "Kodachrome" scheme until its sale.

Rolling stock

In 1998, the California Northern leased fifty gondolas from Daniel J Joseph leasing, LTD (DJJX). Numbered 52001 – 52050, these cars remained on the CFNR for several years until their return to DJJX.