Reporting mark NWP | ||
 | ||
Locale California's North Coast from Marin County to Eureka Successor Southern Pacific Transportation Company Track gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Previous gauge 80 miles (130 km) of system originally 3 ft (914 mm) Headquarters Schellville, California - Operational, Palo Alto, California - Administrative | ||
The Northwestern Pacific Railroad (reporting mark NWP) is a regional railroad that serves the North Coast of California. Its main line is 271 miles (436 km) long and runs between Schellville and Eureka. An additional portion of the line runs from the Ignacio Wye to the edge of San Rafael. Currently, only the 62 mi (100 km) stretch between Schellville and Windsor is in operation with freight and SMART commuter trains.
Contents
- History
- The SP Era
- 1964 Flood of Eel River Drainage
- Sales and Shortline Development
- North Coast Railroad Authority
- The new NWP 2009 present
- Predecessor lines
- Route
- Narrow Gauge Line
- Railroad in film
- Additional reading
- References
The portion of the NWP main line between the Ignacio Wye in Marin County and the depot in Healdsburg is owned by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), a commuter railroad. The Schellville–Ignacio and Healdsburg–Eureka portions are owned by the North Coast Railroad Authority. Private contractor "NWPco" operates freight service under NCRA lease.
History
In the late 1800s both the Southern Pacific Railroad ("SP") and the Santa Fe Railroad had great interests in building lines north from San Francisco to Humboldt County to transport logs south. Both railroads planned to build a line north, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("AT&SF") starting with a boat connection in present-day Larkspur, California, and the Southern Pacific, starting at its interchange in American Canyon, north through Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties to finally terminate in Eureka, California. As plans went forward it became clear that only one railroad would be profitable in the Eel River Canyon, 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 Schellville, California to Eureka. Construction was finally completed through the unstable Eel River canyon in October 1914 when a "golden spike" ceremony and celebration was held to mark the accomplishment. The Southern Pacific Railroad controlled the southern end of the line from Willits south to Marin and Schellville, while the AT&SF controlled the northern end from Willits to Eureka. There were also dozens of miles of narrow gauge trackage in Marin, which was controlled by SP.
The railroad service became popular; a 1911 daily NWP timetable shows 10 passenger trains each way, plus dozens of freights.
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, and by 1935 both freight and passenger service slowed to a crawl because of the Great Depression. With the onset of World War II, freight shipments rose while passenger service stayed roughly the same. Freight service on the NWP picked up heavily again in the 1950s as a large increase in the demand for lumber came about due to the post-war housing boom.
Branch lines were dismantled during the 1930s. The Sebastopol branch became redundant following purchase of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad in 1932, and California State Route 12 adopted the former alignment between Leddy and Sebastopol. The Trinidad extension reverted to a logging line after NWP service ended in 1933. Sonoma County's River Road adopted the former alignment of the Guerneville branch from Fulton to Duncans Mills after rails were removed in 1935. During March, 1958, with the exception of the tri-weekly Willits-Eureka Budd Rail Diesel Car passenger service, all mainline passenger service was discontinued. The "Budd car" made its last run in 1969.
Freight traffic remained high until the 1970s. 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 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.
Many Humboldt County mills began shipping lumber in trucks when a fire in the Island Mountain tunnel closed the line north of Willits in 1978, and only half of that traffic returned to the rails when the line reopened in 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 United States. 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.
1964 Flood of Eel River Drainage
This is a complex history related to the winter rainstorms common to northern California and the Northwest. As the result of an enormous winter flood, NWP's infrastructure was wiped out in many places. {this is a stub].
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. Under the reporting marks EUKA, the Eureka Southern operated revamped tourist train service as well as promising reliable freight traffic, the line was bankrupt within several years after hardships with the Eel River Canyon. In 1989, the North Coast Railroad Authority was founded by the California Legislature under the North Coast Railroad Authority Act to save the NWP from total abandonment.
In 1992, what was left of the Eureka Southern was sold to the NCRA, who operated it as their "North Coast Railroad" until 1995 when severe flooding of the Eel River led to an almost total washout. As a result, the north end of the NWP has not been in active service since 1995.
Beginning in the late 1980s, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District began to purchase sections of the NWP's south end from the Southern Pacific Railroad. The SP began to lease the line to the California Northern Railroad in 1993, until the entire south end was purchased by a combination of the GGBHTD and Marin and Sonoma Counties, which operational control was merged on April 30, 1996 with the NCRA.
In 1996, the California Northern Railroad lease was terminated, and the NCRA took over operations of the line between Schellville and Willits. Using "Black Widow" EMD GP9 and SD9 locomotives, the "new" NWP ran from 1996 until 1998 and ran both freight service and occasional passenger excursion service from Santa Rosa and Healdsburg to Willits. Despite the new operations, the line was plagued by a series of harsh El Nino storms, and operational and financial mismanagement. Unsafe operating conditions, including washouts and bridge instability made even slow track speeds dangerous, and caused derailments on many occasions. In 1998, after financial problems caused a default on equipment loans, six Black Widows were returned to their lessor Omni-trax, and former Southern Pacific SD9s, leased from BUGX, and former North Coast Railroad GP9s, owned by the NCRA, were pressed into service, as well as sets of maintenance of way equipment. Much of this equipment remained in storage at the Willits and Schellville yards, with the first set being returned to BUGX in December 2016.
In 2001, after a brief rebuild and using three leased locomotives, the NWP resumed service between Schellville and Cotati, but was shut down after only a month of operation under the first and only Emergency Order issued by the Federal Railroad Administration. In 2011, after a brief rebuilding process, the NWP was reopened between Schellville and Windsor, California. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit commuter train construction began shortly after.
North Coast Railroad Authority
In 1992, the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) purchased the Eureka Southern and leased the line to the newly formed North Coast Railroad. The NCRA was created by state law in 1989 to preserve the Northwestern Pacific line from future abandonment. In 1996, the North Coast RR and the former "south end", owned by the Southern Pacific RR, became the "new" Northwestern Pacific Railroad under public ownership. The goals of the new Northwestern Pacific Railroad include handling more freight by rail along the Highway 101 corridor, establishing passenger excursion trains, and eventually providing regular passenger commuter service. In 1998 the railroad, which had more than 208 damaged sites along 216 mi (350 km), became the first and only railroad in the United States to be officially closed by the Federal Railroad Administration. In January 2001, the NWP was reopened between Willits and Novato, but service was temporarily discontinued in September 2001 because the operator lacked capital to continue operations. The track from Lombard to Healdsburg is owned by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District; the California Northern Railroad (CFNR) has trackage rights granted from Schellville to Willits.
On May 31, 2006, NCRA announced that it had selected a new operator for the revamped freight line. The winning bidder was NWP, Inc., led by CEO John H. Williams who had been instrumental in setting up Caltrain service on the San Francisco Peninsula. NCRA announced approval of a 5-year contract with NWP Co. in September 2006. The new NWP currently operates the line from Eureka to Schellville over the length of the original route of the NWP.
By late 2007, the NCRA was granted 500 million dollars to restore the original line from Napa to Willits. With Marin and Sonoma counties' Measure Q passing in 2008, the new SMART Rail began construction, with regular passenger trains beginning in late Spring 2017 between Sonoma County Airport and San Rafael, with bus connections to the Larkspur ferry landing and city of Cloverdale. Work forces began tie and ballast reconstruction from Schellville to Windsor in 2009.
Line reconstruction work began in early 2009, including electrical work and ballast and tie work. The NCRA and Northwestern Pacific Railroad had originally planned to start regular freight service on the line in late fall 2009, but a lawsuit filed by the City of Novato pushed the date back to early 2010. Reballasting and replacement of bad ties between Schellville and Windsor was completed by October 2009, with Federal Railroad Authority (FRA) inspections finished in early 2011. An earlier target date in 2010 was delayed when the Federal Railroad Administration ruled NCRA's petition to reopen the line was dependent upon approval from Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), with whom the NWP shares trackage. This ruling was reversed in November 2010, with a joint-operating agreement following shortly after.
In June 2011, the Northwestern Pacific reopened the line and began operations over the section of track between Napa and Windsor, California. Service consists of about three trips weekly over the line. The railroad has hauled grain for dairy and poultry farms in Sonoma County, and lumber products out of Windsor and Schellville. Occasional construction trains for SMART have also been an integral part of NWP carloads. At Napa, the railroad exchanges freight carloads with the California Northern Railroad in American Canyon.
The new NWP (2009-present)
Beginning as early as 2009, the NCRA began to rebuild and repair the NWP between Schellville and Windsor. Among the challenges faced in the attempt to reopen freight service including a lawsuit with the City of Novato, as well as operational concerns between the NCRA and SMART. In early 2010, it was announced that NWPco had won the bid for contract service, and in July 2011 the first freight train delivered grain to Petaluma. Trains today on the NWP run from the Lombard interchange with the California Northern Railroad, up to Windsor. Currently, grain and lumber transloads make up the bulk commodity of NWP shipments, however, occasional maintenance of way work for SMART and car storage in Schellville are also common.
Plans for the future of NWP freight are hazy, as plans and rumors about reconstruction of the line north have been spread for years. While SMART will eventually extend commuter service to Cloverdale, NCRA and NWPco have both publicly announced plans to open the line to the Skunk Train connection and major yard facility in Willits, although no timeline has been established. Both agencies plans are dependent on state and federal grants, and the success of the SMART train. There are no established plans to reopen the Eel River Canyon segment, however, multiple tourist companies have expressed interested in possibly opening an excursion and dinner train that would traverse Humboldt and Arcata bays, but have been faced by many legal hurdles and financial issues.
Predecessor lines
Route
NWP mileposts conform to Southern Pacific Railroad convention of distance from San Francisco:
Narrow Gauge Line
The NWP 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line was built as the North Pacific Coast Railroad in 1873 from a San Francisco ferry connection at Sausalito 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. The 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge NWP Guerneville branch was extended to Monte Rio in 1907 and the line from Monte Rio to Duncans Mills was dual gauged in 1909. Summer tourists from San Francisco visited Russian River vacation spots via joint narrow gauge/standard gauge NWP "triangle" excursions until automobile travel became more popular. The southern end of the line was standard gauged from San Francisco Bay to Point Reyes Station at the head of Tomales Bay in 1920. The line up Austin Creek to Cazadero was standard gauged in 1926. The remaining line from Monte Rio to Point Reyes Station was dismantled in 1930. The route of the narrow gauge line from Fulton to Duncan Mills became a popular back 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.
Railroad in film
The Northwestern Pacific Railroad has been featured in quite a few films, thanks to 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 in the summer of 1942, using the stone depot and railroad yard as a background.
The NWP trestle at Greenbrae, Marin County, (MP 14.61) was featured in the 1971 film "Dirty Harry". Clint Eastwood made a famous jump from the trestle onto a school bus loaded with kidnapped children passing underneath.
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.