Puneet Varma (Editor)

Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad

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Type
  
interurban

23.8 mi 38.3 km
  
Forestville

22.6 mi 36.4 km
  
Stop 45

Founded
  
1903

Status
  
dismantled

23.4 mi 37.7 km
  
Santa Rosa

20.9 mi 33.6 km
  
Graton

Locale
  
Sonoma County, California

Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Riding in petaluma and santa rosa railroad 63


Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad was a 600 volt DC electric interurban railway in Sonoma County, California, United States. It operated between the cities of Petaluma, Sebastopol, Forestville, and Santa Rosa. A company-owned steamboat provided service between Petaluma and San Francisco.

Contents

The Portions of the original right-of-way have been acquired by the County for the West County Trail, a facility managed by the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department. A portion of the original right-of-way can be found along the waterfront in Petaluma. There are plans to re-activate this line to become a trolley line once again.

Timeline

  • 1888-1891: Predecessor horsecar lines built in Petaluma and Santa Rosa.
  • 1903: Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railway incorporated.
  • 1903: Paddle-wheel steamer Gold purchased.
  • 1904: Railway built and opened between Petaluma, Sebastopol, and Santa Rosa.
  • 1910: Steamer Resolute purchased and renamed Petaluma.
  • 1913: Branch opened to Two Rock.
  • 1914: Steamer Petaluma burns, is rebuilt.
  • 1920: Steamer Gold burns.
  • 1925: Passenger service discontinued on the Two Rock Branch.
  • 1927: New passenger and freight depot built in Santa Rosa.
  • 1928: Petaluma & Santa Rosa purchased by Northwestern Pacific Railroad.
  • 1931: Santa Rosa line dismantled from McDonald Avenue to Olive Street.
  • 1933: All trolley passenger service discontinued.
  • 1935: Steamer ferry passenger service discontinued.
  • 1946: Santa Rosa line dismantled from Olive Street to Stop 45 junction with Northwestern Pacific Railroad.
  • 1946-1947: Electric locomotives replaced by diesels.
  • 1947: Santa Rosa line dismantled from Stop 45 to Leddy junction with Northwestern Pacific Railroad.
  • 1950: Steamer Petaluma sold.
  • 1952: Two Rock branch dismantled.
  • 1961: Forestville line shortened by 1-mile (1.6 km) to Ross.
  • 1962-1966: Southern Pacific Railroad diesel locomotives replace the last Petaluma and Santa Rosa locomotive.
  • 1969: Forestville line shortened by another mile to Sagu.
  • 1973: Eight miles of track abandoned between Denman and Turner.
  • 1978: Four more miles of track abandoned between Turner and Alten.
  • 1984-1989: Line from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol abandoned. County supervisors direct the parks department to acquire portions of the abandoned right-of-way. Northwestern Pacific Railroad continued using the southern end of the line to serve local industries in Petaluma.

    • Route

    From south to north:

  • Milepost 0 - Petaluma
  • Milepost 3.6 - Denman
  • Milepost 5.1 - Liberty - branch west to: Cherry (MP 7.7) and Two Rock (MP 10.4)
  • Milepost 7.9 - Stony Point
  • Milepost 9.4 - Roblar
  • Milepost 9.6 - Quarry
  • Milepost 10.9 - Orchard
  • Milepost 11.3 - Turner
  • Milepost 13.2 - Cunningham
  • Milepost 14.9 - Alten
  • Milepost 16.7 - Sebastopol - branch east to: Leddy (MP 20.2), Stop 45 (MP 22.6), and Santa Rosa (MP 23.4)
  • Milepost 20.9 - Graton
  • Milepost 23.8 - Forestville

    • The Battle of Sebastopol Road

    The Petaluma and Santa Rosa line followed Sebastopol Road approaching Santa Rosa from Sebastopol. The construction crew needed to cross the north-south steam railroad to reach downtown Santa Rosa. The steam railroad had operated a parallel branch line from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol since 1890, and would not consent to the crossing allowing a new competitor to offer direct service downtown. Trolley service began to the west side of the crossing on 29 November 1904. Rails were laid on the east side of the steam railroad tracks, and an electric wire was strung overhead in preparation for installing the crossing. A crossing was prefabricated in Sebastopol and loaded on a flat car pushed to the crossing location. But when the interurban crew arrived to install the crossing on 3 January 1905, they found a pair of steam locomotives on either side of the crossing fitted with steam nozzles to spray hot water on anyone approaching the crossing site. The interurban construction crew retreated.

    The following day the regularly scheduled interurban car #57 arrived secretly carrying the construction crew. Before the steam railway could respond, the crew laid a temporary track across and over the steam rails and had a team of horses pull trolley #57 across to serve downtown Santa Rosa. The steam railroad then obtained a temporary injunction from a San Francisco judge prohibiting installation of the crossing. For a few weeks, passengers from Sebastopol were required to depart their arriving trolley and walk over the steam railroad to reboard trolley #57 for the remainder of the trip.

    The injunction was dissolved in late February and the interurban construction crew assembled again to install the crossing on 1 March 1905. The steam railroad appeared to be unaware of the status of their injunction, so their locomotives again discouraged the construction crew with hot water. The steam railroad also had a flat car loaded with gravel on hand for their men to fill in the excavation as soon as the interurban crew tried to dig out the crossing site. Tempers flared and several hundred Santa Rosa citizens assembled to watch the entertainment. Santa Rosa police ultimately restored order, and the crossing was installed that evening.

    Roster of freight motors

    The company roster included 89 conventional freight cars (unpowered trailers) in 1931.

    References

    Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA