Northwestern Pacific Railroad

The SP era

Quick Facts Overview, Headquarters ...

Northwestern Pacific Railroad

Train at Santa Rosa, California in 1911
Overview
Headquarters	Schellville, California - Operational Palo Alto, California - Administrative
Reporting mark	NWP
Locale	California's North Coast from Marin County to Eureka
Dates of operation	1907 (1907)–1998 (1998)
Successor	Southern Pacific Transportation Company Eureka Southern Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Previous gauge	80 miles (130 km) of system originally 3 ft (914 mm)
Length	271 miles (436 km)

Close

Passenger service boomed until the 1930s, when improved roads and highways made traveling and shipping by motor vehicle more accessible. By 1935 freight and passenger service diminished because of the Great Depression. With the onset of World War II, freight shipments rose while passenger service remained constant. Freight service on the NWP increased in the 1950s owing to an increase in lumber demand 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.^[5]

Diesels were being used on all trains by 1953, with the exception of ten-wheelers number 181 and 183 pulling passenger trains numbered 3 and 4 between San Rafael and Eureka with number 182 on standby. The #3/#4 trains offered sleeping cars, a cafe-lounge in addition to coach cars. Passengers from San Francisco would take Greyhound Buses from the San Francisco Ferry Building at the base of Market Street to San Rafael.^[6] NWP locomotives 112, 140, 141, 143, and 178 plus SP numbers 2345, 2356, 2564, 2582, and 2810 were stored at Tiburon for emergency use;^[7] but steam power had disappeared by 1955. On November 10, 1958, all mainline passenger service was discontinued south of Willits.^[8][9] The only remaining service was a tri-weekly Willits-Eureka round trip, operated by a single Budd Rail Diesel Car, which ran until April 30, 1971.^[10] When Amtrak took over intercity passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, it did not continue service on the NWP.

1964 flood damage

The catastrophic Christmas flood of 1964 destroyed 100 miles (160 km) of the railroad in Northern California, including three bridges over the Eel River, and permanently changed the topography of the area. The line was closed for 177 days while 850 men rebuilt the railroad through the Eel River canyon. The line was reopened on 16 June 1965.^[11] In the years following the 1964 flood, the rail line was less reliable due to increased landsliding in the Eel River Canyon; but freight traffic remained high until the 1970s, as improvements to US Highway 101 cut hauling times, making trucking competitive with the rail line. 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 (8 km) 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.^[12]

1978 tunnel fire

Many Humboldt County mills began shipping lumber in trucks when a fire caused collapse of the Island Mountain tunnel, or tunnel 27, closing the line north of Willits on 6 September 1978, and only half of that traffic returned to the rails when the line reopened on 10 December 1979.^[12] 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.^[10] 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.

Sales and shortline development

From the early 1970s into the 1980s the SP began substantially cutting back non-core routes. In 1971, the line from Sausalito, once a major terminal on the line, was abandoned and converted into a walking path connecting to similar trails throughout Marin built upon the former interurban lines.

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 freight trains and revamped tourist train service until bankrupted by storm damage in the Eel River Canyon, selling the railroad and most equipment by 1992.^[13][14]

In 1984 and 1989, the former Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad line from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol was acquired by the Sonoma County parks department, and converted into the Joe Rodota Trail for walking and biking.

North Coast Railroad Authority (1989-2022)

The California Legislature formed the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) in 1989 to save the NWP from total abandonment. NCRA purchased the Eureka Southern in 1992 and leased the line to the newly formed North Coast Railroad^[15] In late 1996, severe flooding of the Eel River led to widespread landslide damage and destruction of roadbed which remained unrepaired and halted most service. A lack of capital along with previous customers now finding the railroad expensive and unreliable after switching to truck traffic made repairs difficult to finance and complete. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) prohibited any train operation north of Willits in 1998.^[16] This order was amended in 1999 to allow the connecting California Western Railroad to resume operation to Willits Depot and turn trains on the wye at Willits Yard after agreeing to assist in the maintenance of the same.^[17]

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District began purchasing sections of the NWP's south end from the Southern Pacific to save for a potential commuter train route thanks to growing suburbs in Marin and Sonoma counties. The SP required the California Northern Railroad (CFNR) to take over freight operations on the NWP in 1993 as a part of their long-term lease agreements for their main stretch of trackage in the Napa, Fairfield, and Woodland areas. The CFNR generally operated one train from Willits to Hopland, where freight cars were transferred to a second train from Hopland to Schellville.^[18] The track from Lombard to Healdsburg was owned by the precursor to SMART, and the CFNR had trackage rights granted from Schellville to Willits where interchange occurred with the North Coast Railroad and the California Western Railroad.^[19]

When the CFNR lease of the NWP was terminated, the NCRA via a contractor took over operations using EMD GP9 and SD9 locomotives painted in the SP "Black Widow" colors running both freight service and occasional passenger excursion service from 1996 to 1998. The line was plagued by a series of harsh El Nino storms from 1997 to 1998 causing significant washouts and bridge instability on top of already deferred infrastructure maintenance and mismanagement. The six EMD locomotives, defaulted on their lease, were returned to their lessor Omni-Trax in early 1998 and replaced by SP SD9s leased from Diesel Motive Company (reporting mark BUGX) and former North Coast Railroad GP9s owned by the NCRA. Maintenance and repair orders by the Federal Railroad Administration that were not addressed ultimately led the FRA to shut down all operations over the entire length of the line on November 22, 1998 under Emergency Order 21, the first and only time it had ever done so until the 2023 shutdown of the Blackwell Northern Railroad.^[20] The six EMD locomotives, defaulted on their lease, were returned to their lessor Omni-trax in 1998. Former SP SD9s, leased from Diesel Motive Company (reporting mark BUGX), and former North Coast Railroad GP9s, owned by the NCRA, were then pressed into short-lived service before additional washouts, mechanical failures, and low revenue again closed the line. By 2016, several movements including scrapping of former equipment in Eureka and returning of leased and privately stored equipment in Willits, Petaluma and Schellville had begun.

In January 2001, the NWP briefly resumed service between Schellville and Cotati using three leased locomotives with reporting mark "NWPY",^[21] but service was discontinued in September 2001 because the operator lacked capital to continue operations. Except for the brief SMART hy-rail inspection trip and few speeder tours, the line lay dormant and out of service until 2007.

SMART and NWPco (2002–2024)

By 2002, the GGBHTD has purchased most of the “South End” and formed the “SMART District” to oversee funding and potential future operations. In November 2006, Measure R was passed with a combined 65.3% “yes” vote in the two-county District but ultimately failed to meet the “2/3 supermajority.” In 2008, Measure Q passed providing funding for the construction of a commuter railroad through a quarter-cent sales tax. Though it was thought that this would provide enough initial funding, it did not. Consequently, the railroad would be constructed in stages over several years.

In 2009, SMART began initial electrical work on the line which was paralleled by reballasting and replacement of bad ties between Schellville and Windsor. In 2006, NCRA awarded a 99-year lease to NWPco, who would operate trains under reporting mark "NWP." In June 2011, the line was reopened for freight traffic and operations began between Schellville and Windsor, California, 62 miles. In July 2011 the first freight train delivered grain to Petaluma. Trains on the NWP run from the Lombard interchange with the California Northern Railroad, up to Windsor. The railroad predominantly carries grain for dairy and poultry farms in Sonoma County, but also has provided shipment of lumber products out of Windsor, Petaluma and Schellville, a large piece of equipment for Pacific Gas and Electric, construction trains for SMART, bulk car storage, and currently hosts the Golden Gate Railroad Museum storage lot on a former lumbar yard spur in Schellville.

Regular passenger trains operated by SMART began in late Spring 2017 between Sonoma County Airport and San Rafael, later opening the Larkspur station with a connection to the Larkspur ferry landing. While SMART will eventually extend commuter service to at least Cloverdale, NCRA and NWPco had plans to open the line to the Skunk Train connection and major yard facility in Willits, but no timeline was established or attempts made before NCRA was dissolved, and as of 2024 there is little interest by SMART. Both agencies' plans were dependent on state and federal grants, and the success of the SMART train.^[22] Although tourist companies along with local historical groups have expressed interest in possibly opening an excursion and dinner train that would traverse Humboldt and Arcata bays, there are no plans to reopen the Eel River Canyon segment.^[23]

Disbanding of the NCRA, and SMART (2019 - present)

Financial disarray and legal troubles beginning before the turn of the millennium ^[24] caused the NCRA to fall out of favor with local and state officials as well as the public.^[25] In 2020, the SB 69 Great Redwood Trail Act was passed, tasked with dissolving the NCRA and the creation of a 320-mile public trail.^[26] California's 2018 Great Redwood Trail Act includes detailed plans for investigating and resolving the Authority's debts, dissolving the NCRA, and converting its rights-of-way to rail-trail.^[2][27]

In the bill, the Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) acquired 21 miles (34 km) from Healdsburg north to the Mendocino-Sonoma County border in September 2020, and in February 2022, took over NWP freight operations, having been approved by the US Surface Transportation Board.^[28][29] Today, freight service is operated by SMART. Freight services continue to use locomotives previously both owned and leased by NWPco, now by SMART, in various “Northwestern Pacific” themed schemes.

Route

Mileposts conform to Southern Pacific Railroad convention of distance from San Francisco.^[36]

• Milepost 6.5 – Sausalito^[37][38]
• Milepost 11.7 – tunnel 1
• Milepost 12.6 – Corte Madera^[39]
• Milepost 13.4 – Larkspur
• Milepost 14.7 – Kentfield
• Milepost 16.5 – Junction later known as San Anselmo^[40]
• Milepost 18.3 – Fairfax
• Milepost 20.7 – tunnel 2
• Milepost 23.1 – Nicasio
• Milepost 27 – bridge over Paper Mill Creek and highway (former hamlet of Taylorville)^[41]
• Milepost 35.6 – Arroyo San Geronimo trestle^[42]
• Milepost 36.4 – Point Reyes Station^[43]
• Milepost 45.4 – Marshall
• Milepost 50.5 – bridge over Keyes Creek^[44]
• Milepost 51.9 – tunnel 3^[45]
• Milepost 53.1 – Tomales^[46]
• Milepost 53.7 – tunnel 4
• Milepost 54.9 – Stemple Creek trestle
• Milepost 58.8 – Estero Americano Creek trestle
• Milepost 59.5 – Valley Ford
• Milepost 61.9 – Ebabias Creek trestle
• Milepost 62.2 – Bodega Road crossing^[47][48]
• Milepost 62.7 – Salmon Creek trestle
• Milepost 63.7 – Freestone^[49]
• Milepost 65.2 – Salmon Creek trestle^[47]
• Milepost 66.9 – Brown Creek trestle (this 142-foot (43 m) high trestle was reputedly the highest of its kind in the United States when built in 1876)^[50][51]
• Milepost 67.6 – Occidental^[52][53]
• Milepost 68.7 – Maquire Creek trestle
• Milepost 69.0 – Camp Meeker^[54][55]
• Milepost 70.5 – Larry Creek trestle
• Milepost 70.8 – bridge over Dutch Bill Creek
• Milepost 71 – tunnel 5
• Milepost 71.6 – bridge over Dutch Bill Creek
• Milepost 71.7 – bridge over highway
• Milepost 73.8 – Monte Rio^[56][57]
• Milepost 77 – bridge over Russian River^[58][59]
• Milepost 77.1 – Duncans Mills^[60]
• Milepost 82.1 – bridge over Austin Creek^[61]
• Milepost 84.3 – Cazadero^[62][63] The D.H. McEwen Lumber Company operated narrow gauge 2-cylinder Shay locomotive C/N 1823 at Cazadero briefly beginning in 1906.^[64]

Locomotives