Sacramento Southern Railroad - 2020 All You Need to Know.
Rolling stock of the Sacramento Southern Railroad lined up outside the 1986 reconstructed Central Pacific freight depot in Old Sacramento. The orange and red locomotive is Southern Pacific No. 6051, a GM-EMD E-9A. The SW8 switchers are visible in the distance behind 6051 on the same track, an observation car is on the adjacent track. Pedro Xing (CC0), from Wikimedia Commons. Sacramento.
The Pacific Railway A Brief History of Building the Transcontinental Railroad. Before the advent of the transcontinental railroad, a journey across the continent to the western states meant a dangerous six month trek over rivers, deserts, and mountains.Alternatively, a traveler could hazard a six week sea voyage around Cape Horn, or sail to Central America and cross the Isthmus of Panama by.
From Sacramento north to Chico, the SN competed with the Southern Pacific Railroad and, up to 1922, with the Western Pacific from Marysville south. It traversed a low density population rural farm country from Chico which contained only Marysville-Yuba City as major towns before it reaching Sacramento. Thus, passenger business north of Sacramento was light and could not be expected to increase.
Railroad Beginnings in California. Having proven successful in the East, the first railroads built in California also provided transportation from inland communities to the rivers and ocean harbors to meet the needs of the growing population of California. The discovery of gold in California near Sutter's Mill in Coloma, east of Sacramento, on January 24, 1848 brought a huge number of people.
The resulting Sacramento Northern Railway was a remarkable line. It ran from San Francisco to Chico via Sacramento, a distance of 183 miles. It ran through a tunnel almost three quarters of a mile long in the Oakland Hills. A ferryboat carried trains across upper Suisun Bay. For many years Sacramento Northern was the fastest way to get from the Bay Area to Sacramento. Running time was two.
California State Railroad Museum Climb aboard restored railroad cars at this family favorite Consistently ranked as one of the best railroad museums in the country, the expansive California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento presents 21 meticulously restored “iron horse” locomotives, plus period-perfect railway cars, many open for one-of-a-kind walk-throughs.
The California State Railroad Museum’s popular excursion railroad — the Sacramento Southern Railroad operates April through September. Train rides include closed coach cars, open-air gondolas and a first-class observation car pulled by either Granite Rock No. 10 steam locomotive or one of our vintage diesel locomotives from the Museum’s collection.