San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad

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San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad
San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad Depot (Tiburon, CA).JPG
San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Station House-Depot, Tiburon, California
(on the National Register of Historic Places as the Peter Donahue Building)
Overview
Locale Northern California, USA
Dates of operation18691907
Successor Northwestern Pacific Railroad
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Schedule and rates in 1887 San Francisco & North Pacific RR Ad 1887.jpg
Schedule and rates in 1887
San Francisco and North Pacific Railway, 1893 1893 Poor's San Francisco and North Pacific Railway.jpg
San Francisco and North Pacific Railway, 1893
San Francisco &
North Pacific RR
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Ukiah (1889)
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Robinson Creek
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Hopland
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Feliz Creek
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Tunnel 9
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Tunnel 8 Squaw Rock
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Commiskey Creek
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Tunnel 7
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Tunnel 6
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Tunnel 5
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Cloverdale (1872)
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Asti
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Geyserville
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Healdsburg
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Guerneville (1877)
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Russian River
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Windsor
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Mark West Creek
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Fulton
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Santa Rosa (1870)
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Santa Rosa Creek
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Sebastopol (1890)
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Page's
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Penn's Grove
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Petaluma River
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Petaluma River
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Petaluma (1869)
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Donahue Landing
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Petaluma River
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Novato
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Novato Creek
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Ignacio
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Gallinas Creek
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Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel
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San Rafael (1879)
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San Rafael Creek
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Cal Park Hill Tunnel
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Tiburon (1884)
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San Francisco Bay

San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad (SF&NP) provided the first extensive standard gauge rail service to Sonoma County and became the southern end of the regional Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Although first conceived of by Asbury Harpending, who had even obtained many of the right of ways, the SF&NP was bought and subsequently constructed by Peter Donahue, who drove the first spike on August 30, 1869. [1]

Contents

Sonoma County's first standard-gauge railroad, operated by the Sonoma County Railroad Company, was the 1-mile (1.6 km) Petaluma and Haystack Railroad connecting the city of Petaluma with ferry service to San Francisco from Haystack Landing on the Petaluma River in 1864. Petaluma and Haystack coaches were pulled by horses after the locomotive exploded on 27 August 1866. [2]

SF&NP began construction from Petaluma northward in 1869, but inability to make satisfactory arrangements with the City of Petaluma caused the railroad to establish a new southern ferry terminus on the Petaluma River at Donahue Landing. Service was extended north to Santa Rosa in 1870, and Cloverdale in 1872. The Fulton and Guerneville Railroad was formed in 1874 to build a SF&NP branch from Fulton to Guerneville on the Russian River. The branch was completed in 1877. [3] A Sonoma County atlas from 1877 claims that along the entire 60 miles (97 km) of the railroad line, there was no cut deeper than 10 feet (3.0 m). [4]

In 1879, the SF&NP was extended south through Petaluma to San Rafael in Marin County. The San Francisco and San Rafael Railroad was formed in 1882 to extend the SF&NP south another 9 miles (14 km) to a new ferry landing in Tiburon. SF&NP ferry terminal facilities were moved to Tiburon in 1884; and Donahue Landing faded into the rural countryside. [5]

The Cloverdale and Ukiah Railroad was formed in 1886 to extend the SF&NP north to Ukiah in Mendocino County. Service began to Ukiah in 1889. The Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Green Valley Railroad was formed in 1889 to build a SF&NP branch from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol. The branch was completed in 1890. [6]

The California Northwestern Railway Company was formed in 1898 as part of Southern Pacific Railroad ambitions to reach the redwood lumber mills around Humboldt Bay. SF&NP struggled through the panic of 1893, and was leased by the California Northwestern in 1898. California Northwestern oversaw eastward connections to the Southern Pacific Railroad and northward extension to Willits before merger into the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1907. [7]

An abandoned section of the original SF&NP right-of-way from Petaluma to Donahue Landing as seen in 2019 San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad ROW in Petaluma, December 2019.JPG
An abandoned section of the original SF&NP right-of-way from Petaluma to Donahue Landing as seen in 2019

Locomotives

NumberNameBuilderTypeDateWorks numberNotes [8]
1Little Josie Norris Locomotive Works 4-4-0 18621009ex-San Francisco and San Jose Railroad #2 San Jose became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #4
2J.G.DowneyBooth4-4-0187014became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #6
3W.J.RalstonBooth4-4-0187015became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #7
4GeyserBooth4-4-0187316scrapped 1904
5Santa RosaBooth4-4-0187317became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #5
6Cloverdale Grant Locomotive Works 4-4-01878became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #11
7Petaluma Grant Locomotive Works 4-4-01878became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #12
8San Rafael Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-4-018815485became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #8
9Marin Grant Locomotive Works 4-4-018831664became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #9
10Healdsburg Grant Locomotive Works 4-4-018831665became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #10
11UkiahBooth4-4-0187430scrapped 1907
12Peter Donahue Rogers Locomotive Works 4-4-018843305became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #19
13Tom Rogers Rogers Locomotive Works 4-4-018843306became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #20
14Tiburon Grant Locomotive Works 4-4-01888became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #14
15Eureka Grant Locomotive Works 4-6-0 1888became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #102
16Vichy Rogers Locomotive Works 4-4-018894154became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #18
17Lytton Rogers Locomotive Works 4-4-018894155became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #17
18Skaggs Rogers Locomotive Works 4-6-018894212became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #101
19 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0190017759became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #110
20 Richmond Locomotive Works 4-6-019013304became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #103
21 American Locomotive Company 4-6-0190225620became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #105
22 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0190423933became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #107
23 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0190423951became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #108
24 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-4-0190424035became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #21
25 American Locomotive Company 4-6-0190225621became Northwestern Pacific Railroad #106

Sources

  1. Dillon 1984 , p. 217
  2. Kneiss 1956 , p. 142
  3. Stindt 1978 , pp. 11–13
  4. Thompson, R. A. (1877). Historical atlas map of Sonoma County, California. Fresno, Calif.: Mid-Cal Publishers. Archived from the original on December 28, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. Stindt 1978 , pp. 14–15
  6. Stindt 1978 , p. 15
  7. Stindt 1978 , pp. 16, 36
  8. Stindt 1978 , pp. 126–145

Bibliography

  • Dillon, Richard H. (1984). Iron Men: California's Industrial Pioneers: Peter, James and Michael Donahue. Candela Press.
  • Kneiss, Gilbert H. (1956). Redwood Railways. Berkeley, California: Howell-North.
  • Stindt, Fred A. (1978). The Northwestern Pacific Railroad Redwood Empire Route (Third ed.). Redwood City, California: Fred A. Stindt. ISBN   978-1112651649.
  • Stindt, Fred A. (1974). Trains to the Russian River. Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.
  • Stindt, Fred A. (1985). The Northwestern Pacific Railroad Volume Two. Kelseyville, California: Fred A. Stindt. ISBN   0-9615465-0-6.
  • Draper, Prudence and Lloyd (2004). Images of America: Cotati. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   0-7385-2873-0.