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The Sacramento Northern Railway was originally a 93-mile (150 km) electric interurban railway linking Chico in northern California to the state capitol of Sacramento. By combining with an interurban that ran south, it expanded from Sacramento to the city of Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, operating under the name Sacramento Northern Railway between 1918 and 1983. It became a subsidiary of the Western Pacific Railroad in 1921 retaining the name Sacramento Northern. Passenger service ceased in 1941, and the system operated as a shortline freight-hauling railroad thereafter.[4] The Sacramento Northern (SN) name increased Western Pacific (WP) profits when freight was shipped by SN lineside businesses and transferred to WP. Western Pacific received more income by accepting or delivering freight with the Sacramento Northern because of transfer fees from one railroad to another. Western Pacific also owned regional sister electric railroads Tidewater Southern (Stockton to Modesto) and Central California Traction (Stockton to Sacramento).[6]

The Sacramento Northern Railway was created out of two different established interurban railroads. The third rail powered "North End" stretched north of Sacramento through the agricultural Sacramento Valley to Marysville-Yuba City and on to Chico and from 1904 to 1918 was the Northern Electric Railway. The Northern Electric reformed as the Sacramento Northern in 1918. In 1921, it was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad and became a WP subsidiary. The trolley wire powered "South End" stretched south of Sacramento through farmland, marshes, over a bay by ferry, to Pittsburg-Concord and then into the Contra Costa County hills to Oakland. From 1913 to 1919 it was the Oakland, Antioch, and Eastern Railroad. It became the San Francisco-Sacramento Railroad in 1920, and in 1928 it was purchased by and merged into the Western Pacific controlled Sacramento Northern. The two Sacramento Northern divisions used different voltages as well as the north end's third rail and the south end's overhead trolley. Thus only some interurban cars and freight locomotives could traverse the entire Chico to Oakland route due to the two different power systems.[4] When in Oakland, SN equipment using Key System tracks had to accommodate a third power form. Some equipment carried a pantograph, trolley pole, and third rail shoe.[7]

At 185 miles, the Sacramento Northern was one of the longest interurban lines in the nation and was built and operated to very high standards. As with most interurban railroads in the United States, its return on initial investment was lower and its annual operating costs were higher than had been projected at corporate conception. Interurbans as well as most railroads found themselves more labor intensive than expected, particularly in the shops maintaining rolling stock.[3] SN Passenger business was less than projected and became increasingly unprofitable, even after the Sacramento Northern reached downtown San Francisco itself via the new San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge in 1939.[4][7] Freight service was increasingly the lifeblood of the railroad, keeping it in profit long after passenger service had ceased. Although it had a somewhat shorter route from Oakland to Pittsburg/Antioch in competing with the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific steam railroads, its route through the Berkley/Oakland Hills was very steep (4%) by railroad standards.[4] Freight trains consisted of just a few cars on those grades with locomotives ("juice jacks") at both ends of the train.[1][4][5][7] From Sacramento north to Chico, the SN had direct competition with the Southern Pacific Railroad and, up to 1921, with the Western Pacific Railroad. It traversed rural farming country containing only Marysville-Yuba City as major towns before reaching Chico. Thus passenger business north of Sacramento was light and could not be expected to increase much over time. In 1921, the Western Pacific acquired the SN as a feeder line for freight business. The SN had branches to Vacaville, Woodland, Colusa, and Oroville. (cited: three Interurban Press publications regarding the history of the Sacramento Northern.)

History

The first portion to be known as the Sacramento Northern Railway was the Northern Division or "North End", created from the Northern Electric Railway in 1918; this portion linked the state capitol of Sacramento with the towns of the agricultural Sacramento Valley, stretching as far as Chico. In 1921, it was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad and operated thereafter as its subsidiary.

In 1928, the San Francisco-Sacramento Railroad (formerly the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway, and originally the Oakland and Antioch Railway) was added as the Sacramento Northern's Southern Division or "South End".

The combined high-speed main line stretched for 185 miles (298 km) between San Francisco and Chico. At the southern end, the railway shared the facilities of the Key System; at first, the Key Pier facility in Oakland, and then the crossing of the Bay Bridge into San Francisco's Transbay Terminal from 1939 after the bridge's construction.[4]

The railway's fortunes were struck a heavy blow by the Great Depression and the rise of the automobile. Interurban passenger service was ended in 1941, while streetcar service in Chico continued until 1947. Other impacts to the company were the 1951 Lisbon Trestle Collapse [1][4]in which crewmen were hurt as well as a long causeway trestle needing rebuilding ^[1], and the withdrawal of the Sacramento Northern's aging ferry, the "Ramon".[5]

Freight service continued and was heavy during the years of World War II. In 1944, the railroad received its first diesel locomotives, which began the process of de-electrification. All electric operation ceased in 1965, after which the railway operated as a minor freight subsidiary of the Western Pacific. Much trackage was abandoned over the years, especially that which duplicated routes on other railroads. The Sacramento Northern ceased to exist with the WP's acquisition by the Union Pacific in 1983. However, SN's seniority list continued and is still in use by the Union Pacific today, although it is doubtful many former WP/SN employees remain so many years after the merger.

The SN rail line connecting the California ghost towns of Montezuma, Dozier, and Cannon in Solano County is now owned and operated by the Western Railway Museum as a heritage railway. Much of the SN's equipment is part of the museum's permanent collection.

Timeline

• 1905: Northern Electric is incorporated, constructs an electrified railroad from Chico to Sacramento.
• 1913: Oakland, Antioch, (and Eastern) is incorporated, constructs an electrified railroad from Oakland to Sacramento.
• 1918: Northern Electric is renamed Sacramento Northern Railroad.
• 1920: Oakland, Antioch, and Eastern becomes the San Francisco-Sacramento Railroad.
• 1921: SN acquired by Western Pacific and becomes a subsidiary.
• 1925: new Sacramento Union Station constructed for local interurbans SN, SF-S, CCT.
• 1928: Sacramento Northern acquires SF-S and entire Chico-Oakland route is now the Sacramento Northern Railway.
• 1939: SN service begins over the new Bay Bridge into downtown San Francisco.
• 1941: passenger service ends.
• 1954: Suisan Bay ferry RAMON at Pittsburg quits. SN/WP arrange freight connection from Sacramento through Stockton to Pittsburg and Concord shippers via Santa Fe.[5]

Route

Oakland to Sacramento

Although the Sacramento Northern's Oakland Yard at 40th and Shafter was the end of the railroad's own right-of-way, its trains continued west along 40th St. on the tracks of the Key System and on to the Key System's "mole". In later years, the trains ran over the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge which was built near the site of the Oakland Mole pier, to San Francisco's downtown Transbay Terminal, connecting by way of the Key's tracks on Yerba Buena Ave. and 40th Street. This service ended with the railroad's passenger service in 1941, but freight interchange with the Key System continued until that system's demise.

The terminus of the railroad's right of way in Oakland was a compact yard on the corner of 40th Street and Shafter Avenue. The main line ran single track north up the center of narrow Shafter Street in a residential area. At the end of Shafter, the track crossed College Avenue and started a long curving 4% grade into the Berkeley Hills in the Rockridge district of Oakland. It then skirted Lake Temescal on its eastern shore and ran southeast through the Montclair district of Oakland. It crossed into Montclair over a trestle at Moraga Ave. and Thornhill Dr., then ran along a high berm between Montclair Recreation Center and Montclair Elementary School, before crossing Mountain Blvd. and Snake Road via trestle. High above the northwest side of Shepherd Canyon the line headed east, then made a sharp turn northeast as it passed through a major cut in the hill. It then climbed up Shepherd Canyon to a station called "Havens" at Paso Robles Dr., named for real estate developer Frank C. Havens, one-time partner of the Key System's "Borax" Smith who was trying to encourage sales in Shepherd Canyon. At Havens below Saroni Drive, the line entered a short ravine leading to a one mile long single-track tunnel under the Berkeley Hills. The tunnel itself is still intact but is sealed at both ends. In 1994, home developers filled in the approach ravine and tunnel mouth and constructed residential homes on this fill and on top of the tunnel. The upper one foot of the top of the tunnel portal could be observed in the back yard of one of the new homes. A home further northeast behind the first was constructed on top of the unlined tunnel, and by altering drainage in the area, caused the tunnel below the home to slowly subside. The home shifted and dropped and had to be removed.

The SN track exited the tunnel into Contra Costa County at Pinehurst Road near Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve, and immediately entered a sharp ninety degree curve adjacent to and over Pinehurst Road to run southeastward through Redwood Canyon. Although technically oriented to the northeast (perpendicular to the axis of the hills), the railroad designated a station just outside the tunnel portal as "Eastport." The tunnel portal is no longer visible, largely as a result of a landslide which occurred during the El Niño rains of the early 1980s. The right of way was located along an extant fire trail just west of the spot where Pinehurst Road makes a sharp u-turn. This fire trail was previously known as Winding Way on some maps, and was originally an old 19th century logging road built by Hiram Thorn, for bringing redwood logs out of the Moraga Redwoods and to his mill, and then over the mountain into Oakland. Even earlier, the route up the canyon to what is now Huckleberry preserve was a cattle trail for the Spanish and Mexican ranchers, en route to a landing at the mouth of Temescal Creek on San Francisco Bay.

At the sharp curve at Eastport, the tracks immediately crossed over Pinehurst road on an overpass. The right-of-way then headed down Redwood Canyon on a ledge (still apparent today) just above Pinehurst Rd. progressing southeast along the valley floor past the small community of Canyon. The line then turned north to Moraga, past St. Mary's, and thence northeasterly through Lafayette, Saranap, and the valley past Walnut Creek and to Concord and Pittsburg. Some of the right of way through Contra Costa County is now used by the BART system to Concord. At Pittsburg, the tracks ran parallel and adjacent to the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific main lines, then dropped down, turned north sharply, and went under the SFe and SP through an underpass to reach the SN ferry landing on Suisun Bay. (This track layout and underpass is still shown on a 2009 Google website map of Pittsburg.) The Pittsburg side ferry landing and depot was called "Mallard" by the SN. There, a ferry boat, the Ramon, carried the entire train across to a landing near Suisun called "Chipps" on Chipps Island. From here the line proceeded across an extensive marshland on a long trestle. After the trestle, the tracks continued north through farmland past Montezuma, Rio Vista Junction, Creed (where there was a branch west to Vacaville and Travis Airforce Base), and on to Dozier and Yolano before continuing on the four mile long Lisbon trestle (which collapsed in July 1951 as a steeple cab powered freight train of steel plate for Pittsburg was crossing it) into West Sacramento, then entered the city of Sacramento by way of the "M" Street Bridge (1911), and later by way of its replacement (1935), the Tower Bridge, which is still in use. At West Sacramento, just west of the Tower Bridge, the line to Woodland left the southbound main line and headed west. The SN progressed through downtown streets onto I Street to reach the substantial columned two story brick and stone "Union Terminal" on I Street between 11th and 12th. Union Terminal, also used by Central California Traction trains to Stockton in the early years, is now gone after use in the 1950s-1960s as a grocery store. Downtown Sacramento streets, particularly east and south of the Tower Bridge, carried many Sacramento Northern and Central California Traction tracks.

Freight service from Oakland to Lafayette ceased on March 1, 1957. Overhead wire and tracks were removed and the Shepherd Canyon tunnel sealed. The former roadbed from St. Mary's College through Lafayette was converted to the popular Lafayette-Moraga trail. The following year, freight service only extended from Walnut Creek to Sacramento. The Ferry "Ramon" was removed from service in 1954, thus creating a divide between Mallard at Pittsburg and Chipps Island. To overcome this limitation, SN, through parent Western Pacific, had obtained trackage rights on the Santa Fe Railway from Stockton to Pittsburg where SN trains could reach SN tracks and online freight shippers in Pittsburg and Concord. When the Union Pacific absorbed Western Pacific/SN, it obtained further trackage rights on the Santa Fe which extended to Port Chicago where SN had a small yard. Thus, Pittsburg trackage was removed in the early 1990s. (As of 2009, Google and MapQuest maps acquired by web searching "Rio Vista CA" shows original Sacramento Northern track and sidings (most now abandoned) at Pittsburg and north of Suisan Bay including the northward turn to Suisun Bay under the SFe-SP. The track Rio Vista-Creed is still shown as Sacramento Northern.)

Sacramento to Woodland Branch

The electrified Woodland branch line had left the main line in West Sacramento and ran 16 miles (26 km) west to Woodland (known as the Yolo Shortline RR until 2003 and now known as the Sierra Northern Railway)^[2]. This track ran on the west side of the Sacramento River over a long elevated wooden bridge (over a flood plain), and then down parallel Main St. in Woodland to the Opera House where the train turned around. Today's SERA terminates shortly before East Street several blocks East of the Opera House. The Woodland terminal was a Mission style structure and was recently reconstructed. The interurban cars exited the terminal onto Main Street through a unique archway in the station wall.

Sacramento to Marysville to Chico

From the Sacramento depot location at present day Terminal Way, the Sacramento Northern's "North End" ran north up 11th Street to a Northern Electric built girder bridge crossing the American River and then proceeded to Rio Linda. This line (the third rail former Northern Electric) continued to E. Nicolaus, then Marysville where it crossed the Feather River into adjacent Yuba City, split off the branch to Colusa, then went on to Live Oak, split off the branch to Oroville, then to Gridley and to Chico where it terminated. In Chico there were yards and primary shops. From a junction just northwest of Yuba City, another branchline ran west to Meridian and Colusa. It crossed the Sacramento River at Meridian on a narrow combined rail and vehicle bridge. From Yuba City to Meridian the track ran alongside and north of the Colusa Highway, California route 20. As of 1992, this track and unusual Meridian bridge were still in use and provided the SN a Southern Pacific-Union Pacific interchange at Colusa. As of 2009, Google website maps still show the former SN trackage in most areas alongside Route 20.

Terminals and Stations

The first Sacramento interurban terminal (for Northern Electric Ry) was at Eighth and J Streets. Sacramento's final interurban terminal was on I Street between 11th and 12th. This was called Union Station and served both Sacramento Northern and the Central California Traction. The terminal at Woodland (close to the Woodland Opera House) was unusual in that the interurban cars swung around behind it, loaded passengers, then emerged through an arch in the station wall to reenter the street. This terminall was close to the Woodland Opera House, a unique facility for such a small town.

Technical information

Electrification

Because of interconnection with the Key System, Sacramento Northern cars had to operate under a number of different electrical standards. The North End (former NE, Northern Electric Railroad) was electrified exclusively at 600 volts DC, which was the nation wide standard trolley and interurban voltage at the time of construction. Trolley wire and trolley poles were used only in urban areas. In the open country, the line used a solid, uncovered top-contact third rail. Cars built originally for the North End could not operate south of Sacramento. The South End (former OA&E, Oakland, Antioch, and Eastern) was electrified largely at 1,200 volts dc until 1936, after which it operated at 1,500 volts, with areas of 600 volts in Oakland and Sacramento.

The interurban cars had to use a pantograph rather than the trolley pole on Key System rails (electrified at 600 volts) and over the Bay Bridge (electrified at 1,200 volts for the Southern Pacific); the Key System used a covered top-contact third rail over the bridge. Because of the Key System's third rail, cars that could traverse the whole system had to have their third rail shoes removed, since the top-contact shoes would have fouled the Key System rail's cover. They were normally added or removed in Sacramento. Such all-line capable cars were switchable between 600 V and 1,200 V operation; they could also operate at half speed at the 1,200 V setting on 600 V overhead.

The Sacramento Northern's south end (former OA&E) high quality electrification structure used catenary rather than a single trolley wire leading to the eventual exclusive use of pantographs rather than trolley poles everywhere south of Sacramento. Catenary allows the vertical supporting poles to be spaced farther apart than if a single suspended trolley wire is used, plus it is better for pantograph operation at speed due to stability. (The present day (2009) South Shore line uses pantographs against a single trolley wire in Michigan City streets but has catenary for high speed operation elsewhere.)

Suisun Bay crossing

Planned bridge

The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern needed to cross Suisun Bay, and chose to do so between West Pittsburg and Chipps Island, a gap of 2,600 feet (790 m). A bridge was originally planned, but the bay saw heavy shipping traffic and thus a high-level draw bridge with long approaches was required. Construction began on the bridge in 1912; the estimated price tag was $1.5 million and construction time was estimated as two and a half years. This would have delayed the opening of the railway, and so an alternative plan of a ferry service was implemented as a temporary measure. Construction of the bridge stopped in May 1913 after construction of the pier on the Contra Costa County side, because of a shortage of funds. The railway, not meeting revenue expectations, never did restart construction, and the "temporary" ferry service became permanent. ^[3]

Car ferry service

Thus, the railway became one of only two interurbans to operate a car ferry, and was the longer and more ambitious of the two. The first ferry constructed, the 186-foot (57 m) Bridgit (a pun on "Bridge It") was constructed of wood in San Francisco and launched in July 1913. The Bridgit, however, was destroyed by fire on May 17, 1914.

After unsuccessful experiments with an unpowered barge, the railroad rented car floats from other railroads in the area and commissioned a new, steel ferry from the Lanteri Shipyard in nearby Pittsburg. The new vessel, the Ramon, was constructed entirely from flat steel plate to save time, and had no curved surfaces on its hull. It was a double-ended design with a central, raised bridge in the typical carfloat style. Power was by a 600 horsepower (450 kW) distillate engine, one of the largest ever constructed, which was rather insufficient to counteract high winds and currents in the bay.

Three tracks were installed on the deck, all long enough to carry three passenger cars or five freight cars. All three could not be used at the same time; the central track overlapped the other two, and either the single central track or the two outside tracks could be used, depending on load. All tracks were equipped with powered trolley wire.

The Ramon was retired in 1954 after a Coast Guard inspection determined that the hull plating was no longer in a safe condition, and it was scrapped locally.

Today

• Some of the Sacramento Northern's original track is still in service with the Union Pacific or other railroads, while portions of the right-of-way are used for BART in the Oakland and Walnut Creek-Concord area or light rail in the Sacramento area. A 22-mile (35 km) portion is owned by the Western Railway Museum near Rio Vista, California and Suisun City, California, and a portion of it has been re-electrified and trolleys operated as part of the museum. Extensive history with photographs are available on the museum [3] website. See References.

• A number of Sacramento Northern cars and locomotives survive. Many are at the Western Railway Museum, while others are in the collections of the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, California and the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California

• In Yuba City, the original Northern Electric bridge over the Feather River is still standing though the rails have been removed. It is located just to the south of the Hwy 20 bridge and still has the NE initials on both sides of the bridge. Another NE bridge exists in Sacramento over the American River. Now turned into a bike/jogging path, it runs from downtown Sacramento to the suburb of Rio Linda crossing the old NE bridge and is paved with asphalt.[4]

• The Marysville depot is still standing near J St and 4th (look up the hill) and is in private use.

• The SN's Oakland Yard at Shafter and 40th was demolished in the 1960s to make way for several new structures including a medical office building. The medical office building was razed by a fire in the late 1990s. In 2006-7, a new apartment building was constructed with the name "Temescal Station", which although reminiscent of the site's former railroad use, was never the name of the SN's yard and station here. At this location, the SN tracks joined those of the Key System for the trip to the Bay Bridge and on to San Francisco.There was a Temescal Station---a stop, not a depot---just northwest of Lake Temescal. The present Interstate highway crosses Oakland's College Avenue in roughly the same location where the SN tracks had crossed coming up Shafter Avenue.

• Tracks still exist in rural Solano County south of Dixon where they cross Highway 113. These tracks run from Collinsville in the south up to Robbin Road. A large gap remains there, until the tracks continue west of Clarksburg.

• The SN's Woodland depot survived in increasingly poor condition until about 1980 when it was acquired by a private individual who found the original plans for it in the California State Archives and proceeded to raze it, then entirely reconstruct it. [5]

• Remnants of the Tres Vias to Oroville branch line (grade and culverts) are still visible along Grand Ave and to the east of the intersection of Feather Avenue and Tenth Street in rural Thermalito; the grade presently serves as a storm water levee. The stone bridge pilings also remain where it crossed the Feather River as well as some wood pilings to the east though they are being removed/buried due to construction of Riverbend Park.

• Miles of the Oakland right-of-way remain throughout the Montclair hills and the village as paved walking paths, concrete retaining walls that used to support overpasses, and high elevated embankments. These structures cut through tennis courts, the school yard, and behind the park and recreation center building. They are also visible,(althought less accessible,) behind the old firehouse and adjacent structures. From Montclair/Piedmont the SN route ascended into Shepherd Canyon and eventually entered a tunnel to cross under the Oakland hills to emerge from the tunnel and drop down toward Moraga and Walnut Creek to Pittsburg (Mallard) where the car ferry awaited. In the days of actual SN operation, the Shepherd Canyon area was lightly developed. In 1978, however, many houses had been and were being constructed around the west tunnel area. A hiking path led along the former right of way directly to the tunnel portal which had been sealed off with concrete. By 1992, a developer had placed fill at this location and a house was constructed right where the portal had been. As observed at that time, the top two feet of the concrete portal had become an unusual bench in the back yard of the new still unoccupied home. Another house sat above and behind the first directly on top of the tunnel which had not been filled in. This construction caused the tunnel to subside along with the new house, which had to be destroyed.

• Part of the NE/SN Colusa line was still in operation until just a few years ago using diesel electric motive power. While passenger service to Colusa long ago ended, freight was moved from Marysville across the Feather River on Northern Electric branded bridges into Yuba City. West of Yuba City, a combined railroad and highway bridge existed at Meridian and still existed with rails in 1992. Children at Bridge Street Elementary School often see brand new John Deere tractors and other equipment arriving in Yuba City and various agricultural commodities leaving the city. Leaving Yuba City heading westward towards Colusa on HWY 20, the abandoned NE/SN Colusa line is on the right and visible for many miles. This entire operation was abandoned by Union Pacific a few years ago with the grade crossings being removed in late 2007 from HWY 99 and HWY 20.

• A short portion of SN trackage remains south of Sankey Road, between Elverta and Pleasant Grove. From Pleasant Grove Rd., turn West on Sankey Rd. Cross the UP tracks and you'll immediately notice some abandoned trackage on the left (SN). The tracks run from south of Sankey Rd to just west of the WP tracks at a 45 degree angle. Used as a train training school at one time, the site remains with original SN trackage (that goes nowhere and connects with nothing) and some obsolete equipment (cars, engines) that were used by the defunct school. Following the levee road north of Sankey from this point, the long abandoned SN railbed and small bridges still exist (no rails). Traveling on Hwy 99 north of Sacramento when the Hwy99/Hwy70 split is reached, the old SN roadbeds are on the right. You'll see power poles still with wiring traveling next to the rail bed and a rice silo where SN once loaded freight. Traveling north on Hwy 70, the SN rail beds are on the left and are visible all the way into Marysville with interesting small bridges still in existence.

• Although the trackage has been removed, many areas between Marysville/Yuba City and Chico have evidence of the old NE/SN. The wye at Colusa Junction is obvious as the area has yet to be paved over. North from there along Tierra Buena Road (parallel to the old grade), up to the intersection with Eager Road, stands the old trestle crossing Live Oak Canal.

• In the town of Live Oak, at the old crossing with the then Southern Pacific mainline (now also Union Pacific since 1996) one can see clear evidence of the old roadbed and street crossings at both "N" Street and Nevada Street.

• Virtually every cross street west of Larkin Road from Yuba City to the Thermalito afterbay near Oroville, has evidence of the old railroad grade. Some even have rails still embedded in the asphalt. Some 500 feet (150 m) west of Larkin Road on Turner Avenue has rails in the ground. Also at the hardware store on East Gridley Road in Gridley can be seen not only rails in the concrete but the base to a grade crossing protection device.

• At the end of Anderson Way, also in Gridley off Larkin Rd, stands a foundation to a sub-station used to power the catenary wire and third rail when the line was electrified.

See also

• Northern Electric Railway-Marysville and Colusa Branch

Notes

References

• Demoro, Harre (2008). Sacramento Northern. Wilton, CA.: Signature Press.  
• Harrison, James H (2002). Sacramento Northern Gallery. Bellflower, CA.: Shade Tree Books.  
• Trimble, Paul C. (2005). Sacramento Northern Railway. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3052-2.  
• Groff, Garth G. (2006). "Sacramento Northern On-Line". http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ggg9y/home.html.  
• Middleton, Wm. D. (1964, reprint 1975.). The Interurban Era. Milwaukee, WI.: Kamlmbach Publishing.  
• Middleton, Wm. D. (1964, reprint 1975.). The Time of the Trolley. Milwaukee, WI.: Kamlmbach Publishing.  
• Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (2006). "History of the Sacramento Northern Railway". Western Railway Museum. http://www.wrm.org/about/sacramento_northern.htm.  
• Swett, Ira. (Author and publisher Swett, now deceased, spent a lifetime producing publications about interurban railways nationwide. Some are available in the Library of Congress. Interurban Press still publishes.). The Sacramento Northern Ry, Interurbans Press Special #9 (1949 & 51) and Special #26 (1971); Cars of Sacramento Northern, Interurbans Press Special #32(1963); Sacramento Northern Album, Interurbans Press Special #34 (1963.) (These are probably the most complete and detailed reference materials available regarding the Sacramneto Northern Railroad.). Glendale, California: Interurban Press.  
• Demoro, Harre. (1972). Sacramento Northern Railway.. Philadelphia, PA.: National Railway Historical Society, Volume 37, No. 6..  
• Demoro, Harre (1986). California's Electric Railways, Interurbans Press Special #100. Glendale, CA.: Interurban Press.  
• Stanley, David, Moreau, Jefferey (2002). Central California Traction. Lompoc, CA.: Western Star Distributors.. ISBN 1-930013-06-X..  
• Duke, David (2007). West Coast Interurbans.  
• Hilton, George W. & Due, John F. (1960, 2000). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3.  

External links

• Dynamic map of the Sacramento Northern Railway
• Map of the Sacramento Northern.
• Sacramento Northern book list on Yahoo
• October, 1994 Newspaper Article
• OA&E, Oakland Antioch and Eastern Railroad maps and photos
• Bay Area Rails website has many Sacramento Northern photos
• Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California website list of 97 Interurban Press/Ira Swett publications including those of the Sacramento Northern.
• Sacramento Northern Online website has extensive Sacramento Northern coverage with history and photographs.
• Western Railway Museumwebsite. Operating trolley museum at Rio Vista Junction, Solano County. History and photos of SN
• Map search by city on Google. Maps (as of 2009) for the Pittsburg to Rio Vista region and for Yuba City/Marysville show railroad tracks still labeled as the Sacramento Northern.
• California State Railroad Museum Foundation. Article regarding history of Sacramento Depots.