Postcard: Sacramento railcar 1005 on Bay Bridge (1941)
Archive: Henrik Boye.
Photographer: Ken Yeo.
Date: May 23, 1941.
City: Sacramento (United States).
The picture shows
Sacramento Northern Railway
Closed
Sacramento railcar 1005.
Description
Vanishing
Vista
Specifications, S. N. # 1005
Type: Passeger-baggage combination motor
Construction: Composite wood and steel, steel frame
Builder: Holman Car Co., San Francisco, 1912
Seating capacity: 50, on red plush seats
Weight: 87,300 pounds
Length (over bumbers): 58' 0''
Width: 9' 10''
Height (less pantographh): 13' 1''
Trucks: Baldwin type 78-30B
Wheels: 36-inch steel MCB
Motors: Four Westinghouse 322-E, 120 h.p. each
Pantograph: Westinghouse type US-121A
Trolley poles: Three 12-foot type US-14
When this photograph of combine number 1005 was taken in Yuba City, California, in 1961, the once great Sacramento Northern interurban empire had become a segmented freight feeder for the Western Pacific Railroad, and electric operation had dwindled to a few miles of track in the Marysville-Yuba City yard area. At one time, however, the system was the longest interurban operation in the world, with a main line stretching fpr 183 miles through Northern California.
One could board the cars at Chico, California, and enjoy the views of the fertile Sacramento Valley as they flashed by at sixty miles per hour. Then a refreshing interludier as the cars were put aboard the car ferry Ramon and transferred across the choppy waters of Suisun Bay. Upon reaching land the cars would once again resume their high-speed journey. Thepace would ease as the train passed through the sylvan wilds of the Berkeley Hills and threaded its way through the crowded streets of Oakland to the busy Key System pier. Then came the thrill of crossing San Francisco Bay on one of the orange Key ferries to reach The City itself. On January 15, 1939, the ferries were discontinued and the Sacramento Northern and Key System trains began using the newly-opened Bay Bridge to run directly into San Francisco. This, incidently, was the first time direct rail service had ever been available into San Francisco from the east or north. For car #1005 the run was simply routine, even when operating in the consistsof such famous trains as the Comet, the Meteor or the Sacramento Valley Limited.
Through service over the Bay Bridge was only a dramatic final curtain for the Sacramento Northern's passenge operations, though. Improved highways and the increasing popularity of the automobile drained away passengers, and on August 26, 1940, passenger service between San Francisco and Sacramento was discontinued. Two monthe later, on October 31, 1940, service north of the Capital City to Chico and Woodland was abandoned. Suburban sevice from San Francisco to Pittsburg (48 miles) held out for another year until replaced by Greyhound buses.
The #1005 was in the consist of the last through train from San Francisco to Chico, a round-trip special run on May 23, 1941. The car also had the dubious distinction of removing the last of the Sacramento Northern equipment from the Bay Bridge yards on June 30, 1941, the last day of regular passenger service on the system. After the abandonment of passenger service the cars were dismantled, burned, sold to other railroads, or converted to maintainance-of-way equipment.
Fortunately, fate intervened, and #1005, along with four similar cars, was given a reprieve. Title to the five cars had been transferred to the State Toll Bridge Authority as payment for the installation of special signal and control equipment in all the Sacramento Northern cars that were to operate over the Bay Bridge. After passenger operations ceased the Bridge Authority sold the five cars to the Key System which shopped them for use on its own lines between San Francisco and the East Bay communities. The re-building included removal of the trolley poles, moving the pantograph to one end of the car, installing indicator lights, and placing destination signs in the front windows. The cars were re-painted in the Key System colors and renumbered 495-499, #1005 becoming #495. The cars barely resembled the glamorous trains of the Sacramento Northern but they did their duties in the same faithful manner. The fire cars for the most part ran as a single train on the "F" line in rush hours during World War ll, and the train was affectionately known as the "City of Berkeley" by rail buffs in the area.
Finally, in June 1949, the end came again and the cars were destined for scrap. Fate stepped in once more though, and car #1005 was saved, this time with a much more secure future. The #1005 was sold to the Bay Area Electric Railway Association in 1951 and restored to its Sacramento Northern appearance. The car was used on many excursions on one such excursion, destined to be the car's last. While being deadheaded to Yuba City #1005 was slightly damaged in a minor accident and after the excursion it was retired from active service and placed on display in the Association's museum at Rio Vista Junction (on the original mainline), where it remains to this day.
The #1005 was onee of four identical cars built by the Holman Car Company of San Francisco for Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway, then under construction between Oakland and Sacramento. Passenger equipment for the OA&E wasconstructed by several builders to a design worked out by the road's own engineers, andas a result their style was unique to the line. After the OA&E (by then renamed the San Francisco-Sacramento Railroad) was absorbed by the Sacramento Northern Railway on December 31, 1928, to form the complete S. N. system, the 1000 series cars were modified to operate from the "North End's" 600 volt D.C. third-rail pick-up as well as on the former OA&E's 1200 volt overhead catenary system. This accounted for the unusual assemblage of trolley poles, pantograph, and third rail shoes on the cars. The #1005 is the only surviving example of its type, and as such it stands as a tribute to a once mightly interurban system.
Sacramento Northern Railway
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