In the upcoming events section of an issue of "Flimsies, The Only Magazine of Western Railroading", I noticed a listing for a late Friday afternoon excursion on the Yolo Shortline from West Sacramento to Clarksburg, as well as their regular Woodland-to-West Sacramento trip. These would allow me to ride over the former Sacramento Northern lines which were were sold by Union Pacific after they acquired Western Pacific. My plan was to drive up on Friday to ride the Clarksburg excursion then stay at the Motel 6 in Woodland and be on Saturday's train.
The Yolo Shortline Railroad Company was created in 1991 and purchased the Woodland Branch from the Union Pacific. The newly formed railroad was managed by its president and primary owner Dave Magaw. The Yolo Shortline was named after Yolo County in which it serves. " Yolo" is an Indian name for the area. In addition to the Woodland Branch, the Yolo also purchased an 11-mile Clarksburg Branch between West Sacramento and Clarksburg . A portion of this line was originally developed around 1910 by the Oakland Antioch and Eastern Railway, an interurban railroad. It was later acquired by the Sacramento Northern Railway and extended to Oxford in the 1920's for freight hauling. In 1985, the portion of this line from Clarksburg to Oxford was abandoned and removed. The remainder stayed in service to an industrial customer in Clarksburg.
The Yolo Shortline is primarily a freight hauler and the products transported are agriculturally-related. While some freight traffic is intra-state, most of Yolo Shortline's freight traffic originates or terminates out-of-state. The railroad also managed rail traffic for the Port of Sacramento and McClellan Air Force Base. For several years, the Yolo Shortline operated an excursion train with trips on both the Woodland and Clarksburg Branches. Among other trips, the train had a popular Great Train Robbery with a big shoot 'em up and picnic lunch by the Sacramento River.
5/13/1995 I was up early and drove through Los Angeles then took my time going up the San Joaquin Valley.
At Turlock, I found Turlock Western 44 ton switcher 26, ex. Stockton, Terminal and Eastern 569, exx. Stauffer Chemical, exxx. International Mineral & Chemical, exxxx. Federal Iron & Metal, exxxxx. Pacific Fruit Express 1:2, exxxxxx. Pine Flat Dam Construction 2851, nee Pine Flat Dam Const 30465 built by General Electric in 1950.
I next drove to the Foster Farms grain elevator at Chemurgic where I found Southern Pacific S6 1218 built by American Locomotive Company in 1955 and purchased by Foster Farms after 1980. From here I drove to West Sacramento and found the boarding site for the Clarksburg excursion.
The Clarksburg Trip 5/13/1995
Yolo Shortline 50 ton switcher 50, ex. Spreckles Sugar 50, nee Wierston Steel 96, built by General Electric in 1953, was waiting across South River Road just south of the drawbridge over the Sacramento deep water ship channel. All passengers boarded and just before departure time, the locomotive reversed onto our train and with a toot of its horn, pulled forward and we were on our way south towards Clarksburg. We proceeded across the farmlands to Rivera before reaching the Garcia bend of the Sacramento River then turned slightly to the southeast as we made our way to our crossing of Babel Slough. To our east, we passed the edge of Borges-Clarksburg Airport then turned slightly southwest and past the tall radio towers on the right. Our train next crossed Winchester Lake Slough and we travelled a little way further past the junction to the Sugar Plant where we stopped long enough to throw the switch and reversed down the slight grade into the plant grounds.
The locomotive ran around the train so it would lead once we returned to the mainline line then it was time to return to West Sacramento so we reversed up the grade to the main and started the journey. A good breeze was blowing from the Delta and bringing in some nice cool air and I was really enjoying this trip over these historical rails. .
The open car was the place to be, as long as you stayed in the shade of the overhead cover. We returned to our starting point and everyone detrained.
Yolo Shortline 50 after it had been cut off the train.
On my way to Motel 6 in Woodland, I stopped by the California Northern yard and found GP15-1 103, nee Chicago and North Western 4414, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1976.
5/14/1995 I woke up after a good night's sleep and had breakfast at a Denny's before I went to the boarding site for this morning's trip towards West Sacramento.
This morning's train was the same consist yesterday, except that Yolo Shortline GP9E 131, ex. Southern Pacific 3803, exx. Southern Pacific 3600, nee Southern Pacific 5759, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1957, was the motive power. I boarded the same open car as yesterday then we departed at 10:00 on our way east, ducking under Interstate 5 then passing the industries out to Hebron. We went by the Tractor Museum then reached Conaway and proceeded out on the Yolo Trestle, which is a mile-and-a-half long and thirty feet above the Yolo Bypass. The bypass takes overflow water from the Sacramento River during high water so the river will not overflow its banks and flood. We slowly ran across the impressive trestle to the east end, then turned south, passing underneath Interstate 5's high approach across the Sacramento River.
We travelled along the top of the levee through Kiesel then went underneath trees to Beatrice before dropping down to the farmlands. It was a really pleasant trip and the open car gave the best views on another hot day. We cut underneath the Interstate 80 bridge to Lovdal were we stopped to end our southbound run. The locomotive ran around our train to pull us back to Woodland and I visited the gift shop on the train buying a timetable and a Sacramento Northern spike. I really enjoyed the trip over these former Sacramento Northern tracks as we returned along the Sacramento River which looked very inviting, then crossed the Yolo Trestle with a light breeze beginning to blow and made our way back to Woodland.
After saying goodbye to the crew for two days of excellent excursions, I drove straight to home, with only a stop at the Foster Farms Restaurant in Livingston.
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