Western Railroad Discussion > Yolo Shortline Abandonment Application Details

The Federal Register has today posted details regarding the Sierra Northern's(Yolo Shortline)
abandonment application before the Surface Transportation Board that would end service on its
Sacramento to Woodland, CA branch.

Regarding the remaining Woodland rail customers discussed here on TO last week is the following excerpt:

"Sierra states that there are currently seven customers that it serves via the line in Woodland, three
of which receive rail service directly at their facilities and four of which use Sierra Northern's 
facilities for car storage or car repair operations. Sierra states that the three customers that 
receive direct rail service have indicated that they plan to use trucks as an alternative to rail service, 
while the other customers will carry out their storage and repair operations elsewhere." 

From the Federal Register:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-04-08/html/2020-07330.htm

The abandonment only actually covers less than 4000' feet of line from m.p. 3.1 to 3.8. with 2000' of that
located on top of the Sacramento Weir that feeds flood waters in an emergency to the Sacramento Bypass.
This would extend north from the County Road 127 grade crossing shown in the map attachment below(the
railroad parallels N. Harbor Blvd. and Old River Rd.).  Note that this abandonment has nothing to do with the
8000' Elkhorn Trestle several miles to the west(but would, of course, end service across the trestle).

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is funding the $350m project to expand the weir by an additional 1500'
and that matches almost exactly the amount of trackage to be abandoned.  The present weir was constructed
in 1916 and uses 48 manually operated gates to divert water from the Sacramento River into the bypass.
The gates average an opening about once a decade.  Sierra Northern's westbound dinner train is seen 
passing over the weir in a shot from July 2014.  A brief description of this project:
https://www.kcra.com/article/built-in-1916-sacramento-weir-to-nearly-double-for-flood-control/27734892



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/20 11:02 by milepost20.

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Can't these customers be served off the Cal Northern  in Woodland?

There is no connection between the Sierra and Cal Northern in Woodland. It would require new track to be laid.

No.   no conection between sierra and cal northen rails.

But the amount of new track would be very short, if the customers actually needed rail service.
 

At the 7-11 in Woodland, the lines are a couple hundred feet apart

The hell that connection would bring would be breathtaking! Very busy street to be torn up and regraded to serve the railbed, very tight radius which may or may not
be feasible, maybe $5M for a few hundred cars a year. Might be worth it if some work was done to improve traffic.

Out 

That’s a bummer, always enjoyed our drives through Woodland, usually to/from the Sacramento airport. Wasn’t a ton of traffic back then, but still saw a few trains in most trips.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

One of my boys and I were checking things out there a week ago to remain socially distant and get out of mom's hair. We noticed at Freeport that the Sacramento River train station has been built. Are they planning to run Freeport to Woodland and back? There must be a reason why they aren't abandoning that entire end of the line. Any ideas? I'm not seeing the logic from the business perspective. That Elkhorn Trestle is being held together with bubble gum and bailing wire. 

Chris Donhost
Vacaville, CA  
 

If a business case could be made much of the line could always survive as a tourist passenger operation
based in Woodland and running to or just shy of milepost 3.8.   Assuming no physical connection is
made with the CFNR in Woodland(which is unlikely) it would always be isolated from  the rest of the nation's
rail network.  California Western and Santa Cruz Big  Trees & Pacific are in the same situation but manage
to make a go of it.  Someone contact the Woodland Chamber of Commerce.....

Two shots are seen of the dinner train on the 8000' Elkhorn Trestle back in July 2014.  A thrill ride, perhaps?

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I enjoyed those few times I followed the line to Woodland. One of the customers there (Contindina?) was interesting because they required 40-foor boxcars for years after most others shippers stopped using them. I could always count on seeing Western Pacific 40-footers at their plant.

Maybe that's why they're not shipping anymore--the curve of the loading spur may be too tight for modern (longer) boxcars.