Western Railroad Discussion > Cal-Northern question.

Today I has some free time so I decided to follow the California northern from Davis, ca to a little town name Corning. My question is how far does cal northern go on this line? Also saw a couple branch lines that went off into some fields. One went west under the freeway and the other east. Oh I did bag one south bound with 2 GENSETS for power with about 25 cars.

Posted from Android

I can roughly answer some of these: the CFNR terminates technically in Corning. The line is the former SP West Valley line from Tehama to Davis. The line continues north from Corning to Tehama still, but is out of service due to a bridge issue (possibly mitigated?) The branch to your east would be the Hamilton City branch, which used to serve Holly Sugar with beet gons, now has a new industry taking unit trains once in awhile. 

The line West under the freeway serves a fiberglass insulation plant a couple miles West of Willows. The line North of Corning extends in service
to the bridge at Richfield and serves a Sierra Pacfiic Industries plant along with one other occasional shipper. The Hamilton City branch, East of Wyo,
as mentioned serves one industry in Ham City, on the former Holly Sugar plant site.

Out 

Thank you guys. Due to the virus I've decided to take solo trips to find the actual backbone of railroading these days----the short lines. Class 1's or kinda boring these days. So far i've fanned the NWP, CAL-NORTHERN VALLEJO, STOCKTON TERMINAL, SIERRA NOTHERN and ME&T. I followed the SIERRA NORTHERN as far as SONORA but I lost the tracks in town. Beautiful country up there. Unfortunately JAMESTOWN was closed.

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/20 06:51 by The-late-EMD.

The-late-EMD Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you guys. Due to the virus I've decided to
> take solo trips to find the actual backbone of
> railroading these days----the short lines. Class
> 1's or kinda boring these days. So far I've fanned
> the NWP, CAL-NORTHERN VALLEJO, STOCKTON TERMINAL,
> SIERRA NORTHERN and ME&T. I followed the SIERRA
> NORTHERN as far as SONORA but I lost the tracks in
> town. Beautiful country up there. Unfortunately
> JAMESTOWN was closed.
>
> Posted from Android

Re: The SIERRA NORTHERN (reporting mark: SERA)

Not sure where you lost the tracks, they don't continue out of Sonora, CA.... anymore. They dead end into the Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI): plant / sawmill in Sonora, CA

I'm not sure where private property takes over (obviously, don't go into any area marked private or fenced -- I'm sure you know that, but this is a semi-public forum....)

The last major road where you would see them, is where they cross Tuolumne Road, just east of the junction with Mono Way (Sonora, CA -- USPS designation, I believe it is technically unincorporated). They then loop around a strip mall that I believe at one point was called "The Junction," maybe it still is. The tracks hew close to Mono Way as the go around the mall, and in fact cross the Mono Way entrance to the mall before heading East.

The SERA tracks next cross Hess Ave, just after Hess Ave branches off from Tuolumne Rd. Google street view made it there, so I'm guessing so could you....  Next the tracks cross Waylon Way near the Sierra Truck and Heavy Duty RV & Truck Center. This may be the last time you can see the tracks on public property.

I believe you can still see remnants of the now abandoned right-of way (most or all track has been removed east of SPI) as you get closer to Tuolumne, CA.  For Instance, the Right of Way is pretty obvious at the intersection of Soulsbyville Rd and Tuolumne Rd, Sonora, CA.

Hope this helps. DM me if you have any questions and/or plan to chase the SERA again



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/20 23:45 by peh934.

peh934 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The-late-EMD Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thank you guys. Due to the virus I've decided
> to
> > take solo trips to find the actual backbone of
> > railroading these days----the short lines.
> Class
> > 1's or kinda boring these days. So far I've
> fanned
> > the NWP, CAL-NORTHERN VALLEJO, STOCKTON
> TERMINAL,
> > SIERRA NORTHERN and ME&T. I followed the SIERRA
> > NORTHERN as far as SONORA but I lost the tracks
> in
> > town. Beautiful country up there. Unfortunately
> > JAMESTOWN was closed.
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> Re: The SIERRA NORTHERN (reporting mark: SERA)
>
> Not sure where you lost the tracks, they don't
> continue out of Sonora, CA.... anymore. They dead
> end into the Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI):
> plant / sawmill in Sonora, CA
>
> I'm not sure where private property takes over
> (obviously, don't go into any area marked private
> or fenced -- I'm sure you know that, but this is a
> semi-public forum....)
>
> The last major road where you would see them, is
> where they cross Tuolumne Road, just east of the
> junction with Mono Way (Sonora, CA -- USPS
> designation, I believe it is technically
> unincorporated). They then loop around a strip
> mall that I believe at one point was called "The
> Junction," maybe it still is. The tracks hew close
> to Mono Way as the go around the mall, and in fact
> cross the Mono Way entrance to the mall before
> heading East.
>
> The SERA tracks next cross Hess Ave, just after
> Hess Ave branches off from Tuolumne Rd. Google
> street view made it there, so I'm guessing so
> could you....  Next the tracks cross Waylon Way
> near the Sierra Truck and Heavy Duty RV & Truck
> Center. This may be the last time you can see the
> tracks on public property.
>
> I believe you can still see remnants of the now
> abandoned right-of way (most or all track has been
> removed east of SPI) as you get closer to
> Tuolumne, CA.  For Instance, the Right of Way is
> pretty obvious at the intersection of Soulsbyville
> Rd and Tuolumne Rd, Sonora, CA.
>
> Hope this helps. DM me if you have any questions
> and/or plan to chase the SERA again


Thank you sir. The area you describe is just about where my trek ended. I was wondering if continued up into those beautiful mountains.

The tracks end in Standard CA which is miles East of Sonora, but yes they do end in Redd's wood factory.

Out 

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The tracks end in Standard CA which is miles East
> of Sonora, but yes they do end in Redd's wood
> factory.
>
> Out 

Thanks for the clarification

I was trying to use USPS postal designations since that seems to confuse google maps the least. Although, I know that can be far from the actual town.  Where I live, my USPS designation is 6 miles from the town as the crow flies... and almost 12 miles as the car drives...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/20 13:00 by peh934.

I only bring it up because in between Sonora and Standard is a cool bridge and some nice curvy trackage plus the small
yard at Standard.

Out