Western Railway Museum
Encyclopedia
The Western Railway Museum, in Solano County, California
is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista
and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of the
Sacramento Northern Railway
. Their collection focuses on trolleys
, as it is primarily a museum of interurban
transit equipment.
The Western Railway Museum has the largest collection of Sacramento Northern Railway equipment in existence, and the museum also operates a line of the former Sacramento Northern as a heritage railway
with scheduled excursions for visitors.
The museum is operated by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (BAERA), a non-profit organization
.
rail fans
in 1946. The group was specifically interested in electric traction, more than main line railroads. Other groups such as the California/Nevada Historical Society usually had meetings and excursions on main line subjects. BAERA held monthly social meetings, frequently showing members slides and movies to the group. The BAERA also had excursions on the many street car lines and Interurbans in the Bay Area. As a result of an excursion over the Key System
the Association purchased Key System 271 a wooden street car that had started out in Lehigh Valley
, Pennsylvania
. Soon other cars were given by members or purchased for the Association. These included Sacramento Northern 63, a Birney
street car built in 1920. The car ran local service in Chico, California
until 1947 and had the last 5-cent fare in the State of California.
A number of passenger and work cars were obtained when the Key System abandoned operation of its last rail line across the Bay Bridge
in 1958. But time, money and effort needed in constantly moving the equipment from place convinced the members that a permanent location for their railway museum was needed. Property was located at Rio Vista Junction, a former station stop along the Sacramento Northern Railway near Suisun, California in 1960. BAERA became a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational corporation in the 1960s, and created as its major project the California Railway Museum, later renamed to the Western Railway Museum (to avoid confusion with the California State Railroad Museum
). Significant events at the Western Railway Museum include: purchase of 22 miles of Sacramento Northern in 1994, dedication of a Visitors Center in 2001, and starting in 2002, construction of the Loring Jensen Memorial Car House with attendant fire suppression system - officially opening May 2008.
The Association also publishes a newsletter called the Review.
of materials relating to street railway, interurban and rapit transit subjects - focusing, of course, on the Bay Area. The archive occupies a climate controlled space in one of the newer buildings.
The Association owns about 100 pieces of railroad equipment, mainly from the electric railroads of the West, but also several Western Pacific Railroad pieces including two steam locomotives. Equipment is in a wide range of conditions, and some equipment is maintained fully operational. For example, Petaluma and Santa Rosa
63, Peninsular Railway 52, Salt Lake and Utah 751, and Sacramento Northern 62.
The interurban car Sacramento Northern 1005 (originally Oakland, Antioch and Eastern 1005) has been a focus of restoration activity in the last 10 years. The BAERA operated many excursions in its early years, and this car was used quite frequently. It was often hauled around in freight trains to reach an excursion site, and sometimes suffered damage in these trips, including a badly bent frame in June 1962. The damage has been repaired and the car has been restored to its 1934 configuration.
The collection also includes a railroad line. This is a section of the original Sacramento Northern Railway
from Montezuma (near Collinsville) north to Dozier, also a newer rail line west from Dozier to Cannon (near Vacaville). The railroad was acquired with rails and ties intact, however the electrification had been removed in 1953. The Association is reinstalling the electrification from Rio Vista Junction southward, currently reaching Bird's Landing Road, about six miles.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Interurban Car !! Condition !! Notes
|-
| Bamberger #400 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
| Cedar Rapids & Iowa City #111 || operational ||
|-
| Central California Traction Co #010 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Key System #182 || out of service || bad traction motor
|-
| Key System #186 || stored ||
|-
| Key System #187 || operational ||
|-
| Oakland Antioch & Eastern #1020|| operational || former SN motor #1020 restored as trailer
|-
| Oregon Electric #1001 Champoeg || cosmetically restored || restored as trailer usable in train
|-
| Pacific Electric #457 || awaiting restoration || body and trucks only
|-
| Peninsular Railway #52 || out of service || bad traction motor
|-
| Peninsular Railway #61 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
| Petaluma & Santa Rosa #63 || operational ||
|-
| Portland Traction Co. #4001 || next car to be restored ||
|-
| Richmond Shipyard Railway #561 || operational ||
|-
| Richmond Shipyard Railway #563 || under restoration ||
|-
| Sacramento Northern "Bidwell" || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Sacramento Northern #1005 || operational || recently restored
|-
| Salt Lake & Utah #751 || operational ||
|-
| Salt Lake Garfield & Western #306 || incomplete restoration ||
|-
| San Francisco & Napa Valley #63 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
| San Francisco-Sacramento #1019 || awaiting restoration || former SN motor #1019
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #358 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #600 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #602 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #603 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Tidewater Southern #200 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
|}
The museum is open on weekends throughout the year and for extended hours during the summer.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
is located on Highway 12 between Rio Vista
Rio Vista, California
Rio Vista is a city located in the eastern end of Solano County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento River Delta region. The population was 7,360 at the 2010 census....
and Suisun. The museum is built along the former mainline of the
Sacramento Northern Railway
Sacramento Northern Railway
←The Sacramento Northern Railway was originally a electric interurban railway linking Chico in northern California to the California capitol of Sacramento The original name of the line was the Chico Electric Railway, or CERY. CERY was sold after a few months of operation to the Northern Electric...
. Their collection focuses on trolleys
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
, as it is primarily a museum of interurban
Interurban
An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
transit equipment.
The Western Railway Museum has the largest collection of Sacramento Northern Railway equipment in existence, and the museum also operates a line of the former Sacramento Northern as a heritage railway
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
with scheduled excursions for visitors.
The museum is operated by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association (BAERA), a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
.
History
The Bay Area Electric Railroad Association was started by a group of San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
rail fans
Railfan
A railfan or rail buff , railway enthusiast or railway buff , or trainspotter , is a person interested in a recreational capacity in rail transport...
in 1946. The group was specifically interested in electric traction, more than main line railroads. Other groups such as the California/Nevada Historical Society usually had meetings and excursions on main line subjects. BAERA held monthly social meetings, frequently showing members slides and movies to the group. The BAERA also had excursions on the many street car lines and Interurbans in the Bay Area. As a result of an excursion over the Key System
Key System
The Key System was a privately owned company which provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when the system was sold to a newly formed public...
the Association purchased Key System 271 a wooden street car that had started out in Lehigh Valley
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley, known officially by the United States Census Bureau as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area and referred to locally as The Valley and A-B-E, is a metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, and Carbon counties in eastern Pennsylvania and...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Soon other cars were given by members or purchased for the Association. These included Sacramento Northern 63, a Birney
Birney
A Birney or Birney Safety Car is a type of streetcar that was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. The design was small and light and was intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower infrastructure and labor cost than conventional streetcars...
street car built in 1920. The car ran local service in Chico, California
Chico, California
Chico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...
until 1947 and had the last 5-cent fare in the State of California.
A number of passenger and work cars were obtained when the Key System abandoned operation of its last rail line across the Bay Bridge
Bay Bridge
Bay Bridge may refer to:* Aomori Bay Bridge, Aomori Prefecture, Japan* Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Maryland, United States* Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Virginia, United States* Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, Shandong, China...
in 1958. But time, money and effort needed in constantly moving the equipment from place convinced the members that a permanent location for their railway museum was needed. Property was located at Rio Vista Junction, a former station stop along the Sacramento Northern Railway near Suisun, California in 1960. BAERA became a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational corporation in the 1960s, and created as its major project the California Railway Museum, later renamed to the Western Railway Museum (to avoid confusion with the California State Railroad Museum
California State Railroad Museum
The California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the state park system of California, USA, interpreting the role of the "iron horse" in connecting California to the rest of the nation. It is located in Old Sacramento at 111 I Street....
). Significant events at the Western Railway Museum include: purchase of 22 miles of Sacramento Northern in 1994, dedication of a Visitors Center in 2001, and starting in 2002, construction of the Loring Jensen Memorial Car House with attendant fire suppression system - officially opening May 2008.
The Association also publishes a newsletter called the Review.
Collection
The BAERA maintains a substantial archiveArchive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
of materials relating to street railway, interurban and rapit transit subjects - focusing, of course, on the Bay Area. The archive occupies a climate controlled space in one of the newer buildings.
The Association owns about 100 pieces of railroad equipment, mainly from the electric railroads of the West, but also several Western Pacific Railroad pieces including two steam locomotives. Equipment is in a wide range of conditions, and some equipment is maintained fully operational. For example, Petaluma and Santa Rosa
Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad
The Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad was an electric interurban railway in Sonoma County, California, United States. It operated between the cities of Petaluma, Sebastopol, Forestville, and Santa Rosa...
63, Peninsular Railway 52, Salt Lake and Utah 751, and Sacramento Northern 62.
The interurban car Sacramento Northern 1005 (originally Oakland, Antioch and Eastern 1005) has been a focus of restoration activity in the last 10 years. The BAERA operated many excursions in its early years, and this car was used quite frequently. It was often hauled around in freight trains to reach an excursion site, and sometimes suffered damage in these trips, including a badly bent frame in June 1962. The damage has been repaired and the car has been restored to its 1934 configuration.
The collection also includes a railroad line. This is a section of the original Sacramento Northern Railway
Sacramento Northern Railway
←The Sacramento Northern Railway was originally a electric interurban railway linking Chico in northern California to the California capitol of Sacramento The original name of the line was the Chico Electric Railway, or CERY. CERY was sold after a few months of operation to the Northern Electric...
from Montezuma (near Collinsville) north to Dozier, also a newer rail line west from Dozier to Cannon (near Vacaville). The railroad was acquired with rails and ties intact, however the electrification had been removed in 1953. The Association is reinstalling the electrification from Rio Vista Junction southward, currently reaching Bird's Landing Road, about six miles.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Interurban Car !! Condition !! Notes
|-
| Bamberger #400 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
| Cedar Rapids & Iowa City #111 || operational ||
|-
| Central California Traction Co #010 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Key System #182 || out of service || bad traction motor
|-
| Key System #186 || stored ||
|-
| Key System #187 || operational ||
|-
| Oakland Antioch & Eastern #1020|| operational || former SN motor #1020 restored as trailer
|-
| Oregon Electric #1001 Champoeg || cosmetically restored || restored as trailer usable in train
|-
| Pacific Electric #457 || awaiting restoration || body and trucks only
|-
| Peninsular Railway #52 || out of service || bad traction motor
|-
| Peninsular Railway #61 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
| Petaluma & Santa Rosa #63 || operational ||
|-
| Portland Traction Co. #4001 || next car to be restored ||
|-
| Richmond Shipyard Railway #561 || operational ||
|-
| Richmond Shipyard Railway #563 || under restoration ||
|-
| Sacramento Northern "Bidwell" || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Sacramento Northern #1005 || operational || recently restored
|-
| Salt Lake & Utah #751 || operational ||
|-
| Salt Lake Garfield & Western #306 || incomplete restoration ||
|-
| San Francisco & Napa Valley #63 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
| San Francisco-Sacramento #1019 || awaiting restoration || former SN motor #1019
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #358 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #600 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #602 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Interurban Electric Railway #603 || awaiting restoration || body only
|-
| Tidewater Southern #200 || awaiting restoration ||
|-
|}
| Streetcar | Condition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Blackpool Transit #226 | out of service | bad traction motor |
| East Bay Street Railways #352 | operational | |
| Key System #271 | out of service | needs electric and brake work |
| Key System #987 | Out of service | bad traction motor |
| Market Street Railway "San Francisco" | awaiting restoration | body only |
| Melbourne & Metropolitan Tram Board #648 | operational | |
| Pacific Gas & Electric Co #46 | awaiting restoration | |
| Pacific Gas & Electric Co #63 | awaiting restoration | |
| Presidio & Ferries #28 | awaiting restoration | body only |
| Sacramento Electric Gas & Railway #14 | awaiting restoration | |
| San Francisco Municipal Railway #1003 | operational | |
| San Francisco Municipal Railway #1016 | operational | |
| San Francisco Municipal Railway #1153 | awaiting restoration | |
| San Francisco Municipal Railway #1258 | operational | |
| San Francisco Municipal Railway #178 | operational | |
| Stockton Electric #52 | awaiting restoration | |
| Locomotive | Locomotive Type | Condition | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central California Traction Co. #7 | electric box motor | operational | |
| Kennecott Copper Corporation #407 | electric steeple cab | displayed | |
| Kenecott Copper Corporation #700 | electric steeple cab | displayed | |
| Kenecott Copper Corporation #771 | batter operated steeple cab | stored | |
| Key System #1001 | electric steeple cab | operational | Example |
| Sacramento Northern #146 | 44 ton diesel | awaiting restoration | |
| Sacramento Northern #602 | electric box motor | under restoration | |
| Sacramento Northern #652 | electric steeple cab | cosmetically restored | |
| Sacramento Northern #654 | electric steeple cab | operational | |
| Salt Lake Garfield & Western DS2 | 44 ton diesel | awaiting restoration | |
| San Francisco & Napa Valley #100 | electric box motor | awaiting restoration | body and trucks only |
| Visalia Electric #502 | 44 ton diesel | operational | |
| Western Pacific #94 | 4-6-0 steam locomotive | displayed | |
| Western Pacific #334 | 2-8-2 steam locomotive | stored |
| Car | Car Type | Condition | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Bay Transit Co. #1011 | wrecker | operational | displayed |
| Key System #1014 | wrecker | awaiting restoration | body only |
| Key System #1201 | line car | operational | |
| Key System #1215 | shop switcher | operational | |
| Key System #1218 | line car | awaiting restoration | |
| Sacramento Northern #1 | portable substation | operational | |
| San Francisco Municipal Railway #0109 | rail grinder | operational | stored |
| Car | Car Type | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland Antioch & Eastern #2002 | flat car | restored |
| Central California Traction #1017 | flat car | incomplete restoration |
| Central California Traction Co #2001 | box car | restored |
| Central California Traction Co. #3001 | box car | restored |
| Denver & Rio Grande Western #63383 | box car | restored |
| Great Northern #X 344 | caboose | incomplete restoration |
| Pacific Fruit Express #20420 | Refrigerator Car | awaiting restoration |
| Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac #2289 | box car | restored |
| Sacramento Northern Railway #1632 | caboose | under restoration |
| Sacramento Northern Railway #2314 | box car | awaiting restoration |
| Sacramento Northern Railroad #2136 | box car | awaiting restoration |
| Shell #SCCX 662 | tank car | restored |
| Southern Pacific #150340 | gondola | awaiting restoration |
| Western Pacific #10429 | hopper car | restored |
| Western Pacific #1025 | tank car | awaiting restoration |
| Western Pacific #741 | caboose | awaiting restoration |
The museum today
Visitors can ride a street car or Interurban, picnic at the shaded grounds, browse in the Bookstore and view small exhibits in the Visitor center. Also in the Visitor center is the F. M. Smith Library and Archives which are open two days a month for research and browsing.The museum is open on weekends throughout the year and for extended hours during the summer.