Vaca Valley and Clear Lake Railroad
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Vacaville, California |
| Locale | Elmira-Vacaville-Winters-Esparto-Rumsey, California |
| Dates of operation | 1877–1988 |
| Successor | Northern Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Vaca Valley and Clear Lake Railroad was a standard gauge railroad that operated at Vacaville, California in the late 19th century. The Vaca Valley Railroad was incorporated on April 12, 1869, to run a branch from the mainline of the California Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific Railroad's mainline between Sacramento and Oakland, CA) at Elmira to Rumsey.
The Vaca Valley Railroad ran 4.35 miles (7.0 km) from Elmira to Vacaville. In June 1869, the line was opened for service. The Vaca Valley was sold at the Solano County Sheriff's auction on September 17, 1870, but retained the same name. The railroad was then extended beyond Vacaville, reaching Winters on August 26, 1875.
In 1877, just 10 weeks after completing the track between Winters and Madison, the Vaca Valley Railroad became the Vaca Valley and Clear Lake Railroad.
In 1888, this railroad fell under control of Southern Pacific's subsidiary, the Northern Railway. By 1888, the Northern Railway extended the line northwest from Madison to Capay and Rumsey.
In 1895, sparks from a steam locomotive caused a massive fire to break out just northeast of Vacaville, with over 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of farmland being burned, and area ranging from 3.5 miles (5.6 km) long, and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide. Local farmers in the area would rush to the scene of the fire, and would eventually help extinguish it, along with evacuating farmers in the area.
In 1898, the line was operated by Southern Pacific (SP) and ran from the Cal-P Oakland-Sacramento mainline at Elmira to Rumsey. SP abandoned the track between Rumsey and Capay in 1934. The track between Rumsey and Esparto was removed in 1937. Passenger service continued between Elmira and Esparto until 1957.
The line between Winters and Vacaville, which ran parallel to the west side of Interstate 505, was abandoned in the 1970s, ending at the grocery warehouses just south of Midway Road/I-505 in Vacaville. The Vacaville Branch's last train operated in about 1985 and the line was removed to Elmira by the 1990s.