Port Railroads

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Port Railroads
logo_filename=
logo_size=
old_gauge=
marks=PRI
locale=San Joaquin Valley, California
start_year=March 13 1994
end_year=April 26 1996
hq_city=Exeter, California

Port Railroads, Inc. Reporting mark|PRI was a convert|105.7|mi|km|sing=on shortline railroad owned by Kyle Railways. PRI was formed on March 13 1994 to take over two Southern Pacific Railroad Reporting mark|SP lines. One of SP's lines was the "West Side Line" (47.8 miles) between Fresno northwest to Oxalis, California and a branch running from Ingle to Burrell (25.2 miles). The other line was the SP Buttonwillow Branch (32.7 miles) from Bakersfield (Kern Junction) to Buttonwillow, California.

PRI was related to the San Joaquin Valley Railroad Reporting mark|SJVR. Both PRI and the SJVR were subsidiaries of Kyle Railways. Because PRI and the SJVR were related, the SJVR provided the motive power for PRI. On April 26 1996, Kyle Railways merged PRI into the SJVR.

PRI handled about 8,000 cars per year (1996 estimate).

History

The Southern Pacific constructed the "West Side Line" that ran from Tracy down the west side of the San Joaquin Valley to Fresno between 1888-1891. The Buttonwillow Branch was constructed by the Southern Pacific after 1910. The Buttonwillow Branch has about convert|15|mi|km of track abandoned in the late 1950s east from Buttonwillow to Olig [http://www.placenames.com/us/p246869/] with stations listed as Lokern [http://www.cnlm.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=104] , Asphalto [http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=10491] and McKittrick. Asphalto was the location of a historic Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1. McKittrick is famous for its naturally occurring asphalt tar pits [http://www.sjgs.com/tarpits_hist.html] .

According to an article by Don Browen, "the Port Railroad took over the convert|33|mi|km|sing=on former Southern Pacific Buttonwillow Branch from Kern Junction to Buttonwillow and convert|47.6|mi|km of S.P.'s former Westside Branch from Fresno to Oxalis. Additionally S.P.'s former 24.6 Riverdale Branch from Ingle on the Westside Branch to Burrell was included in the transaction. This is a long term lease and not a purchase by Kyle Railways. What is the significance of the name Port Railroad? Kyle owned the name Port Railroad which it used for its railroad in San Francisco. When this railroad ceased operations, Kyle had an extra name which it decided would be used for its latest California acquisition. 3 more locomotives, 2037, 2041, and 2042, were obtained for the increased workload." [http://www.donsdarkroom.com/sjvr_article.htm]

References

*cite book | author=Stindt, Fred A. | title=American Shortline Railway Guide | edition=5th Ed. | location=Waukesha, WI | publisher=Kalmbach Publishing Company| year=1996| editor=| id=ISBN 0-89024-290-9
*cite book | author=Walker, Mike| title=Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - California and Nevada - Post Merger Edition| location=Kent, United Kingdom | publisher=Steam Powered Publishing| year=1997| editor=| id=ISBN 1-874745-08-0

Further reading

*List of California railroads
* [http://www.trainweb.org/KernJunction/gosford.htm Information about Buttonwillow Branch]