San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway
logo_filename=
logo_size=
marks=
locale=Vallejo-Napa-St. Helena-Calistoga
successor_line = Southern Pacific Railroad
start_year=1905
end_year=1937
gauge=
hq_city=|The San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway, later briefly reorganized as the San Francisco and Napa Valley Electric Railway, was an electric interurban railroad in the U.S. State of California. [Hilton Interurbans]

It originated at the port of Vallejo where it met the ferry connection to San Francisco. From there, the line headed northwards for a total of 43 miles to terminate at Calistoga, passing through Napa, Yountville, and St. Helena. The system began service to Napa on July 4, 1905, and reached Calistoga on September 2, 1908.

Passenger service continued despite several setbacks until 1937, when the ferry service was discontinued; without the ferry traffic, the line could not survive, and the last passenger trains operated on September 20 of that year.

Following the end of passenger service, Southern Pacific Railroad utilized the track as a non-electrified freight branch line until 1987. Switching service for the Mare Island Naval Shipyard remained and was taken over by the Navy Department. In 1957 and the company was dissolved.

The Napa Valley Wine Train began operating its current daily tourist excursion service on the line between Napa and St. Helena in 1989.

The last two paragraphs above are inaccurate. The SFNCR right-of-way is separate from and roughly parallel to the Southern Pacific (now NVWT) ROW. This can still clearly be seen in Calistoga, where the terminous of the SFNCR track is still visible in the pavement on Washington Street just south-east of Lincoln Avenue, whereas the SP Depot is a block farther north-east on Lincoln at Fairway (formerly Railroad Street). There is an historical marker across the street from the Calistoga Fire Department, which is on the location of the SFNCR depot.

1913 wreck

On June 19, 1913, two trains of the San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga Railway collided head-on in one of the worst interurban accidents in the state of California. Thirteen people were killed.

References