History of rail transportation in California

The establishment of America's transcontinental rail lines securely linked California to the rest of the country, and the far-reaching transportation systems that grew out of them during the century that followed contributed to the state's social, political, and economic development. When California was admitted as a state to the United States in 1850, and for nearly two decades thereafter, it was in many ways isolated, an outpost on the Pacific, until the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869.
Passenger rail transportation declined in the early- and mid-20th Century with the rise of the state's car culture and road system. It has since undergone something of a renaissance, with the introduction of services such as Metrolink, Coaster, Caltrain, Amtrak California, and others. On November 4, 2008, the People of California passed Proposition 1A, which helped provide financing for a high-speed rail line.
19th century.
Background.
The early Forty-Niners of the California Gold Rush wishing to come to California were faced with limited options. From the East Coast, for example, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take five to eight months, and cover some 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km). An alternative route was to sail to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, to take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, to wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco. During the 1850s the through Nicaragua was another option. Eventually, most gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the California Trail. Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to typhoid fever to cholera or Indian attack.
Transcontinental links.
The very first "inter-oceanic" railroad that affected California was built in 1855 across the Isthmus of Panama, the Panama Railway. The Panama Railway reduced the time needed to cross the Isthmus from a week of difficult and dangerous travel to a day of relative comfort. The building of the Panama Railroad, in combination with the increasing use of steamships (instead of sailing ships) meant that travel to and from California via Panama was the primary method used by people who could afford to do so, and was used for valuable cargo, such as the gold being shipped from California to the East Coast.
California's symbolic and tangible connection to the rest of the country was fused at Promontory Summit, Utah, as the "last spike" was driven to join the tracks of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, thereby completing the First Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869 (before that time, only a few local rail lines operated in the State, the first being the Sacramento Valley Railroad). The 1,600 mile (2,575-kilometer) trip from Omaha, Nebraska, would now take mere days. The Wild West was quickly transformed from a lawless, agrarian frontier to what would become an urbanized, industrialized economic and political powerhouse. Of perhaps greater significance is the unbridled economic growth that was spurred on by the sheer diversity of opportunities available in the region.
The four years following the Golden Spike ceremony saw the length of track in the U.S. double to over 70,000 miles (nearly 113,000 kilometers). By around the start of the 20th century, the completion of four subsequent transcontinental routes in the United States and one in Canada would provide not only additional pathways to the Pacific Ocean, but would forge ties to all of the economically important areas between the coasts as well. Virtually the entire country was accessible by rail, making a national economy possible for the first time. And while federal financial assistance (in the form of land grants and guaranteed low-interest loans, a well-established government policy) was vital to the railroads' expansion across North America, this support accounted for less than eight percent (8%) of the total length of rails laid; private investment was responsible for the vast majority of railroad construction.
As rail lines pushed further and further into the wilderness, they opened up huge areas that would have otherwise lain fallow. The railroads helped establish countless towns and settlements, paved the way to abundant mineral deposits and fertile tracts of pastures and farmland, and created new markets for eastern goods. It is estimated that by the end of World War II, rail companies nationwide remunerated to the government over $1 billion dollars, more than eight times the original value of the lands granted. The principal commodity transported across the rails to California was people: by reducing the cross-country travel time to as little as six days, men with westward ambitions were no longer forced to leave their families behind. The railroads would, in time, provide equally important linkages to move the inhabitants throughout the state, interconnecting its blossoming communities.
"Transportation determines the flow of population," declared J. D. Spreckels, one of California's early railroad entrepreneurs, just after the dawn of the twentieth century. "Before you can hope to get people to live anywhere...you must first of all show them that they can get there quickly, comfortably and, above all, cheaply." Among Spreckels' many accomplishments was the formation of the San Diego Electric Railway in 1892, which radiated out from downtown to points north, south, and east and helped urbanize San Diego. Henry Huntington, the nephew of Central Pacific founder Collis P. Huntington, would develop his Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles and Orange Counties with much the same result. Spreckels' greatest challenge would be to provide San Diego with its own direct transcontinental rail link in the form of the San Diego and Arizona Railway (completed in November 1919), a feat that nearly cost the sugar heir his life. The Central Pacific Railroad, in effect, initiated the trend by offering settlement incentives in the form of low fares, and by placing sections of its government-granted lands up for sale to pioneers.
When the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad charted its own solo course across the continent in 1885 it chose Los Angeles as its western terminus, and in doing so fractured the Southern Pacific Railroad's near total monopoly on rail transportation within the state. The original purpose of this new line was to augment the route to San Diego, established three years prior as part of a joint venture with the California Southern Railroad, but the Santa Fe would subsequently be forced to all but abandon these inland tracks through the Temecula Canyon (due to constant washouts) and construct its Surf Line along the coast to maintain its exclusive ties to Los Angeles. Santa Fe's entry into Southern California resulted in widespread economic growth and ignited a fervent rate war with the Southern Pacific, or "Espee" as the road was often referred to; it also led to Los Angeles' well-documented real estate "Boom of the Eighties". The Santa Fe Route led the way in passenger rate reductions (often referred to as "colonist fares") by, within a period of five months, lowering the price of a ticket from Kansas City, Missouri to Los Angeles from $125 to $15, and, on March 6, 1887 to a single dollar. The Southern Pacific soon followed suit and the level of real estate speculation reached a new high, with "boom towns" springing up literally overnight. Free, daily railroad-sponsored excursions (complete with lunch and live entertainment) enticed overeager potential buyers to visit the many undeveloped properties firsthand and (hopefully) invest in the potential of the land.
Unfortunately, as with the Comstock mining securities boom of the 1870s, Los Angeles' land boom attracted an unscrupulous element that often sold interest in properties whose titles were not properly recorded, or in tracts that did not even exist. Major advertising campaigns by the SP, Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and other major carriers of the day not only helped transform southern California into a major tourist attraction but generated intense interest in exploiting the area's agricultural potential. Word of the abundant work opportunities, high wages, and the temperate and healthful California climate spread throughout the Midwestern United States, and led to an exodus from such states as Iowa, Indiana, and Kansas; although the real estate bubble "burst" in 1889 and most investors lost their all, the Southern California landscape was forever transformed by the many towns, farms, and citrus groves left in the wake of this event.
Historians James Rawls and Walton Bean have speculated that were it not for the discovery of gold in 1848, Oregon might have been granted statehood ahead of California, and therefore the first Pacific Railroad might have been built to that state, or at least been born to a more benevolent group of founding fathers. This speculation lacks support, however, when one considers that a significant hide and tallow trade between California and the eastern seaports was already well-established, that the federal government had long planned for the acquisition of San Francisco Bay as a western port, and that suspicions regarding England's intentions towards potentially extending their holdings in the region southward into California would almost certainly have forced the government to embark on the same course of action.
While the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad would rightfully be remembered as a major milestone in America's history, it would also foster the birth of a railroad empire that would have a dominant influence over California's evolution for years to come. Despite all of the shortcomings, in the end the State reaped innumerable and unprecedented benefits from its associations with the railroad companies, which helped put California "on the map."
Agriculture.
Even today, California is well known for the abundance and many varieties of fruit trees that are cultivated throughout the state. The only fruits indigenous to the region, however, consisted of wild berries or grew on small bushes. Spanish missionaries brought fruit seeds over from Europe, many of which had been introduced to the Old World from Asia following earlier expeditions to the continent; orange, grape, apple, peach, pear, and fig seeds were among the most prolific of the imports.
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, fourth in the Alta California chain, was founded in 1771 near what would one day be the City of Los Angeles. Thirty-three years later the mission would unknowingly witness the origin of the California citrus industry with the planting of the region's first significant orchard, though the commercial potential of citrus would not be realized until 1841. Several small carloads of California crops were shipped eastward via the new transcontinental route almost immediately after its completion, using a special type of ventilated boxcar modified specifically for this purpose. The advent of the iced refrigerator car or "reefer" led to increases in both the amount of product carried and in the distances traveled.
For years, the overall scarcity of oranges in particular led to the general perception that they were suitable only for holiday table decoration or as indulgences for the affluent. During the 1870s, however, hybridization of California oranges led to the creation of several flavorful strains, chief among these the Navel and Valencia varieties, whose development allowed for year-round cultivation of the fruit. Substantial foreign (out-of-state) markets for California citrus would come into full stature by 1890, initiating a period referred to as the "Orange Era".
As the market for agricultural goods outside the state's boundaries increased, the Santa Fe developed a massive fleet of refrigerator dispatch cars, and in 1906 the Southern Pacific joined with the Union Pacific Railroad to create the Pacific Fruit Express. Fully half the farm products produced in California could now be exported throughout the country, with western railroads carrying virtually all of the perishable fruit traffic. The western states of California, Arizona, and Oregon would dominate U.S. agricultural production by the coming of the Great Depression; once such diverse and high-demand crops as wheat, sugar beets, olives, and lettuce were cultivated, California would become known as the nation's "produce basket."
Oil boom.
With the expansion of agriculture interests throughout the state (along with new rail lines to carry the goods to faraway markets), new communities were founded and existing towns expanded. Agrarian successes led to the establishment of post offices, schools, churches, mercantile outlets, and ancillary industries such as packing houses. The discovery of "brea", more commonly referred to as tar, in Southern California would lead to an oil boom in the early twentieth century. Railroad companies soon discovered that shipping wooden barrels loaded with oil via boxcars was not cost-effective, and developed steel cylindrical tank cars capable of transporting bulk liquids virtually anywhere. By 1915, the transportation of petroleum products had become a lucrative endeavor for western railroads.
Most oil tank cars would remain in revenue service for decades until the "Black Bonanza" had run its course. The Southern Pacific is credited with being the first western railroad to experiment in 1879 with the use of oil in its locomotives as a fuel source in lieu of coal (with substantial technical assistance from the Union Oil Company, one of the SP's biggest accounts). By 1895, oil-burning locomotives were in operation on a number of Southern Pacific routes, and on the competing California Southern and Great Northern Railway as well. This innovation not only allowed the SP (and other railroads that soon followed their example) to benefit from the use of this abundant and economically viable fuel source, but to create new markets by capitalizing on the burgeoning petroleum industry. The conversion from coal to oil also help solved the Southern Pacific's problem of intense smoke in the tunnels of the Sierra Nevada. Thanks to the railroads, California was once again thrust into the limelight.
Tourism.
As has been previously discussed, the railroads were among the first to promote California tourism as early as the 1870s, both as a means to increase ridership and to create new markets for the freight hauling business in the areas they served. Some sixty years later, the Santa Fe would lead a resurgence in leisure travel to and along the west coast aboard such "name" trains as the "Chief" and later the "Super Chief"; the Southern Pacific would soon follow suit with their "Golden State" and "Overland Flyer" trains, and the Union Pacific with its "City of Los Angeles" and "City of San Francisco". The immense popularity of Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel "Ramona" in particular fueled a surge in tourism, which happened to coincide with the opening of SP's Southern California lines.
The Santa Fé embraced the aura of the American Southwest in its advertising campaigns as well as its operations. The AT&SF routes and the high level of service provided thereon became popular with stars of the film industry in the thirties, forties and fifties, both building on and adding to the Hollywood mystique. The "golden age" of railroading would eventually end as travel by automobile and airplane became more cost-effective, and popular.
Corruption and scandal.
In 1901, Frank Norris vilified the Southern Pacific for its monopolistic practices in his acclaimed novel ""; John Moody's 1919 work "The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the State" referred to "the American railroad problem" wherein the men who rode the iron horse were characterized as "monsters" that too often suppressed government reform and economic growth through political chicanery and corrupt business practices.
While it is true that much of the traveling public would have been unable to make the trip to California's sunny climate were it not for the fleet, relatively safe, and affordable trains of the western railroads, it is also true that those companies in effect preyed on those same settlers once they arrived at the end of the line. For instance, while the railroads provided much-needed transportation routes to out-of-state markets for locally produced raw materials and avenues of the import for eastern goods, there were numerous instances of rate fixing schemes among the various carriers, the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific included. Opposition to the railroads began early in Southern California's history due to the questionable practices of The Big Four in conducting the business of the Central (later Southern) Pacific. The Central Pacific Railroad (and later the Southern Pacific) maintained and operated whole fleets of ferry boats that connected Oakland with San Francisco by water. Early on, the Central Pacific gained control of the existing ferry lines for the purpose of linking the northern rail lines with those from the south and east; during the late 1860s the company purchased nearly every bayside plot in Oakland, creating what author and historian Oscar Lewis described as a "wall around the waterfront" that put the town's fate squarely in the hands of the corporation. Competitors for ferry passengers or dock space were ruthlessly run out of business, and not even stage coach lines could escape the group's notice, or wrath.
The Northern California railroad barons also effectively slowed San Diego's development in the early 20th century. San Diego had a natural harbor and many thought that it would become a major port on the west coast. However, San Francisco was strongly opposed to this as San Diego's development would hurt their trade. Charles Crocker, the manager of Central Pacific Railroad was quoted as saying: “I would not take the road to San Diego as a gift. We would blot San Diego out of existence if we could, but as we can[']t do that we shall keep it back as long as we can.” Instead, the Central Pacific only extended their rail route into Los Angeles."
Competition between carriers for rail routes was fierce as well, and unscrupulous means were often used to gain any advantage over one another. Santa Fe work crews engaged in sabotage to slow the progress of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad through the Rockies as the two fought their way toward the Coast; the Santa Fe (in conjunction with the California Southern) would win the race in establishing its connection to Bakersfield in 1883. Some eleven years earlier, the Southern Pacific essentially blackmailed the then-fledgling City of Los Angeles into paying a hefty subsidy to ensure that the railroad’s north-south line would pass through town; in 1878, the company would be rebuffed in its attempts to extend its Anaheim branch southward to San Diego through Orange County's Irvine Ranch without securing the permission of James Irvine, Sr., a longtime rival of Collis Huntington. The Southern Pacific would similarly block the westward progress of the Santa Fe (known to some as the People's Railroad) until September 1882, when a group of enraged citizens ultimately forced the railroad's management to relent. Numerous accounts of similar "frog wars" and other such tactics have been recorded throughout California's railroad history.
Perhaps the most notorious examples of impropriety on the part of the railroads surround the process of land acquisition and sales. Since the federal government granted to the companies alternate tracts of land that ran along the tracks they had laid, it was generally assumed that the land would in turn be sold at its fair market value at the time the land was subdivided; circulars distributed by the SP (which was at the time a holding company formed by the Central Pacific Railroad) certainly implied as much. However, at least some of the tracts were put on the market only after considerable time had passed, and the land improved well beyond its raw state.
Families faced with asking prices of ten times or more of the initial value more often than not had no choice but to vacate their homes and farms, in the process losing everything they worked for; often it turned out to be a railroad employee who had purchased the property in question. A group of immigrant San Joaquin Valley farmers formed the Settlers' League in order to challenge the Southern Pacific's actions in court, but after all of the lawsuits were decided in the favor of the railroads, one group decided to take matters into their own hands. What resulted was the infamous Battle at Mussel Slough, in which armed settlers clashed with railroad employees and law enforcement officers engaged in eviction proceedings. Six people were killed in the ensuing gunfight. The Southern Pacific would emerge from the tragedy as the prime target of journalists such as William Randolph Hearst, ambitious politicians, and crusade groups for decades to follow. Leland Stanford's term as Governor of California (while still serving on the SP's board of directors) enhanced the corporation's political clout, but simultaneously further increased its notoriety as well.
Regulation.
Public response to the corruption that arose from California's economic "explosion" led to the enactment of numerous reform and regulation measures, many of which coincided with the ascendancy of the Populist and Progressive movements. Early examples of railroad regulation include Granger case decisions in the 1870s, and the creation of the first (albeit ineffective) Railroad Commission via amendment of the State's Constitution of 1879, forerunner of today's California Public Utilities Commission. In 1886, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Santa Clara County in "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad." The documents of the Court decision included a statement that a corporation henceforth could be considered an American citizen, with all the associated immunities and privileges (except the right to vote). The document phrasing has long made it difficult for states to pass legislation that could make corporations accountable to the people. The Stetson-Eshelman Act of 1911 provided for the fixing of shipping rates by state legislatures. In 1911, California's new Progressive government established the second Railroad Commission, more effective and less corrupted than the first one.
20th century.
Buses replace streetcars and interurbans.
Passenger rail in California during the early 20th Century was dominated by private companies. Interurban railways gained popularity in the early part of the century as a means of medium-distance travel, usually as components of real estate speculation schemes. The Pacific Electric Railway Company Red Car Lines was the largest electric railway system in the world by the 1920s, with over of tracks and 2,160 daily services across Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The Sacramento Northern Railway operated the world's longest single electric interurban service between Oakland and Chico. These and other services were largely abandoned in the 1940s and 50s as ridership declined and equipment fell into disrepair.
Local services were mostly controlled by a few primary operators. The San Diego Electric Railway, founded by John D. Spreckels in 1892, was the major transit system in the San Diego area during that period. In the Los Angeles area, real estate tycoon Henry Huntington established both the Los Angeles Railway, also known as the Yellow Car system, and the above-mentioned Pacific Electric Red Car System in 1901. The San Francisco Municipal Railway was established in 1912. Business magnate Francis Marion Smith then created the Key System in 1903 to connect San Francisco with the East Bay. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened to rail traffic in 1939 only to have the last trains run in 1958 after fewer than twenty years of service – the tracks were torn up and replaced with additional lanes for automobiles. All four streetcar systems, and other similar rail networks across the state, declined in the 1940s with the rise of California's car culture and freeway network. They were then all eventually taken over to some degree, and dismantled, in favor of bus service by National City Lines, a controversial national front company owned by General Motors and other companies in what became known as the General Motors streetcar conspiracy. San Francisco's city-owned lines were not privatized, but were still largely converted to bus and trolleybuses.
Modern light rail and subway systems.
One urban system that survived the streetcar decline was the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) in San Francisco. Its five heavily used streetcar lines traveled for at least part of their routes through tunnels or otherwise reserved right-of-way, and thus could not be converted to bus lines. As a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued in operation for several decades. When plans for stations in the double-decker Market Street Subway tunnel through downtown San Francisco, with BART on the lower level and MUNI on the upper level, required high platforms, it meant that the PCCs could not be used in them. Hence, MUNI ordered a fleet of new light rail vehicles, and Muni Metro began service in 1980. The San Francisco cable car system came under full Municipal ownership in 1952, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 after almost being replaced entirely by buses in the previous decades. The system had fallen into disrepair by the 70s and a massive overhaul of the system resulted in the lines current configuration opening in 1984.
Planning for a modern, urban rapid transit system in California did not begin until the 1950s, when California's legislature created a commission to study the Bay Area's long-term transportation needs. Based on the commission's report, the state legislature created the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District in 1957 to build a rapid transit system to replace the Key System and provide region-wide rail connectivity. Initially intended to include all nine counties that ring the San Francisco Bay, the final system would feature service between San Francisco and three branches in the East Bay, serving three counties total. Passenger service on BART then began in 1972, but expansion to the system was planned almost immediately.
Environmental and traffic concerns beginning in the 1970s led to a resurgence in urban passenger rail, specifically the construction light rail networks. Hurricane Kathleen in 1976 damaged the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Desert Line to San Diego, and the San Diego portion became an isolated railway. After prior decades of grappling with the option of building rapid transit BART-like line, light rail was eventually chosen as a more cost-effective solution. The San Diego Trolley opened in 1981 partially as a means to preserve freight service on this line, but is widely considered the system that lead to renewal in the concept of urban passenger rail. This system was followed in California by both the Sacramento Regional Transit Light Rail and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail systems in 1987, as well as more nationwide.
The development of the mixed-mode Los Angeles Metro Rail began as two separate undertakings. The Southern California Rapid Transit District was planning a new subway along Wilshire Boulevard while the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission was also designing a light rail system utilizing a former Pacific Electric corridor. The light rail Blue Line opened to Long Beach in 1990. The Red rapid transit line began construction in 1986, and its first segment opened in 1993, the year both entities were merged. Expansion of the system was initially hampered by compromises and prohibiting legislation, but the light rail Green Line opened in 1995, followed by the Red Line's extension to in Koreatown (which received its own designation as the Purple Line in 2006).
Passenger rail.
Amtrak era.
When Amtrak assumed operation of passenger rail services in the United States in 1971, most long-haul and commuter trains ceased operation. New lines were either based on previous routings or extended from old services. Service to Denver was provided via the "San Francisco Zephyr" (on a route largely retained from the "City of San Francisco"), and extended through to Chicago in 1983 with the "California Zephyr". Los Angeles services have remained largely unchanged since the corporation's inception. The "Southwest Chief" is the successor to the ATSF "Super Chief", still running from Chicago. The "Sunset Limited" to New Orleans is the oldest maintained named train service in the United States, inherited from the Southern Pacific service running since 1894. The "Texas Eagle" is a direct successor to the Missouri Pacific train of the same name. No one passenger train ran the length of the west coast before 1971. "Coast Starlight" service was initiated as a thrice weekly service from Seattle to San Diego, later expanded to run daily but cut back to Los Angeles by 1972. Services to Las Vegas, Nevada were provided by the weekend-only "Las Vegas Limited" in 1976 and long-distance "Desert Wind", which operated between 1979 and 1997.
Caltrans and Amtrak partnered together to form Amtrak California in 1976. The "Pacific Surfliner", serving the coastal communities of Southern California between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, is an extension of the historical "San Diegan" that was previously operated by ATSF and continued service under Amtrak – it is the busiest corridor outside of the Northeast. Amtrak's formation left the San Joaquin Valley without rail service, but this was rectified in 1974 with the initiation of "San Joaquins" service. At first serving Bakersfield to Oakland, additional services were added north to Sacramento in 1999. "Capitol Corridor" service began as simply "Capitols" in 1991 and connects the Bay Area with the Sacramento area, acting closer to true commuter rail than most other Amtrak routes. The "Spirit of California" was a short-haul sleeper service that ran between Los Angeles and Sacramento via the "Coast Starlight" routing. The train lasted under two years from 1981 to 1983. The Amtrak California branding is being deprecated as the three California-based lines have transitioned to control under local joint powers authorities.
One exception.
The California Western Railroad is a short line railroad that never joined Amtrak. For most of its existence, the line served to haul lumber from the Mendocino Coast Range to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in Willits. The company also ran one daily round trip passenger service to Fort Bragg – the "Skunk Train". By 1996, freight shipments had declined to the point that passenger excursions became the railroad's primary source of income. A series of tunnel collapses starting in 2013 severed the line, and service was thence reduced to purely excursions without through running.
Commuter rail.
One service spared from discontinuance was the Southern Pacific Peninsula Commute, operational in some form since 1863. The railroad had long petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to end the service, but remained subsidized by the state. Caltrans renamed it Caltrain in 1987. The overseeing joint powers authority acquired the line in 1991, and eventually took over responsibility for operating the service. By 1988, it was the only commuter rail being operated in the state.
An attempt to start commuter rail service in Los Angeles was undertaken in 1982, although CalTrain service would last fewer than six months. Amtrak initiated "Orange County Commuter" service in 1990 under the "San Diegans" brand, but a more regional approach was deemed necessary. Southern Pacific sold of track to the newly formed Southern California Regional Rail Authority in 1991, which became the nucleus of the Metrolink commuter rail network when it opened one year later. The system would consist of six lines by the end of the millennium, including assumed operation of the Orange County service.
The North San Diego County Transit Development Board was created in 1975 to consolidate and improve transit in northern San Diego County. Planning began for a San Diego–Oceanside commuter rail line, then called Coast Express Rail, in 1982. The Board established the San Diego Northern Railway Corporation (SDNR) - a nonprofit operating subsidiary - in 1994, and purchased the of the Surf Line within San Diego County plus the Escondido Branch from the Santa Fe Railway that year.
By the 90s, growth in the Tri-Valley and the middle Central Valley had led to congestion on local freeways while providing little access to public transit. In May 1997, the Altamont Commuter Express Joint Powers Authority was formed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, and Alameda Congestion Management Agency with the intent to establish commuter rail service over the Altamont Pass and Niles Canyon. The Altamont Commuter Express, connecting San Joaquin County and the Bay Area, then began operations in 1998.
Freight.
Railways companies, and thus routes, were largely consolidated under a few Class I railroads by the end of the century. In 1982, the Union Pacific Corporation purchased the Western Pacific and the WP became part of a combined Union Pacific rail system: the Union Pacific Railroad, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and the Western Pacific. Southern Pacific was purchased by Union Pacific and acquisition was finalized in 1996. In the same year, the ATSF merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form BNSF Railway. With those two mergers, the two major railroads in California became Union Pacific and BNSF, with some smaller short line and switching operations. Line abandonment has generally increased since then, as redundancies are reduced. The Union Pacific line over Tehachapi Pass operates as one of the busiest single-track railways in the world.
21st century.
Vehicle for hire companies have gained market share from rail service.
Railway expansion.
Rail systems saw initial expansion in the first decades of the century. San Diego Trolley's Green Line began service in 2005, and Silver Line heritage streetcar service began limited service in 2011 with refurbished PCC's. The Sacramento RT Light Rail extended all of its lines including one linking Folsom to the Sacramento Amtrak station, the Blue Line extension project which provided transit to several colleges in the southwest part of the city, and the line to the River District. VTA light rail also saw expansion to San Jose Diridon station and Winchester, as well as the Vasona extension. All of these systems would experience various reroutings of service as new extensions came on line.
Bay Area Rapid Transit has seen expansions beyond its original vision, such as the Silicon Valley BART extension, Oakland Airport Connector, and the East Contra Costa BART Extension. BART and Caltrain jointly opened Millbrae station in 2003. BART placed an order for a replacement fleet of train cars in 2012, with expected full delivery by 2022. The passage of Measure RR on November 8, 2016 gave BART the funds to undertake a massive rebuild of the system's aging infrastructure, effectively freezing expansion plans not already programmed. A result of the agency's decision to hold expansion plans into Livermore prompted the creation of the Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority in 2017 – an agency tasked with establishing a public transit service between BART and ACE trains.
San Francisco's Muni Metro has expanded service via the sequential Third Street Light Rail Project and Central Subway (with plans for a third extension underway). The heritage streetcar service was extended to Fisherman's Wharf via constructing light rail infrastructure in place of the demolished Embarcadero Freeway, and the E Embarcadero streetcar service entered regular service in 2015 providing a link between the waterfront and Caltrain. City Supervisor Scott Wiener called for sustained subway construction throughout San Francisco.
LA Metro Rail's aggressive expansion policy was adopted owing to increased funding availability primarily from Measure R in 2008 and Measure M in 2016 as well as dissatisfaction with increasing automotive traffic. The Gold Line opened in 2003 and has been extended several times via East Side Expansion and the Gold Line Foothill Extension. The Expo Line opened in 2012 along the route of the former Santa Monica Air Line, was completed to Santa Monica in 2016, and hit ridership projections 13 years earlier than forecast. The Regional Connector will bring the disconnected Gold line into the rest of the LACMTA light rail system and provide more flexible service patterns. A more direct airport connection will be provided upon completion of the K Line (known as the Crenshaw/LAX Line during construction). Several extensions of the Purple Line are planned to bring subway service along the Wilshire / Westwood corridor and will likely connect to the Crenshaw/LAX Line. Multiple preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics are being made under the Twenty-eight by '28 initiative, including establishing a rail route over the Sepulveda Pass, the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor, extending the Green Line to South Bay, the West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor, the Inglewood Transit Connector, and the Eastside Transit Corridor extension of the Gold Line.
Diesel multiple unit services.
Sprinter began diesel multiple unit (DMU) service in 2008, connecting cities in northern San Diego County. This service follows the Escondido Branch, which was acquired by the San Diego Northern Railway in 1992 and was later transferred to the North County Transit District. The passenger trains are not FRA-compliant for operation in association with freight trains and therefore freight operations on the route are not permitted during passenger operations. For this reason the American Public Transportation Association and some publications refer to this line as light rail, but it does not conform to the normal engineering specifications usually associated with that term.
Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit was created by state legislation in 2002 to reestablish passenger service along the Northwestern Pacific Railroad right-of-way, providing a route from Cloverdale to Larkspur Ferry Terminal with a planned 16 stations. After prolonged delays, preview service commenced on a truncated portion of the line on June 28, 2017. Construction is ongoing with plans to reach Cloverdale by 2027. Unlike trains operating the Sprinter service, SMART's Nippon Sharyo DMUs are each powered by one Cummins QSK19-R diesel engine with hydraulic transmission and regenerative braking, and meet US EPA Tier 4 emission standards. Structurally each DMU is FRA Tier 1 compliant with crash energy management features, making it capable of operating on the same line with standard North American freight trains without the need of special waivers.
The aforementioned East Contra Costa BART Extension breaks from Bay Area Rapid Transit convention by using standard gauge rail (the main system uses a broad gauge), allowing for standard modern DMU trainsets to operate on the branch line. Plans originally called for trains to share right of way with pre-existing freight tracks in Eastern Contra Costa County. The freight track's owners eventually refused BART to lay tracks along its own lines, and the project was integrated into the median of an adjacent highway widening and given dedicated tracks. Its opening extended the BART system an additional with two new stations.
Arrow is under construction and is planned to provide service to Redlands, California, as well as allow for connections and track sharing with Metrolink. It will run along lightly used Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway tracks and serve five stations along its route.
High-speed rail.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority was created in 1996 by the state to implement an rail system. It would provide a TGV-style high-speed link between the state's four major metropolitan areas, and would allow travel between Los Angeles's Union Station and the San Francisco Transbay Transit Center in two and a half hours. In November 2008, voters approved Proposition 1A, a bond measure that allocated $9 billion to finance the project. In 2012, the California legislature and Governor Jerry Brown approved financing for an initial stage of construction for the project. The High Speed Rail Authority estimates that the initial stages will not be completed until 2022. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 6, 2015, and construction continues despite financial and political difficulties. As part of Governor Gavin Newsom's 2019 State of the State address, he declared, "Right now, there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego." Cost increases have plagued the buildout, and in May 2019 the FRA cancelled a $928.6 million grant awarded to the project.
As part of this effort, and due to rising ridership of its own, Caltrain undertook a project to electrify their service corridor between San Jose and San Francisco; high-speed rail services are expected to share this corridor once service is extended to the Bay Area. In August 2016, Caltrain awarded a contract to produce the trainsets needed for running on the electrified line, while an official groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 21, 2017 at Millbrae station. Project funding in the amount of $600 million comes from Proposition 1A funds that authorized the construction of high-speed rail.
Altamont Corridor Express and "San Joaquins" services are planned to be enhanced and expanded as part of the state's general rail plan. CAHSR was originally to run over the Altamont Pass for its service route between the Central Valley and Silicon Valley, but these plans were later changed. New ACE lines are being built progressively to Ceres by 2023 and later to Merced. Additional services to Sacramento along a lesser-used rail line are also expected to be implemented in 2023, known as Valley Rail. Trains are planned to run to Merced and act as a feeder service in the northern section of the high speed rail service area.
Freight.
By 2013, California's freight railroad system consisted of moving .
Union Pacific Railroad completed a project in 2009 to allow double-stacked intermodal containers to be transported across Donner Summit, allowing for increased loads as well as train lengths.
Programs to further increase freight capacity through the state involved grade separation of the most congested level diamond crossings on the network. Colton Crossing was rebuilt between 2011 and 2013 to elevate the Union Pacific tracks over those owned by BNSF. Stockton Diamond is expected to see a similar treatment starting in 2023.
New systems.
The OC Streetcar is under construction , and will reestablish a local service along a segment of the Pacific Electric West Santa Ana Branch rail line in Santa Ana and Garden Grove.
The LAX Train will connect the Los Angeles International Airport to a mass transit system for the first time when it opens in 2023.
BART rejected a plan to expand the system to Livermore in 2018. This prompted the creation of the Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority, which was tasked with providing a direct rail connection between the San Joaquin Valley and the BART system. The line is expected to utilize a county-owned segment of the former Transcontinental Railroad right-of-way through Tracy and over Altamont Pass.


California Northern Railroad

The California Northern Railroad is one of several Class III short-line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. It operates over Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) tracks (now Union Pacific Railroad) under a long-term lease.
The CFNR was originally owned by the Park-Sierra Rail Group (owner David L. Parkinson of St. Helena, California), who also owned the Arizona and California Railroad and the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad. The CFNR was later sold to RailAmerica in 2002. Genesee & Wyoming, another shortline holding company, bought RailAmerica in December 2012.
The railroad transports mainly food and agricultural commodities, as well as stone products. It moved around 26,000 carloads of goods in 2008.
Lines Operated.
SP & Old NWP (Suisun/Fairfield - Willits).
Current Suisun/Fairfield - Schellville.
Presently, the CFNR only operates between Suisun/Fairfield to a connection with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Schellville, California. The CFNR also operated into Vallejo, California over the original California Pacific Railroad mainline that was constructed in 1867/1868. Due to the new construction of homes, apartments, and commercial buildings in 2010, the CFNR abandoned the line due to a new rail carrier coming in and operating the line. Mare Island Naval Base, in Vallejo, is coming back alive to the newly established Mare Island Rail Service out of Olympia with scrap metal, rock, and boating material being shipped in and out of the Island. A facility on the northern part of the island operated by rail contractor Alstom is currently repairing Capitol Corridor cars used by the Amtrak California fleet around the Bay Area for passenger service.
CFNR operates over the Union Pacific's Martinez Subdivision with trackage rights between Suisun/Fairfield and Davis during weeknights for power changes and the Suisun/Fairfield based Local which interchanges cars between Suisun/Fairfield and Davis.
1993 Operation between Schellville - Willits.
Originally, in 1993 the CFNR operated much further than Schellville and their operation extended as far north as Willits, California. At Willits the CFNR interchanged with the North Coast Railroad. The North Coast Railroad ran from Willits - Eureka, California over the old NWP.
The CFNR also interchanged with the California Western Railroad at Willits. The California Western Railroad runs west from Willits to Fort Bragg, California.
Lombard Yard.
Located in American Canyon, California, Lombard yard served as CFNR's headquarters for several years. Lombard Yard services such customers as Central Valley Builder's Supply, All Bay Mill & Lumber, Biagi Bros. Shipping, Hess Vineyards, and several others. Also home to CFNR's Lone Palm Shops, routine maintenance and small repairs are carried out by the CFNR shop crews there.
SP's West Valley Line (Davis - Tehama).
The CFNR currently operates over SP's former West Valley Line. This line between Woodland and Tehama was constructed by Central Pacific's subsidiary, the Northern Railway. The track between Davis and Woodland was built by the California Pacific Railroad and at one time extended as far north as Yuba City/Marysville via Knight's Landing.
The California Pacific and Northern Railway/Central Pacific came under the operational control of Southern Pacific between 1885-1888.
Construction Completion Timeline.
In 2009 CFNR repaired the Thomes Creek Bridge in Corning for a connection in Tehama, CA with the Union Pacific Railroad. Bell Carter Olive Company is still the primary customer on the Northern part of the line as well as Artois Feed & Grain in Artois. Other smaller customers are located in Richfield, Hamilton City, Willows, and Maxwell. Many customers on that end of the line have moved to private trucking companies to transport their goods due to lower prices.
SP's West Side Line (Tracy - Los Banos).
This mainline route was formerly known as Southern Pacific's "West Side Line" and at one time extended from Tracy, California and then south through the West side of the San Joaquin Valley (I-5 corridor) via Patterson, Gustine, Newman, Los Banos, Oxalis and then east to Fresno via Ingle and Kerman. California Northern Railroad now operates the northern section of the line from Tracy - Los Banos. SJVR operates the southern section of the line from Oxalis to Fresno and was at one time owned by Port Railroads, Inc. (PRI; also a Kyle subsidiary) and operated by the SJVR. On 1996 April 24 the PRI was merged into the SJVR. Both the PRI and SJVR were already Kyle Railway subsidiaries. The section of track between Los Banos and Oxalis was abandoned by Southern Pacific in 1993 and the tracks were removed soon after. The Southern Pacific constructed the track from Tracy to Newman (37 miles) and from Los Banos to Armona (near Fresno) in 1891. Southern Pacific's overnight Owl passenger train (#57/58) operated over this line between San Francisco and Los Angeles into the 1960s.
Primary traffic on the West Side Subdivision is food and agriculture based commodities such as tomatoes, tomato paste, grain and other agriculture goods. An ethanol facility located near Tracy is starting to maximize production which brings in more traffic for the CFNR including grain, corn and fuels used to run the facility to produce the ethanol. The Tracy Crew is a Monday-Friday operation but may work an occasional Saturday if a customer needs switching out. The crew base is located in Tracy, CA where CFNR interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad.
CFNR Interchanges.
Union Pacific Railroad:
Northwestern Pacific Railroad:
Napa Valley Railroad:
Mare Island Rail Service:
Trains.
Pipe train.
Napa Pipe was located at Rocktram, on the Napa branch. It closed in 2004 and was torn down. Between 1993 and 2004, California Northern ran a unit pipe train from Lombard to Roseville, CA. California Northern would pick up short cuts of cars from Napa Pipe, and assemble the train in Lombard yard, usually filling two tracks. The pipe trains would sometimes be combined with Rabanco's MSW (Material Solid Waste) trains, forming 100+ - car trains, sometimes with two sets of helpers.
Equipment.
Locomotives.
Motive power for the California Northern had consisted of fourteen EMD GP15-1 locomotives, two EMD SD40 locomotives, two EMD SD9 locomotives, two EMD SD9E locomotives, and one EMD SW1500 locomotive, built between the late 1940s and 1970s. Currently, California Northern owns twelve locomotives, as several have been sold to other railroad companies, including Union Pacific, Fillmore and Western Railway, Trans Canada Switching, Hudson Bay, Mosaic, Twin Mountain, and San Joaquin Valley Railroad. In 2009 the railroad began a program to replace their existing fleet with new fuel-efficient locomotives, known as "gensets", or 3GS21B-DE, built by National Railway Equipment. 80 percent of the funding for the purchase of these new locomotives comes from a grant from the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
From 2009 to December 2011, the following GP15-1 locomotives had been moved from CFNR property to other RailAmerica properties across the entire system: CFNR 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, and 111. During that time, CFNR GP15-1's 109 and 112 were being kept as backup units in case any of the "gensets" had mechanical failures, if a train needed more motive power, or for special assignments within the CFNR property.
After G&W bought out Rail America in December 2012, CFNR GP15-1's 109, 112, and 113 were repainted and renumbered as CFNR 1568, 1569, and 1570 respectively.
In 2019 the railroad purchased a couple of Tier 4 low-emission locomotives, or KLW SE24B, that were built by the Knoxville Locomotive Works. Like the gensets, the railroad was granted $3.7 million from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to purchase the locomotives. The president of CFNR, Brad Ovitt, said about the purchase, "We’re grateful to the Air District for making the purchase of these two low-emission, state-of-the-art locomotives feasible, as they provide benefits to the communities served by the railroad that would not be possible for us to do on a stand-alone basis. It’s a true win-win, public-private partnership."
Control Car Remote Control Locomotive.
The California Northern had one Control Car Remote Control Locomotive (CCRCL) for a time, numbered 2019. Housed inside the frame of an ex-Santa Fe EMD GP20, the unit remained in Santa Fe's "Kodachrome" scheme until its sale.
Rolling stock.
In 1998, the California Northern leased fifty gondolas from Daniel J Joseph leasing, LTD (DJJX). Numbered 52001 – 52050, these cars remained on the CFNR for several years until their return to DJJX.


Montgomery and Mobile Railroad


Olin Dunbar Wheeler

Olin Dunbar Wheeler (May 1, 1852 – September 10, 1925) was an American historian, author and topographer.
Early life.
Olin Wheeler was born May 1, 1852 in Mansfield, Ohio to parents Reverend Alfred Wheeler and Lydia Curtis Wheeler. His brother Edward Jewett Wheeler later became the editor of "The Literary Digest" and "Current History". Wheeler was educated at Baldwin University and Allegheny College. In 1874, Wheeler graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Cornell University.
Western exploration.
Upon graduating from Cornell in 1874, Wheeler obtained employment with the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region headed by geologist John Wesley Powell. In 1876, Wheeler was the assistant to John H. Renshawe, working on topographical surveys in southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada. In 1877, Wheeler was the assistant of Professor A. H. Thompson who headed the triangulation party of the survey. The party operated in the region west of the Green River. Wheeler continued with the Powell survey until its conclusion in 1879.
After leaving the survey Wheeler obtained an appointment to work on the tenth United States census in Washington, DC. During summer months he was the disbursing officer at Virginia City, Nevada, and during the winters he was engaged in special census work at the Capital. He gained valuable experience as a special correspondent for various newspapers, writing on Congressional matters and public events.
In 1882 Wheeler married Anna E. S. Burr of Mount Vernon, Ohio and settled in St. Paul, Minnesota under the employment of Elias F. Drake, a prominent businessman. Wheeler held this position until June, 1892.
Northern Pacific Railroad.
In June 1892, Olin Wheeler was hired by the Northern Pacific Railroad to head its advertising, a position he held for 16 years. In 1893, he authored the first of many editions of the annual NPR travel guide, "Wonderland" which highlighted attractions along the route of the railroad in the west, including Yellowstone National Park and Alaska. He authored at least 19 books on behalf of the railroad, including at least 13 in the "Wonderland" series from 1893–1906.
Lewis and Clark.
Olin Wheeler published a two volume work "The Trail of Lewis and Clark 1804-1904" in 1904 based upon actual travel over the trail. He was the first historian to produce a significant work about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Wheeler's book gave the general public his personal impressions of the story of the expedition, the waters they navigated and the land they traversed. The volumes contained two hundred illustrations and numerous images of important expedition scenes and landmarks photographed by the various professional photographers who accompanied him in his retracings of the route.
The identities of only a few of those photographers are known, including L. A. Huffman of Miles City, Montana, who was a protégé of Frank J. Haynes. A few images are in the Edward Ayer Collection at the Newberry Library in Chicago, but an intensive search for original prints or negatives of the remaining photos included in "The Trail" has been fruitless.
Retirement and death.
Though Wheeler left the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1908, he remained somewhat active in retirement. He joined the Minnesota Historical Society in 1903, and served on their executive council from 1905 until his death. In 1924, Wheeler was appointed historian of the Veterans’ Association of the Northern Pacific Railway. He intended to personally re-trace the path of Meriwether Lewis' 1806 return trip through the Marias River basin in the summer of 1925, but was too ill to attend a tour planned by the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition for that purpose. He died September 10, 1925.


Hondo Railway

The Hondo Railway is a Class III shortline railroad that operates about of trackage to the west of San Antonio, Texas. Roughly half of the railroad's track () is terminal trackage leased from Texas Liquid Terminal, Inc. It was formed in 2006, and carries ethanol, food, agricultural products and industrial products.


Doodlebug (rail car)

Doodlebug or hoodlebug is a nickname in the United States for a type of self-propelled railcar most commonly configured with both passenger and freight (often dedicated baggage, mail and/or express, as in an unpowered combine) compartments. The name is said to have derived from the perceived insect-like appearance of the units, as well as the slow speeds at which they would doddle or "doodle" down the tracks. Early models were usually powered by a gasoline engine, with either a mechanical drive train or a generator providing electricity to traction motors ("gas-electrics"). In later years, it was common for doodlebugs to be repowered with a diesel engine.
Doodlebugs sometimes pulled an unpowered trailer car, but were more often used singly. They were popular with some railroads during the first part of the 20th century to provide passenger and mail service on lightly used branch lines at less expense than with a train consisting of a locomotive and coaches with larger crew. Several railroads, mostly small regional and local networks, provided their main passenger services through doodlebugs in a cost-cutting effort.
History.
The development of gasoline engines led railroads to seek them as higher efficiency alternatives to steam power for low-volume branch line services at the start of the 20th century. The McKeen railmotor was a line of self-propelled gasoline-powered railcars produced between 1905 and 1917. The 200 HP engine on the 55-foot long or 70-foot long units drove only one set of wheels, and the lack of power and traction, the unreliability of their transmissions, and an inability to reverse, were major limitations. General Electric (“GE”) was the pioneer of gas-electric railcars: GE in February, 1906 rebuilt a wood passenger coach into a gas-electric unit which was placed in trial service on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway was an early adopter of this technology, placing an initial order for ten gas-electric units in 1910 and seven additional by 1913, giving it the distinction of having the largest fleet of gas-electric motor cars in the country. The petroleum-electric drive control system invented in 1914 by Hermann Lemp, an engineer with GE, became the technological foundation of self-propelled gasoline railcars in the 1920s.
In 1923 the Electro-Motive Company began production of self-propelled railcars, subcontracting bodies to the St. Louis Car Company, prime movers to the Winton Engine Company, and electrical equipment to General Electric. The Pullman Company was subsequently added as a subcontractor for car bodies.
Improvements to railcars were sought by The Pullman Company, who experimented with lightweight designs in partnership with the Ford Motor Company in 1925. They then enlisted the services of pioneering all-metal aircraft designer William Bushnell Stout in 1931 to adapt airplane fuselage design concepts to railcars. Also in 1931 the Budd Company entered into a partnership with the French tire company Michelin to produce lightweight stainless steel Budd-Michelin railcars in the US. Those advances in lightweight railcar design were important steps in the development of the lightweight diesel-electric streamliners of the 1930s.
Production of self-propelled railcars dropped off with the onset of the Great Depression, which hurt the market for branch line services. But production was revived in 1949 with introduction of the Budd Rail Diesel Car.
The variant name "hoodelbug" was largely limited to the mid-Atlantic states, particularly Pennsylvania. A major hiking trail in Indiana County, Pa., is named Hoodlebug Trail.
The last remaining Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) Gas-Electric Doodlebug, M.177, is on display at the City of Los Angeles "Travel Town Museum" in Griffith Park.


William N. Deramus IV

William N. Deramus IV (born April 15, 1944) was the fourteenth president of Kansas City Southern Railway.


Budd SPV-2000

The Budd SPV-2000 is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit railcar built by the Budd Company between 1978 and 1981 for use on North American commuter railroads. The design was a successor to Budd's popular Rail Diesel Car (RDC) but based on the body of the Amfleet passenger car. It did not prove a success: Budd built 31 cars and they proved mechanically unreliable.
Design.
Budd announced the design in 1976. At the time it contemplated multiple unit operation of up to six cars with a top speed of . Power would be provided by General Motors diesel engines. "Popular Science" depicted a tapered cab similar to the power car of the Advanced Passenger Train; the SPV-2000 would enter service with a more traditional blunt-end operator's cab. Budd said that SPV stood for "Special Purpose Vehicle" (Self-Propelled Vehicle became common), and emphasized the design's suitability for both intercity and commuter rail service.
The body shell of the SPV-2000 was very similar to the Amfleet passenger coach, which in turn was based on the Metroliner electric multiple unit. The SPV-2000 featured operator cabs at both ends and (in the standard configuration) 86 seats in 22 rows. There was an accessible toilet at one end and a small space to store luggage at the other. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) cars could seat 109.
Operators.
Budd unveiled the first SPV-2000 in Philadelphia on February 9, 1978, and then sent it on a demonstration tour around the United States. Budd eventually sold SPV-2000s to four customers: the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), ONCF (Morocco state railways), the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT), and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In 1978 Los Angeles County Supervisor Baxter Ward proposed using SPV-2000s on the former Pacific Electric line to Long Beach, California, but nothing came of this proposal. The SPV-2000s were considered for a resumption of Cape Cod rail service via Braintree, Massachusetts and an SPV-2000 made a demonstration run in August 1979, but nothing came of this either. Beyond the 30 cars it sold, Budd constructed the demonstrator and 14 incomplete shells. In the early 1990s the North American Carriages Company proposed to complete some of these shells as standard passenger cars for use in a new service between San Antonio, Texas and Monterrey, Nuevo León, to be called the "Royal Eagle", but nothing came of the proposal.
FRA.
The Federal Railroad Administration purchased a single SPV-2000 in 1981 and converted it into a track geometry car which it designated T-10. The T-10 remained in service with the FRA until 2000 when it was replaced by newer equipment. It was then sold to Caltrain.
ONCF.
Budd sold six SPV-2000s to ONCF (the Moroccan state railways) for use on King Hassan II's royal train. Under King Mohammed VI, Hassan II's successor, the train has fallen into disuse.
ConnDOT.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation purchased 13 SPV-2000s at roughly $1 million apiece in 1980 (equivalent to $ in adjusted for inflation); 12 for use on the New Haven–Springfield Line and one for commuter service on the Danbury Branch. The New Haven–Springfield Line cars were leased to Amtrak (numbered 988–999) and painted in Amtrak's Phase III livery. The cars were designed to be interoperable with Amfleet cars; for a brief period, Springfield shuttles were coupled to the rear of Boston trains at New Haven to provide through service to Washington, D.C.
The cars proved mechanically unreliable and were often pulled by locomotives, leading to the derisive sobriquet "Seldom Powered Vehicles". Amtrak withdrew them on January 12, 1986 and placed conventional locomotive-hauled Amfleet trains on the route. The cars saw some use on the Metro-North Railroad; most were stored in New Haven. In 1994, the remaining 11 were de-powered and converted to coaches for use on Shore Line East commuter service. Dubbed "Constitution Liners", they were the primary coaches for Shore Line East until replaced by Mafersa coaches in 2004. In 2018, seven of the former ConnDOT cars were sold to the Foxville and Northern Railroad.
MTA.
The MTA purchased ten SPV-2000s for use on its Hudson Line between Croton–Harmon and Poughkeepsie. The order cost $12 million. The SPV-2000s made their first runs on October 17, 1981. This run was coordinated with the re-opening of the New Hamburg station. Problems with the SPV-2000s developed quickly, and a 1982 "New York" magazine article characterized the cars as "defective". The MTA SPV-2000s are all out of service; one is preserved at the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum in Willimantic, Connecticut.
Preservation.
Along with Metro North 293, ConnDOT 1001 is being restored at the Danbury Railway Museum, in Danbury, CT.


William Henry Aspinwall

William Henry Aspinwall (December 16, 1807 – January 18, 1875) was a prominent American businessman who was a partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and was a co-founder of both the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Panama Canal Railway companies which revolutionized the migration of goods and people to the Western coast of the United States.
Aspinwall was descended from, and related to, many prominent American families including the Roosevelts, Howlands, and Aspinwalls, that were heavily involved in the merchant trade business and politics, wielding vast power and ensuring wealth for generations.
Early life.
William Henry Aspinwall was born on December 16, 1807 in Manhattan, New York. He was the third of seven children born to John Aspinwall (1774–1847) and Susan Howland (1779–1852). His father, who traveled extensively, was associated with the dry goods merchant firm of Gilbert & Aspinwall. His younger sister, Mary Rebecca Aspinwall (1809–1886) was married to Isaac Roosevelt, the grandfather of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His maternal aunt, Harriet Howland, was the third wife of Isaac's father,
New York State Assemblyman James Roosevelt.
His maternal grandparents were Joseph and Lydia Howland. The Howland family was descended from John Howland, a signer of the "Mayflower Compact". His cousin, Emily Aspinwall Howland, daughter of Samuel Shaw Howland, was married to Henry Chauncey, the son of Henry Chauncey, Esq., of Alsop & Chauncey in Valparaíso, and Lucy Wetmore Alsop, the grandniece of Continental Congressman John Alsop.
His paternal grandfather, Captain John Aspinwall, was one of the most prominent shipmasters of the New York merchant marine before the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Aspinwall family who were well known in New York society and were descended from William Aspinwall, who was among the first settlers of New England. Another relation, Sir Algernon Apsinwall, served as vice president and secretary of the West India Committee for forty years.
Career.
After obtaining a "substantial education" at local private schools, Aspinwall began working as a clerk for G.G. & S.S. Howland, a merchant firm founded brothers Gardiner Greene Howland and Samuel Shaw Howland, who were younger siblings of Aspinwall's mother Susan, a position he held until 1832. The firm imported high-status goods such as porcelain, silk, tea, and opiumfrom China, and sold them to Americans of means.
Howland & Aspinwall.
In 1832, he became a partner in Howland & Aspinwall, along with his cousin William Edgar Howland, the son of founder Gardiner Howland. After assuming the presidency in 1835, he expanded trade to South America, China, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the East and West Indies. Howland & Aspinwall owned some of the most famous clipper ships ever built. In 1845, while the firm owned the "Ann McKim" which was regarded as the fastest ship afloat, it built the "Rainbow", which was even faster. The "Rainbow" was the high-tech racehorse of its day, and is considered to be the first of the extreme clippers. Instead of the bluff bow that was customary on ships up until that time, the "Rainbow" had a sharp bow, prompting on-lookers to joke that maybe she would sail better backwards. The next year, Howland & Aspinwall had the "Sea Witch" built, which set a speed record from China to New York which still stands.
Clipper ships sacrificed cargo capacity for speed, but in some markets, the fast service allowed their owners to charge premium rates (Tea from China tasted better if it was fresh, so the cargo on the first ship of the season to arrive in New York was worth more). Also faster speed meant that the vessel could complete more voyages in a given time period, which also helped make up for the diminished cargo capacity. The firm and its profits made Aspinwall very wealthy, reportedly one of the richest men on the East Coast in the nineteenth century.
Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
In 1840s, William's younger brother John Lloyd Aspinwall succeeded him as president of Howland & Aspinwall so he could devote his time to transportation around the Isthmus of Panama. In 1848, Aspinwall, along with Gardiner G. Howland and Henry Chauncey, founded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, to provide service to California. This turned out to be a rather good year in which to start a steamship line to California, since the Gold Rush started the next year. Howland & Aspinwall were also the recipients of a federal government subsidy to operate their trans-oceanic steamship line, against which they were forced to compete with the unsubsidized line owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The company's first vessel to make the trip was packed with passengers. Pacific Mail eventually became American President Lines, which is now part of Neptune Orient Lines.
Panama Canal Railway.
Following the Steamship Company, Aspinwall then promoted a railway in Panama. The project, which began in May 1850 and was later known as the Panama Canal Railway, was the first transcontinental railroad in the Americas and was built to provide a shorter and more secure path between the United States' East and West Coasts. When completed in 1855, the line was designated as an "inter-oceanic" railroad crossing as it connected ports on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The tropical rain forest terrain and outbreak of malaria and cholera, rendered its five-year construction, at a cost of $8,000,000, a considerable engineering challenge, and required more than seven thousand workers drawn from "every quarter of the globe."
Later life and Civil War involvement.
Aspinwall retired in 1856, but remained active as a philanthropist and spent considerable time improving his country estate near Tarrytown, New York, which was later sold by his son to William Rockefeller, brother of John D. Rockefeller, for $150,000 in 1886 and became part of Pocantico Hills, New York. He was elected as a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers on July 9, 1870.
Although he never held office, Aspinwall, an admirer of George B. McClellan, was a participant at the "ill-fated" Peace Conference of 1861 in Washington. Later, after the outbreak of the American Civil War, Aspinwall and John Murray Forbes were sent by the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, on a secret mission to England to obtain their "interference in the building and outfitting of iron-clads then in course of construction by Messrs. Laird" intended for the Confederate States Navy. They were sent with millions of dollars in U.S. Bonds from the U.S. Treasury. While Forbes and Aspinwall did not persuade the British to buy the ships, their interference forced the British to detain the ships and conduct a lengthy investigation, essentially cutting off the supply of ships to the Confederate Navy.
In 1866, he was a founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 1869. He owned works by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Antonio da Correggio, Diego Velázquez, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Teniers, Peter Paul Rubens, Philips Wouwerman, Cuyp, Ary Scheffer, Gerard, Dow, Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Titian, Adriaen Brouwer, Gerard ter Borch, Paul Veronese, Mieris, and Leonardo Da Vinci, Romney, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Jean-Baptiste Madou.
Personal life.
In 1830, Aspinwall was married to Anna Lloyd Breck (1812–1885). She was the daughter of Catherine Douce (née Israel) Breck (1789–1864) and George Breck (1784–1869), the brother of U.S. Representatives Samuel Breck and Daniel Breck. Anna was the sister of Rev. James Lloyd Breck, an Episcopal missionary, and Jane Breck, who married Aspinwall's brother John. Together, William and Anna were the parents of:
William Henry Aspinwall died of a myocardial infarction on January 18, 1875 in Manhattan. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
Legacy.
The town of Aspinwall, Panama (now Colón), founded in 1850 and named after Aspinwall, on the on the western end of a treacherously marshy islet covered with mangrove trees, known as Manzanillo Island.


John Hunter Herndon

John Hunter Herndon (1813-1878) was a planter, lawyer, and judge in Texas.
Early life.
John Hunter Herndon was born July 8, 1813, near Georgetown, Kentucky. His father was Boswell Herndon and his mother, Barbara Herndon. He graduated from Transylvania College in Kentucky, with degrees in art and law.
Career.
Herndon practiced law for a brief period in Kentucky. He left Kentucky on December 12, 1837, aboard the steamship "Independence" traveling downstream on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, then continued to the Republic of Texas on January 15, 1838. He maintained a journal for part of his stay in Houston, recording regular entries for three months, including his excursions to Galveston. During his stay, he wrote sales contracts, and eventually, accepted an appointment as Engrossing Clerk for the Republic of Texas House of Representatives.
He relocated to Richmond, Texas, where he was admitted to the bar. He practiced law in the Second Judicial District and the Supreme Court of Texas. He claimed an estate worth $100,000 in the 1850 US Census records for Fort Bend County. Sometime after 1850, he moved his family to Brazoria County, where he worked a plantation. He reported an estate worth $1.7 million on the 1860 US Census, the most highly valued estate in the now-state of Texas. He lost most of its value during the American Civil War of 1861-65.
He served as President of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway during the Civil War, a railroad with eighty miles of track from Harrisburg to Alleyton. He participated in the Somervell Expedition. He was among the soldiers who obeyed the orders of President Sam Houston and retreated from the Rio Grande River, thus avoiding the Mier Expedition and the Black Bean Episode.
Personal life.
He married Barbara Mackall Wilkinson Calvit, the daughter of sugar planter Alexander Calvit (17841836) on August 27, 1839.
Death.
He died July 6, 1878, in Boerne, Texas, and is interred in Hempstead, Texas.


Stuart T. Saunders

Stuart Thomas Saunders, Sr. (July 16, 1909 – February 7, 1987) was an American railroad executive best known for his tenure with Penn Central.
Biography.
Saunders was born in McDowell, West Virginia, and reared near Bedford, Virginia. He graduated from Roanoke College in 1930 and from Harvard Law School in 1934. He served as chairman of Roanoke's board of trustees, was a trustee of Hollins University, and was a charter trustee of the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges, a fundraising entity representing Virginia's private colleges and universities. Saunders, a lawyer by trade, also served as president of the Virginia State Bar from 1951 to 1952.
Norfolk & Western.
Saunders served as president of the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W), one of the nation's most profitable railroads, from 1958 to 1963. During his tenure, the company merged with the Virginian Railway and began negotiations to merge with the Nickel Plate, Wabash Railroad and portions of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) (the mergers were completed in 1964 after Saunders departed). Saunders also oversaw construction of a high-speed coal pier in Norfolk, Virginia that expanded the N&W's core activity (transporting coal from West Virginia to Hampton Roads for follow-on worldwide shipment) and he initiated conversion from steam locomotives to diesels ending the company's distinction as the nation's last steam railroad.
Penn Central.
Saunders became CEO of PRR in 1963. It was during his term that the iconic Roman-inspired Pennsylvania Station in New York City was razed to make way for an underground Penn Station, topped with two office buildings and Madison Square Garden. The outcry over the destruction of the ornate structure instigated the landmarks preservation movement. Saunders also orchestrated PRR's merger with the New York Central Railroad to create Penn Central (PC), serving as that railroad's chairman and CEO. Financial difficulties forced the company into bankruptcy in 1970. Saunders was ousted during restructuring and retired.
Of the failed merger, Saunders commented "Because of the many years it took to consummate the merger, the morale of both railroads was badly disrupted and they were faced with unmanageable problems which were insurmountable. In addition to overcoming obstacles, the principal problem was too much governmental regulation and a passenger deficit which amounted to more than $100 million a year."
Saunders appeared on the January 26, 1968 cover of "Time", and was the "Saturday Review" Businessman of the Year in 1968.
Death.
Saunders died of heart failure in Richmond, Virginia on February 7, 1987. He was 77 years old.


Augusta Belt Railway

The Augusta Belt Railway was incorporated in 1896 and was a subsidiary of the Georgia Railroad. It ran of track as a switching company in Augusta, Georgia, USA, all the way through 1975, at which time it was dissolved.


H and H Railroad

The H & H Railroad, also known as Hall & Hall, Stanwood Street Railway or colloquially Dinky, ran over a long track from East Stanwood to Stanwood in Snohomish County, Washington. It was proclaimed "the shortest railroad in the world" by residents of Stanwood.
Route.
The short, rail line connected the newly built Stanwood depot on the Great Northern Railway with downtown Stanwood. The railroad tracks ran along 271st Street from 102nd Avenue to the depot in East Stanwood on the south side of the street, roughly where the sidewalks are today.
History.
Stanwood was settled in the 1870s and in 1891 received its first station on the Seattle and Montana Railroad, which later merged into the Great Northern Railway. The station was located in the less flood-prone area east of the town, which was on the bank of the Stillaguamish River. A new railway was constructed between the depot and Stanwood in 1904 by local businessman John W. Hall.
The railway was operated by John W. Hall (1870–1931), his wife Alice and later their son Jesse. He ordered a crew to demolish one corner of his stable on Market Street and Saratoga Street to lay the tracks of the H & H Railroad to East Stanwood. From 1904, the "Dinky" transported passengers and cargo between the town and depot.
HC Anderson (1865–1914) was the main investor and the Stanwood Lumber Company initially the main client of the railway. Occasionally, it was used by children on the way to and from school. By the 1920s, passenger service was eliminated due to competition from automobiles. The railroad ceased operations in 1938 because of the low traffic and the completion of new highways between the two towns.


Little Cacapon, West Virginia

Little Cacapon is an unincorporated community in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Little Cacapon is located at the mouth of the Little Cacapon River on the Potomac, east of Okonoko. Okonoko-Little Cacapon Road (West Virginia Secondary Route 2/7) and Spring Gap-Neals Run Road (West Virginia Secondary Route 2) converge south of Little Cacapon. Because of its key location at the mouth of the Little Cacapon and on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Little Cacapon played important roles in both the French and Indian and American Civil Wars. Generally pronounced . Sometimes, despite the current spelling of the word (derived from local Native American for "medicine water") some locals say .
Fort Cox.
On April 4, 1765, a settler by the name of Balzar Stoker received a land grant of 232 acres (940,000 m²) from Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron along the Little Cacapon River and its mouth on the Potomac. Prior to receiving his land grant from Lord Fairfax, Stoker had also purchased 30 acres (120,000 m²) from John Cox. Located on these lands at the Little Cacapon's mouth was "Coxes Ferry," which crossed the Potomac to Maryland. It was at the river's mouth (referred to as "Ferry Field") that a relative of John Cox, Friend Cox, had constructed a stockade. Cox's Fort was erected prior to 1750 for the purposes of protecting and defending both the Potomac River and the Little Cacapon valley. George Washington had previously surveyed a tract of 240 acres (970,000 m²) of land at the Little Cacapon's mouth for Nicholas Friend on April 25, 1750. Cox's fort and ferry later served as a means of transportation for General Edward Braddock and his soldiers en route to Cumberland from Winchester during the French and Indian War.
Civil War skirmishes.
By 1842, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had been completed from Baltimore to Cumberland along the Potomac River through Green Spring, Okonoko, and Little Cacapon. With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became a contested mode of transportation between the Union and the Confederacy. Once again, the mouth of the Little Cacapon became a vital location of defense of both the railroad and the Little Cacapon valley. On November 30, 1861, a skirmish occurred near the river in defense of the Little Cacapon railroad bridge that resulted in the wounding of three Union soldiers. The 54th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment's Company K, under the leadership of Captain Edmond R. Newhard, was assigned to guard duty at the Baltimore and Ohio's railroad bridge over the Little Cacapon until January 1863. On October 4, 1862, a skirmish between Company K and Confederate soldiers under the command of General John D. Imboden resulted in the capture of 54 Company K men (including Captain Newhard and Lieutenant Wagner).


John Shedd Reed

John Shedd Reed (1917 in Chicago, Illinois – March 16, 2008 in Lake Forest, Illinois) was president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and then its parent Santa Fe Industries from 1967 until 1986. The rail transport industry journal "Modern Railways" named Reed its Man of the Year for 1970. Reed was popularly known as "John Santa Fe" by his employees. Prior to his ascendancy as president, Reed oversaw the final transition of the Santa Fe from steam to Diesel engines in 1957.
He was educated at The Hotchkiss School and Yale University. He served as the president of Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, from 1984 to 1994. Reed's grandfather was John G. Shedd, founder of the aquarium.


Iron Springs, Colorado

Iron Springs, a neighborhood in Manitou Springs, Colorado, was an area named for one of Manitou Mineral Springs. The Manitou area had been frequented by Native Americans who considered it a sacred and healing place before European Americans settled in Manitou.
Iron Springs began to be visited in the 1870s, particularly the Ute Iron Springs. In 1880, a new Iron Springs Hotel was built. Attractions and businesses in Iron Springs included an electric trolley, mineral springs, the Manitou Incline, and the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, a cog railway. The incline was dismantled and is now a hiking trail. Neither the electric trolley or the Colorado Midland Railway are in Iron Springs now. The cog railway continues to operate. Iron Springs was annexed into Manitou Springs in several steps between 1887 and 1934.
Geography.
The Iron Springs neighborhood is located in lower Englemann Canyon, along Ruxton Creek. It is the site of trailheads to higher elevations, including the Paul Intemann Memorial Nature Trail and the Barr Trail.
History.
Mineral Springs.
The Manitou Springs area has several mineral springs, called "manitou" for the "breath of the Great Spirit Manitou" believed to have created the bubbles, or "effervescence", in the spring water. The springs were considered sacred grounds where Native Americans drank and soaked in the mineral water to replenish and heal themselves. Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne and other plains tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share[d] in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict." There were 9 or 10 natural springs. As whites moved in there were "skirmishes" for access to the historical resort area until the Native Americans were removed from the area and placed on reservations.
Explorer Stephen Harriman Long made note of the water's healing properties in 1820. His expedition's botanist and geologist, Edwin James, noted the healing benefits of the water; He was also the first European man believed to have climbed Pikes Peak. George Frederick Ruxton wrote of the "boiling waters" in a book about his travels. Recognizing the extent to which Native Americans considered the site to be sacred, Ruxton wrote: "…the basin of the spring (at Manitou) was filled with beads and wampum, and pieces of red cloth and knives, while the surrounding trees were hung with strips of deer skin, cloth and moccosons (sic)."
In the 1870s, there was a pavilion over the Ute Iron Springs, which is thought to be one "strongest of tonics" due to its high iron content. In the early or mid 1880s, Iron Springs Company purchased the spring and built an Adirondack style wood pavilion over the spring. They sold the mineral water commercially until they sold the spring to Joseph G. Hiestand in 1887. In 1890, Joseph G. Heistand had the Ute Iron Springs pavilion torn down and rebuilt as a two-story structure, the second floor was a photographic gallery. The spring in the lower Englemann canyon was near the mouth of the canyon and the Iron Springs Hotel. The Ouray spring was found in 1895 and was established commercially that year.
In 1910, the Iron Geyser on Ruxton Avenue was drilled by Hiestand, to augment the operations of his Ute Iron spring. The springs were owned by Hiestand through his death on January 1, 1916. In the 1920s, William S. Crosby drilled two streams, which combined made a sweet tasting soda water, named Twin Springs.
The current Manitou Mineral Springs on Ruxton Avenue are Iron Spring and Twin Spring. Ute Iron Spring was capped when the Iron Springs Chateau Melodrama Dinner Theater was built in or before 1964.
Hotels.
According to a June 1880 advertisement, the Iron Springs Hotel was located very near the Ute Iron Springs and has been entirely rebuilt and decorated with the "handsomest" furnishings. Charles A. Hubert was the proprietor of the hotel. It was burned in July 1882.
In 1884, the large Iron Springs Hotel was built by the Gillis Brothers for the Manitou Iron Springs Company. It was located on Ruxton Avenue at the site of the current Manitou Incline trailhead. The Gillis Brothers also had several cottages built on Ruxton that year. In 1885, the hotel began using a generator, installed by the Edison Incandescent Lighting Company. The power and lighting was tested at the hotel before working on the "lower part of Manitou". That year, the establishment could serve more than 200 people in its hotel and cottages, which had hot and cold running water and steam heat, in addition to electricity. H. T. Blake was the owner of the Iron Springs Hotel in 1887 and at least into 1888.
The hotel was purchased by Major John Hulbert, Jerome B. Wheeler, and M.A. Leddy by January 18, 1890 for about $150,000 ). Their plans include increasing the hotel plant to a building costing $300,000 ). Hiestand was the owner of the hotel by 1900 and at the time of his death in 1916.
The Eggleton offered furnished rooms near the Ute Iron Springs by 1903.
Railways.
Construction of a Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad spur from Colorado Springs to Manitou began in 1880.
In 1886 or 1887, the Colorado Midland Railway operated along Ruxton Creek. The railway offered service between Manitou and Green Mountain Falls through Ute Pass. The route was extended to Leadville and Aspen. Colorado Midland Railway—founded by Irving Howbert, J. J. Hagerman, and Jerome B. Wheeler—helped to make resort communities in Ute Pass successful in the 1890s, but it did not realize great financial success.
In 1891, the Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway had been built along Ruxton Creek and transported passengers to the Pikes Peak summit. The depot was built by the Gillis Brothers. Aside from the addition of a lunchroom, the depot has not changed much from its original building.
In 1895, the Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway electric trolley line provided transportation from Manitou Avenue to the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway depot on Ruxton Avenue on a trolley called the "Dinky".
Historic buildings and attractions.
In 1880, a candy and cigar store operated near the Ute Iron Spring. lt was purchased by the Iron Springs Company, who also bought the spring. Joseph G. Heistand collected and stored 40 tons of items, such as stones to be polished and petrified wood, for his store in 1890. The "avid collector of mineral specimens" operated a curio shop near the cog railway station. Days after his death in 1916, his stone collection was described as interesting and valuable. The Iron Springs Chateau Melodrama Theater was built over the capped Ute Iron Spring and began offering dinner theater entertainment in 1964 and continues to do so.
Hiestand and R.D. Weir leased the "new casino" near the Manitou and Pike's Peak Cog Railway depot and the Ute Iron Spring in 1895. They made extensive additions to the existing property, including adding a bowling alley, billiard rooms, dancing floor made of hard maple, and built an additional building. The two buildings were connected by an ornamental bridge on the second stories. It was extravagantly furnished.
A Hydro-Electric Plant was built in 1905 at 540 Ruxton Avenue. It has a formal, modern façade of red brick with two large arched windows with fanlights on the front of the building. The plant, now called the Manitou Hydroelectric plant, is one of two plants that generate electricity for the City of Colorado Springs from water that flows through the Ruxton Creek watershed. The other is the Ruxton Hydroelectric plant. After water has been processed by the hydroelectric plants, it flows to the Mesa water treatment plant.
The Manitou Incline was built in 1907 to support the Hydro-Electric Plant operations. Materials were transported uphill to build pipelines on Pikes Peak. When the construction project was completed, the trail was converted to a cable car attraction to take visitors to the top of Mount Manitou, where there was a picnic area and refreshment stand. In 1990, the track was damaged during a rock slide and the incline was closed and the rails removed. In 2013, it was opened as a one mile hiking trail, with a ascent.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, located at 218 Ruxton Avenue, was built in 1889. The church was destroyed in a fire in 1903, and rebuilt within three months. The church is now a small Gothic and Shingle style church, with a greenstone bridge that crosses over Ruxton Creek.
Annexation.
The road up Ruxton Creek (Ruxton Avenue) was annexed to Iron Springs in September 1880. Portions of Iron Springs were annexed to Manitou in February 1887, August 1893, and May 1934.


Mears Memorial Bridge

The Mears Memorial Bridge is a truss bridge on the Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923. The bridge spans the Tanana River at Nenana and at , it is among the largest simple truss-type bridges in the world.
History.
The bridge's namesake, Colonel Frederick Mears, was chairman and chief engineer of the Alaska Engineering Commission, the railroad's builder and original operator.
The bridge was the final link in the railroad, entering service in February 1923, a year after the rest of the line was finished. The AEC hired the Chicago firm of Ralph Modjeski and Angier to design the bridge, and the American Bridge Company to fabricate and erect it. When completed, this Pennsylvania through-truss bridge was the longest truss span in the United States and its territories.
This bridge still ranks as the longest span of any kind in Alaska. it was then the third-longest simple truss bridge in North America.
President Warren G. Harding, becoming the first president to visit Alaska, traveled to the state to drive the ceremonial last spike at the north end of the bridge on July 15, 1923. It was one of Harding's last public appearances, as he died 18 days later during his ongoing western tour.