Before BART: the Sacramento Northern Railway

[lpetrich]

Before BART: Exhibit looks at Contra Costa County's electrical railroad system - Inside Bay Area

The electric railroads that ran through Contra Costa County starting in 1904 include false starts and bad investments which ended in 1957, leaving behind about $30 million in debt.

Adjusted for inflation, that debt would be about $284 million today. But the railway's imprint is felt today in the layout of the county, and its history is coming alive again with the help of two separate projects.

A website is going piece-by-piece along the railway's old right-of-way and answering historical questions with old photos. And an exhibit that runs through June 28 tells the story of the electric railroad with maps, photos, artifacts and a model train.

The exhibit "Before BART," at the Contra Costa County Historical Society in Martinez, traces the evolution of the railroad system, which was the longest electric rail line in the country. It ran from Oakland all the way to Chico, easily reaching speeds of 65 miles per hour.

East Bay Hills Sacramento Northern Railroad Right-of-Way during the mid-20th century from the Rockridge section of Oakland to Walnut Creek | East Bay Hills Project - has lots of pictures from back then.
www.cocohistory.com - now featuring "Before BART" and lots of pictures of the Sacramento Northern Railway.

Then, of course, there's Sacramento Northern Railway - Wikipedia

[Aa3rt]

I've posted this link in another thread but here is a link to a wonderfully researched Sacramento Northern website:

http://people.virginia.edu/~ggg9y/home.html