Central California Traction Company

Central California Traction Company

Central California Traction's ex Alameda Belt/ATSF GP7 #44 entering the yard in Lodi
Overview
Parent company	Union Pacific BNSF Railway
Headquarters	Stockton, California
Reporting mark	CCT
Locale	San Joaquin Valley, California
Dates of operation	1905 (1905)–
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail, 1,200 V DC (countryside) Overhead line, 600 V DC (within city limits)[1] none since 1946
Length	52.1 miles (83.8 km)[2]
Other
Website	www.cctrailroad.com
Route map v t e abandoned 1966 Sacramento Southern RR Eighth and X Streets Sacramento Union Traction Terminal WP Feather River Route Alhambra Boulevard Thirty-first and X Streets Car Barn State Fairgrounds Colonial Heights Colonial Acres abandoned 1966 UP Fresno Subdivision Procter & Gamble Polk Florin Road Kosova Coffing Sheldon Cosumnes River Wilton Dillard Walmort Valensin Centralia Herald UP Ione Lead Terry Kenefick Peltier Youngstown Woodlake Mokelumne River SP Kentucky House Branch Lodi Lodi Junction UP Fresno Subdivision Kettleman Ampere Norton Blacklands Ashley Foppiano A&K Cherokee Car Barn Vine Street branch STE SP Fresno Subdivision STE Pilgrim Street branch Aurora Street Stockton BNSF Stockton Subdivision Mineral Baths

The Central California Traction Company (reporting mark CCT) is a Class III short-line railroad operating in the northern San Joaquin Valley, in San Joaquin County, California. It is owned jointly by the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway.

Service

The railroad operates between Stockton and Lodi. CCT also operates the Stockton Public Belt Railway around the Port of Stockton.

It connects to the Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad company freight lines that serve greater Stockton. Several miles of the CCT track through Acampo are being used to store rolling stock, primarily Centerbeam flatcars that carry lumber, as of 2009^[update].

History

The Central California Traction Company was incorporated on August 7, 1905.^[2] Streetcar service began on March 3, 1906 with nine miles (14 km) of trackage in Stockton.^[3][4] The company also had greater ambitions and became an electric interurban railway,^[5] opening a line from Stockton to Lodi starting on September 2, 1907. The original line into Lodi ran down Lodi Avenue, turning north on Sacramento Street and reaching as far north as Turner Road.^[6] In 1908, current on the third rail system was raised from 550 volts to 1,200 volts.^[7] The extension to Sacramento began service on September 1, 1910.^[1]

In 1928, the railroad was sold by the original owners and was then jointly purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad.^[8][2] The Stockton streetcar operations were taken over by Stockton Electric Railroad (by then an SP Subsidiary) in 1929.^[9] Interurban service ceased on February 4, 1933,^[10][1] but local streetcars continued to run in Sacramento until the service was acquired by National City Lines in 1943.^[11] Electric service ended on December 22, 1946.^[1]

Interurban passenger cars pass over the Mokelumne River c. 1915–1930

The railroad operated over the same line from Lodi and Stockton to Sacramento until 1966 when the Sacramento belt line was closed, then trains were run over Southern Pacific's line into Sacramento. Tracks into Sacramento's city center were removed that year.^[12] In 1998, service to Sacramento was suspended.^[11] Since then the tracks remain between Stockton and Sacramento, being kept for future operational options.^{[citation needed]}

One of the Central California Traction Company train stations survives in Acampo, just north of Lodi. This station was converted into a residence, with altered interior walls and an expansion.^{[citation needed]}

Locomotive roster

CCT locomotive model BL21CG, built by Brookville Industries

Model	Road no.
GE 44-ton switcher	25
	26
GE 70-ton switcher	30
	31
	32
ALCO S1	40
	41
	42
ALCO S2	45
EMD GP7u	44
ALCO S4	50
EMD GP7	70
	90
	700
ALCO RS-1	80
Brookville BL12CG	1201 & 1202
EMD SW1500	1222
	1501
	1502
	1503
	1504
NRE 3GS21B	BNSF 1243, 1247 & 1270
Brookville BL20CG	2101
EMD GP18	1790
	1795

See also

• List of California Interurban Railroads
• Sacramento Northern Railway
• Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad

References

Notes

1. Robertson 1998, pp. 99–100
2. Lewis 1996, p. 67
3. "Stockton's Big New Street Car System". Stockton Daily Evening Record. Stockton, California. March 3, 1906. p. 8. Retrieved May 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Van Ommeren 2004, p. 54.
5. Demoro 1986, p. 202
6. Lea & Roth 2004, p. 443.
7. Lea & Roth 2004, p. 445.
8. Hilton & Due 2000, p. 207.
9. Fickewirth 1992, p. 148.
10. "California Traction Ends Passenger Rail Service". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. February 4, 1933. p. 3. Retrieved May 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Burg 2006, p. 89
12. Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center 2008, p. 84.

Bibliography

• Burg, William (2006). Sacramento's Streetcars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738531472.
• Demoro, Harre W. (1986). California's Electric Railways. Glendale, California: Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-74-2.
• Fickewirth, Alvin A. (1992). California railroads: an encyclopedia of cable car, common carrier, horsecar, industrial, interurban, logging, monorail, motor road, shortlines, streetcar, switching and terminal railroads in California (1851-1992). San Marino, CA.: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-106-8.
• Hilton, George W.; Due, John F. (2000) [1960]. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3.
• Lea, Ralph; Roth, Janice (Spring 2004). "The Central California Traction Company". Lodi Historian. 15 (2). Lodi Historical Society. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
• Lewis, Edward A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide - 5th Ed. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-290-9.
• Middleton, Wm. D. (2000) [1964]. The Interurban Era. Kalmbach Publishing Co. Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 978-0-89024-003-8.
• Robertson, Donald B. (1998). Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History. Vol. IV. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers. ISBN 0-87004-385-4. OCLC 13456066. OL 2716499M.
• Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center (2008). Sacramento's Elmhurst, Tahoe Park and Colonial Heights. Arcadia Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 9780738555904.
• Stanley, David G.; Moreau, Jeffrey J. (2002). The Central California Traction Company. Lompoc, CA: Western Star Distributors. ISBN 1-930013-06-X.
• Van Ommeren, Alice (2004). Stockton in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738528786.
• Walker, Mike (1997). Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - California and Nevada - Post Merger Ed. Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom: Steam Powered Publishing. ISBN 1-874745-08-0.

External links

Template:Attached KML/Central California Traction Company

KML is not from Wikidata

• Official Central California Traction Company−CCT website
• Comprehensive Trainweb.org: CCT Site
• Trainweb.org: Current CCT Locomotive Roster
• Cencalrails.railfan.net: Photographs of CCT
• Donsdepot.net: Photographs of CCT
• Western Pacific Railroad Museum — home of CCT Caboose #24.
• Tidewatersouthern.com: CCT Steeple Cab locomotive #100.
• Davesrailpix.com: Photograph collection of all interurbans — includes CCT and TS.