Hi Everybody-- I thought I would contribute a little trivia and history regarding the operation of a spot in the road, many of you Oakland to Sacramento highway travelers may remember for the extremely strong smell of "Onions" that hovered around the place. The Sacramento Northern ran through the middle of the operation and there was even an "SN Tunnel" that ran under the I-80 freeway, which I would like to ascertain if it is still there !
Enjoy !

Basic Vegetable Products Company processed onions and garlic on a 29-acre site in Vacaville. The company contributed to California’s agricultural industry for more than fifty years before closing
in 1986. Let’s look back on a bit of nostalgia and history of the famous “Onion Plant” .

The original Vacaville location of Basic’s operation was a tin shed on the Uhl ranch, where Shock’s Furniture Interiors and Longs Drugs are currently situated on Monte Vista Avenue. “Basic” was to grow from these humble beginnings to become one the world’s largest dehydration plants.


It was at this juncture, 1940, that “Basic” left the Uhl ranch and set up a bigger operation in the Vacaville
Fruit Growers’ old facilities on Stevenson Street. “Basic” now employed 1,000 people and was producing
many millions of pounds of product per year. Jobs at the new plant were advertised offering 48 hours work during the onion season and 40 hours off season. The company maintained bus service to and from the surrounding areas: from as far as Sacramento ($6 for 30 trips) and from Vallejo in the other direction.
Enticements for jobs at “Basic” were good pay, being centrally located, country living, homes and
dormitories, and a safe, clean plant. A company cafeteria was open 24 hours a day.
Employees were required to don uniforms to maintain the sanitary conditions the plant promoted. Women
wore dark blue dresses and blue caps, both with white accents. Men wore striped overalls, blue shirts and
white caps.

Basic Vegetable Products Co. was a major contributor for years to Vacaville’s economic, social and
cultural heritage. Many employees retired after decades of service. Often, members of the same family
worked for the company, like Dolores Lopez’s family. Dolores, like many “Basic” employees, kept an ongoing scrapbook commemorating company picnics and parties and logging numerous news clippings about company leaders, events and issues. For the outsider, passing by Vacaville meant a few miles of the strong odor of onion permeating the air. But for the residents of the town and surrounding area, it was truly the “sweet smell of success.” The company, which eventually became Basic American Foods Inc., closed its Vacaville dehydrator in 1986 and its local office in the spring of 1994. Its contribution to the town’s history lives on, however, in the name of the annual September celebration: The Onion Festival.
The property was unused for nearly a decade until the Redevelopment Agency of Vacaville wanted to create a sports and recreation center and buildings for commercial and industrial use at the site.
A one-story 90,000 square foot building now covers most of the previously contaminated area. Opened in 1998, Vacaville Skating Center serves more than fifteen thousand people each month.

Basic Vegetable Products Company’s Vacaville plant was served by a direct rail connection of the Sacramento Northern’s “Vacaville Branch”. The length of this branch from the SP interchange at CANNON to Vacaville was 7.87 miles . The line split off from ‘Vacaville Junction’ (located some 2.34 miles from CANNON) and headed in a Northwesterly direction to Vacaville, skirting the perimeter of the “California Medical Facility” for the criminally insane.

In entering the center area of the Onion Plant proper, the track had to pass thru a “tunnel” that ran underneath old U.S. Highway 40 (now Interstate-80) . The track exited the West side of the Onion Plant property and terminated in beautiful downtown Vacaville.

On October 10, 1965 a passenger excursion was operated by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association on most of the remaining SN trackage in Solano County. The equipment consisted of Key System Bridge Units # 182 and 186 pulled by a Sacramento Northern switch engine. It was an amazing trip and completely sold out. Some 250 railfans took advantage of this opportunity of a lifetime. The main highlight of this excursion was operation thru the Onion Plant property and on into Vacaville proper. As a sidenote, operation at some 45+ mph on the Willotta Branch parallel to the I-80 freeway with “destination signs” indicating Line ‘F’ and Shattuck Avenue, definitely garnered a few looks. It was the trip of a lifetime and a lot of crazy fun too !
Unfortunately, photographs of this excursion seem to be far and few. I’ve seen only one, years ago, from the collection of Bart Nadeau. Surely there must be others lurking somewhere !

In June, 1981 the track was “Out-of-Service beyond Vacaville Junction. The Willotta Branch was abandoned in 1971. The absolute last train was operated to Vacaville in 1980 and the track between Vacaville Junction and Vacaville was abandoned in 1985. The final freight train operated between CANNON and Vacaville Junction in December, 1983 and abandonment occurred in 1985.

Hope you enjoyed this look back at the history of the famous Vacaville “Onion Plant” and its connection with the Sacramento Northern Railroad.

QUESTION: Does anyone on here know for sure if the old SN “tunnel” is still intact under the I-80 freeway ???

Cheers…

KRK