 |
Re: Vacaville's "Onion Plant" & Sacramento Northern ...
Author: Willotta--SN's "End-of-the-Line"
Date: 08-02-2011 - 13:26
Willotta Station-- The termination point of the Sacramento Northern's "WILLOTTA BRANCH" ..
A bit of history follows-- quite interesting, I think. We'll do this in installments!
"The abandoned Lambert Packing shed near Willotta and Rockville Road, was at the end of the Sacramento-Northern RR Line. AKA as the Willotta Station or Pierce Packing shed. It was destroyed by fire..."
"The Willotta Ranch was named after William and Loretta (Lottie) Pierce who owned and operated the ranch in the early 1900s. Their grandson, Lewis Pierce III, introduced Kiwifruit to the ranch in 1972 before it became popular. Lewis' daughter, Linda Pierce Wedemeyer inherited the ranch in 1991 and operated it for only two years before she died of cancer leaving the ranch in trust to her three children. Linda's husband, Austin, operates the ranch today."
From Skipp Isaham comes this:
" there's a killer map of
the SN line in the County Tax Assesors Office, just
as you walk in the door... mounted on the wall to the
left. It's the first and only picture I've seen, which
shows the SN triangle in central Fairfield. There is a
Southern Spur which heads down toward Suisun and the
Willotta Spur going southwest.
From Dick Mc Clenaghan comes this:
"This is very interesting to me because this branch is near
> where I live. The old timers I have talked to and the maps I have seen
> suggest the Willotta branch did not cross Suisun Creek and head for
> the former feed store and "Ice House" @ Rockville and Suisun Valley
> Rd., but rather turned North just before the Willotta Oaks subdivision
> and ended short of Rockville Rd in the vicinity of the big packing
> sheds that burned maybe 10 years ago. (The overgrown weigh station
> remains on Rockville) I'd love to see where the ROW you describe ran..
> no doubt it was obliterated in places by construction of SCC, but most
> of that area is still farm land."
From Zephyrus comes this:
"The line to Fairfield terminated at Willotta and some packing sheds. At one point, it was projected to continue a few miles west and join with the San Francisco and Napa Valley Railway. There were also plans to connect it with the Petaluma and Santa Rosa. The SN had a spur off this line into Suisun City, but it was abandoned in 1933. The whole line from about 3 miles west of Vacaville Jct. through Fairfield to Willotta was abandoned in October 1971. The stub was used for car storage until about 1982.
The line to Vacaville was, IIRC, the last SN traffic in this area, serving a fertilizer plant (thanks for correction below) at the end into the mid 1980s. Everything left from Cordero north (Vacaville Jct. and Vacaville line) was abadoned between 1985 and 1986 (although I think the stub of the Willotta line came out sooner). Just remembered that I read somewhere that the Vacaville line was part of a grand plan to run another line of the SN along the west side of the valley and join the Colusa Branch and a branch out of Chico. The resulting line would have been shaped like a ladder. Not sure if the Woodland Branch factored into this."
From "KRK" comes this tidbit:
"The palatial home of Lewis Pierce, the pioneer, stood just south of the Rockville Road at Suisun Creek in what is now "Willotta Oaks."
"His son, the late Judge 'William Pierce' inherited the home and named it Willotta in 1900. It stood just south of the Rockville Road at Suisun Creek in what is now "Willotta Oaks."
He and his wife "Lottie" coined the name !!
More coming, on the WP proposal to extend the SN into Petaluma, via Willotta Station. Watch for it !!
KRK
A bit of history follows-- quite interesting, I think. We'll do this in installments!
"The abandoned Lambert Packing shed near Willotta and Rockville Road, was at the end of the Sacramento-Northern RR Line. AKA as the Willotta Station or Pierce Packing shed. It was destroyed by fire..."
"The Willotta Ranch was named after William and Loretta (Lottie) Pierce who owned and operated the ranch in the early 1900s. Their grandson, Lewis Pierce III, introduced Kiwifruit to the ranch in 1972 before it became popular. Lewis' daughter, Linda Pierce Wedemeyer inherited the ranch in 1991 and operated it for only two years before she died of cancer leaving the ranch in trust to her three children. Linda's husband, Austin, operates the ranch today."
From Skipp Isaham comes this:
" there's a killer map of
the SN line in the County Tax Assesors Office, just
as you walk in the door... mounted on the wall to the
left. It's the first and only picture I've seen, which
shows the SN triangle in central Fairfield. There is a
Southern Spur which heads down toward Suisun and the
Willotta Spur going southwest.
From Dick Mc Clenaghan comes this:
"This is very interesting to me because this branch is near
> where I live. The old timers I have talked to and the maps I have seen
> suggest the Willotta branch did not cross Suisun Creek and head for
> the former feed store and "Ice House" @ Rockville and Suisun Valley
> Rd., but rather turned North just before the Willotta Oaks subdivision
> and ended short of Rockville Rd in the vicinity of the big packing
> sheds that burned maybe 10 years ago. (The overgrown weigh station
> remains on Rockville) I'd love to see where the ROW you describe ran..
> no doubt it was obliterated in places by construction of SCC, but most
> of that area is still farm land."
From Zephyrus comes this:
"The line to Fairfield terminated at Willotta and some packing sheds. At one point, it was projected to continue a few miles west and join with the San Francisco and Napa Valley Railway. There were also plans to connect it with the Petaluma and Santa Rosa. The SN had a spur off this line into Suisun City, but it was abandoned in 1933. The whole line from about 3 miles west of Vacaville Jct. through Fairfield to Willotta was abandoned in October 1971. The stub was used for car storage until about 1982.
The line to Vacaville was, IIRC, the last SN traffic in this area, serving a fertilizer plant (thanks for correction below) at the end into the mid 1980s. Everything left from Cordero north (Vacaville Jct. and Vacaville line) was abadoned between 1985 and 1986 (although I think the stub of the Willotta line came out sooner). Just remembered that I read somewhere that the Vacaville line was part of a grand plan to run another line of the SN along the west side of the valley and join the Colusa Branch and a branch out of Chico. The resulting line would have been shaped like a ladder. Not sure if the Woodland Branch factored into this."
From "KRK" comes this tidbit:
"The palatial home of Lewis Pierce, the pioneer, stood just south of the Rockville Road at Suisun Creek in what is now "Willotta Oaks."
"His son, the late Judge 'William Pierce' inherited the home and named it Willotta in 1900. It stood just south of the Rockville Road at Suisun Creek in what is now "Willotta Oaks."
He and his wife "Lottie" coined the name !!
More coming, on the WP proposal to extend the SN into Petaluma, via Willotta Station. Watch for it !!
KRK
