Butler Wrote:
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> Craig is correct. The museum's web site does
> spell it as "Molena". I was a bit curious where
> Montezuma is located as this is where the museum's
> ownership of the ROW ends, approximately 1.99
> miles south of Molena. A little digging into
> Wikipedia came up with this description for
> Montezuma: "The railway stop was located
> approximately a mile and a half northwest of
> present-day Collinsville, just after the rail line
> swung due north, from its north-easterly
> trajectory from the ferry landing at Chipps
> Island, at the Suisun Bay shoreline."
>
> Looking NORTH of the museum, it appears that
> "Dozier" is located at Rio Dixon Rd where the line
> makes a hard turn (about 120 degrees - I bet this
> is a restricted speed curve!) to the west,
> eventually connecting with the outside world just
> south of where Canon Rd intersects with Vanden Rd
> north of Travis AFB.
>
> North of the museum site and just north of Creed
> Rd (Station stop Creed?) there appears to be an
> abandoned wye and ROW running northwest and right
> into Travis AFB. I am guessing that this line was
> abandoned when Travis AFB was built.
>
> On this Dozier - Canon Rd line there appears to be
> another abandoned wye track about midway between
> Gate Rd and Vanden Rd. This line goes southwest
> maybe 1200 feet where there appears to be another
> wye and a connection to the line through Travis
> that came out of Creed. This line goes generally
> northwest and there appears to be yet another wye
> (near Waterworks LN) connecting to a line that
> appears to run SW to NE. The NE connection at
> this 3rd wye soon turns die north and appears to
> have gone to Vacaville. I am guessing that this is
> where the museum ran their excursions into
> Vacaville which they referenced as "In the 1960s
> and 1970s some trips, including trains of Key
> System bridge units hauled by an SN diesel or
> using Nevada Copper Belt gasoline motorcar #21,
> originated at the Museum and operated to Montezuma
> and Vacaville.". Somebody sure liked wye tracks!
>
> The museum also mentions "operation of its popular
> "Prairie Train" services that ran to the vernal
> pools at Jepson Prairie from 1985 - 1994.. A bit
> more work with google seems to indicate that these
> vernal pools are in the area near Dozier where the
> line makes its hard turn to the west.
>
> Corrections or further details are welcomed.

Originally, the SN line from Vacaville through Fairfield to Willota (Built as the Vallejo & Northern--obviously, not all aspirations were realized) was completely isolated from the SN proper. About 1930, a connection was built from the SN main at Creed to Vacaville Jct. (including the bridge that used to span the SP main just west of Cannon). Due to construction at the air base during WWII, a segment of this line was removed and replaced by the line from Dozier (the sharp left turn you see today is the remaining leg of the wye). During the war, a spur was built into the north side of the air base, which is the wye grade you see just below the bridge over the SP. When the ship channel to Sacramento was built about 1960, the SN line west from West Sacramento was abandoned and replaced by trackage rights on the SP from Sacramento to Cannon. The connecting track at Cannon included a wye so trains could head either to Dozier or Vacaville; one leg of this wye remains. The Museum owns all remaining trackage from Cannon through Dozier to Montezuma. Unfortunately, when the UP removed the track northwards from Dozier, the Museum was unable to save the wye. At one time, there was an effort to reinstall the wye at Creed, but that was prevented by property ownership issues.