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The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional railroad that serves the North Coast of California. Its main line is long and runs between Schellville and Eureka. There are portions of the line still intact from the Ignacio Wye to the edge of San Rafael. Currently only the stretch between Schellville and Windsor is in operation. The portion of the NWP main line between the Ignacio Wye in Marin County and the depot in Healdsburg is owned by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), a proposed commuter railroad. The Schellville–Ignacio and Healdsburg–Eureka portions are owned by the North Coast Railroad Authority. The NWP's current locomotive roster includes an ex-Burlington Northern GP9, numbered NWP 1922, leased from Bruggere and Monson (BUGX), and a Tier-3 hybrid "Genset" locomotive, numbered NWP 2009 and purchased from Railpower Technologies. The BUGX 1322, a former AT&SF GP7 #2699, built in 1952 and leased from BUGX, is used as a reserve unit. The NWP was started in the late 1800s as a combined enterprise between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads, who both realized only one railroad would be profitable in the Eel River canyon. The two railroads bought and combined 43 different railroads to create the Northwestern Pacific and achieve a single railroad by 1914. Gauges ranged from narrow gauge to , and even included an early wooden steam monorail in Sonoma, California. In 1936, the Santa Fe sold its interests to the SP, which assumed full control. Beginning in 1990, public interests began snatching up bits and pieces of the "Southern End," or from Willits to Schellville. The North Coast Railroad Authority was born by government action in the late 1980s to save the NWP from abandonment. The SP officially sold the last of the entire line in 1995, the same year all operations ended north of Willits. In 1996 the "reborn" NWP began operations, but poor management, lack of sufficient motive power and high costs led the line to fall apart. In 1999, the Federal Railroad Administration gave an emergency order that closed the line. In July 2011, the Federal Railroad Administration emergency order was lifted, allowing freight trains to resume service. == History == In the late 1800s both the Southern Pacific Railroad ("SP") and the Santa Fe Railroad had great interests in building lines north from San Francisco to Humboldt County to transport logs south. Both railroads planned to build a line north, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("AT&SF") starting with a boat connection in present-day Larkspur, California, and the Southern Pacific, starting at its interchange in American Canyon, north through Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties to finally terminate in Eureka, California. As plans went forward it became clear that only one railroad would be profitable in the Eel River Canyon, so the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe entered into a joint agreement, and in 1906 merged 42 railroad companies between Marin and Humboldt Bay to create one railroad line stretching from Schellville, California to Eureka. Construction was finally completed through the unstable Eel River canyon in October 1914 when a "golden spike" ceremony and celebration was held to mark the accomplishment. The Southern Pacific Railroad controlled the southern end of the line from Willits south to Marin and Schellville, while the AT&SF controlled the northern end from Willits to Eureka. There were also dozens of miles of narrow gauge trackage in Marin, which was controlled by SP. The railroad service became popular; a 1911 daily NWP timetable shows 10 passenger trains each way, plus dozens of freights. In 1929 the AT&SF sold its half-interest to the Southern Pacific, making the NWP a full SP subsidiary. Passenger service boomed until the 1930s, when improved roads and highways made traveling and shipping by motor vehicle more accessible, and by 1935 both freight and passenger service slowed to a crawl because of the Great Depression. It did not pick up again until World War II, which created a great demand for freight shipment. Freight service on the NWP picked up heavily again in the 1950s as a large increase in the demand for lumber came about due to the post-war housing boom. Branch lines were dismantled during the 1930s. The Sebastopol branch became redundant following purchase of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad in 1932, and California State Route 12 adopted the former alignment between Leddy and Sebastopol. The Trinidad extension reverted to a logging line after NWP service ended in 1933. Sonoma County's River Road adopted the former alignment of the Guerneville branch from Fulton to Duncans Mills after rails were removed in 1935. During March, 1958, with the exception of the tri-weekly Willits-Eureka Budd Rail Diesel Car passenger service, all mainline passenger service was discontinued. The "Budd car" made its last run in 1969. Freight traffic remained high until the 1970s. During the final decade of Southern Pacific operation, carloads of lumber left Eureka each morning pulled by six EMD SD9 locomotives called "Cadillacs" by their crews. The train might pick up a refrigerator car of butter from Fernbridge and more lumber cars from Fortuna and Scotia before making a meal stop for its crew at the Fort Seward depot. More lumber cars might be added at Alderpoint during the long, gentle climb up the Eel River canyon. A second crew took over at Willits, where more cars from the California Western typically swelled the train to approximately one hundred cars. Five miles of 2.25 percent grade from Willits to Ridge originally required helpers, but six "Cadillacs" typically moved the train from Willits to Ridge in two sections during later years. The remaining trip down the Russian River to Schellville included a meal stop for the crew at Geyserville. Many Humboldt County mills began shipping lumber in trucks when a fire in the Island Mountain tunnel closed the line north of Willits in 1978, and only half of that traffic returned to the rails when the line reopened in 1979.〔 Remaining traffic revenues were insufficient for track maintenance through the Eel River Canyon, at that time the most expensive stretch of rail line in the United States. In September 1983, the SP announced that it was shutting down the maintenance-intensive NWP line north of Willits. This led to a contentious court battle since the SP did not properly notify the Interstate Commerce Commission of their intent to abandon the line. The line was ordered reopened by the U.S. Circuit Court in March 1984. In 1984, the SP sold the north end from Willits to Eureka to Bryan Whipple, who ran it as the Eureka Southern Railroad. Although Whipple tried his best, the line was bankrupt within several years. In 1989, the North Coast Railroad Authority was founded by the California Legislature under the North Coast Railroad Authority Act to save the NWP from total abandonment. In 1992, what was left of the Eureka Southern was sold to the NCRA, who operated it as "North Coast Railroad" until 1995 when severe flooding of the Eel River led to an almost total washout. The north end of the NWP has not been used since 1995. Beginning in the late 1980s, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District began to purchase sections of the NWP's south end from the Southern Pacific Railroad. The SP began to lease the line to the California Northern Railroad in 1993, until the entire south end was purchased by a combination of the GGBHTD and Marin and Sonoma Counties, which merged with the NCRA on April 30, 1996. In 1996, the California Northern Railroad lease was terminated, and the NCRA took over operations of the line between Schellville and Willits. Using "Black Widow" EMD GP9 and SD9 locomotives, the "new" NWP ran from 1996 until 1998, when money problems and management issues caused the line to fail. The line was also shut down due to unsafe operating conditions including washouts and bridge instability, which made even slow track speeds dangerous. In 2001, the NWP resumed service for a month between Schellville and Cotati, but was shut down under the first and only Emergency Order issued by the Federal Railroad Administration. Beginning as early as 2009, the NCRA began to rebuild and repair the NWP between Schellville and Windsor, and in July 2011 it resumed light freight service between those two points after many legal hurdles. Trains today on the NWP run from the Lombard interchange with the California Northern Railroad, up to Windsor. Currently shipments over the NWP by various customers include grain and lumber transloads. Trains also include construction equipment and supplies for the SMART train, a planned commuter railroad between Windsor and San Rafael on the NWP right-of-way. Plans for the future of NWP freight include rebuilding the line to Healdsburg around 2014, and Willits by 2020, dependent mostly on state and federal grants and income to the NCRA and NWPco.〔Martin, Nicole and Sobelman, Donald (11/20/2014) ("Federal Preemption May Be The Key For Calif. Railroads" ) ''Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, LLP''〕 The Eel River Canyon segment is still on the drawing board while awaiting a decision whether or not to rebuild the segment, due to extreme costs and a lack of possible business. Multiple tourist companies are interested in possibly opening an excursion and dinner train that would traverse Humboldt and Arcata bays, but are facing many legal hurdles and financial issues. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Northwestern Pacific Railroad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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