RAILHEAD

VOLUME 29 NUMBER 3 DECEMBER 2010

Volume 29 No. 4 QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY HISTORICAL RAILWAYS February 2011

Historic Woodland Depot Celebrates 100th Birthday! Dateline: Woodland, California.

The Historic Woodland Train De-pot is 100 years old this year. Built in 1911, it was the third of four train depots that were built in Woodland. It is the only original one still remaining and is located at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Sixth Street. This landmark building has witnessed many his-torical events and has had many famous and not so famous people walk through its waiting room doors to board trains heading north and south. It has seen good times when its outside arcade was full of people waiting to catch a train or meet someone arriving on one. It also saw years of decline and decay as travel by train to Woodland declined then stopped altogether. For a time it served as a Greyhound bus depot, all the while becoming more run down. Finally, all railroad activities were moved out of it and it was set for demolition. Only a concerted effort by a coalition of historical preser-vation groups, the City of Wood-land, and many individuals and

businesses saved this last of its kind building from being de-stroyed. Now it is nearly restored to its original grandeur and is once again a community gathering place.

In this issue of the Railhead we will talk about the events leading up to and the con-struction of the Historic Woodland Train Depot. Later issues will discuss its history, rescue and re-birth.

The first train de-pot built in Wood-land was located near Lincoln Ave-

nue and College Street and was built by the California Pacific Rail-road in 1869 when the California Pacific Railroad built a branch rail line from Davis to Yuba City, through Woodland. The tracks were laid west of the center of town along College Street which was then known as Railroad Ave-nue. There is a plaque on the Midtown Building at Dead Cat Al-ley that shows where the track ran. This building was small and temporary, and we are still looking for a photo of it. In 1872, the tracks were relocated to the east side of town along East Street and a depot and freight shed were built just south of Main Street by the California Pacific Railroad, a precursor of the South-ern Pacific Railroad Continued on page 3

Unlike Other Towns, Amazing “Save” by SVHR Crew Keeps History Alive In Woodland

One of the earliest photos of the Historic Woodland Train Depot The wooden wa-

ter tower on the right was gone by 1926. The man standing in the foreground ap-

pears in other photos and is possibly Station agent Fingland. SVHR Archives.

SACRAMENTO VALLEY HISTORICAL RAILWAYS

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SACRAMENTO VALLEY HISTORICAL RAILWAYS

OFFICERS

Mike Adams……....President Al Van Hoosear…..Vice President Mike Evans………..Secretary Terry Schmidt…....Treasurer

BOARD MEMBERS

Ron Burch Richard Wheeler

Tom Williams Pete Zuniga

_____________

The RAILHEAD Newsletter

Published quarterly

Sacramento Valley Historical Railways

1120 Lincoln Avenue Woodland, CA 95695-4116

Ph: (530) 665-3541 E-mail: SVHR_org@hotmail.com

Newsletter Editors Mike Adams

SVHR_org@hotmail.com and Bo Grebitus

bobitus@comcast.net

Contributors; Please send written material in Microsoft Word. All photos in

j-peg format in minimum 150 DPI for quality publishing results.

_________________________ Weather Report:

Snow in the Mountains!

From The Right

Side Of The Cab

By: Mike Adams

Happy Birthday to a Woodland Treasure Looking at the Historic Woodland Train Depot today it is hard to be-lieve that it is 100 years old. Over several years, it has been repaired and restored with loving care and looks nothing like it did when it ceased being used for railroad op-erations. It has been painted in its original colors, period furniture has been placed in the office and the baggage room is complete with baggage wagons and milk cans. Even the waiting rooms and rest-rooms are beginning to look like they are ready to receive passen-gers. When you walk into the de-pot today it looks very much like it did when it opened in 1911. This is a stark contrast to what the depot looked like when the Sacra-mento Valley Historical Railways purchased it from Southern Pacific in 1991. Then it was slated to be torn down and was in a very run down state. Fortunately, the late John McMahan, an SVHR director, led the fight to preserve it. Through his efforts and the thousands of hours of work that SVHR volun-teers have provided, the depot is in the wonderful shape that it is today. So here is a happy birthday greet-ing and a thank you to all of you who have worked so hard to allow this grand building to celebrate its 100th birthday. Restroom Project After being told for several years that there was no sewer line on Lin-coln Avenue, we have discovered

through research and USA mark-ings that there is indeed a sewer line on Lincoln Avenue and that it appears to connect to the SVHR property north of the depot rest-rooms. The old freight depot was once located at this site and it is believed that the sewer line ser-viced that building. The next step is to dig down to this line and con-firm its existence. Such an existing connection would save SVHR a lot of effort and expense in completing the Restroom Project. We are also looking for the water line that once serviced this property. Annual Fund Thank you to all of you who have donated to the SVHR Annual Fund. I am always gratified by how many generous people there are in the community who support our organi-zation. Give a Thanks Also, thanks to all of you who voted for SVHR to receive a Yolo Federal Credit Union Give a Click grant. While we did not win the grant this time, we really appreciate your sup-port. See page 4

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From front page-

This new depot was a two story wooden building with a one story freight shed extending south. The waiting room and ticket office were downstairs and the station agent lived in and upstairs apartment. This depot was used heavily as Woodland grew and there are many pictures of it. It was served by the horse-drawn Woodland Street Railroad. A restored horse car from this railroad is on display at the Heidrick Ag History Center in Woodland. In 1906, it served as a staging area to send relief supplies and the local National Guard unit to San Francisco after the earthquake and fire. By 1910, however, the business community thought that the old de-pot, now nearly 40 years old, was outdated and that Woodland needed a new depot with larger waiting rooms. In February of that year, a delegation from the Cham-ber of Commerce went to San Francisco to talk to Southern Pa-cific Railroad officials. When they returned on the midnight train, they had a commitment from the railroad to build a new depot, but no firm date as to when it would be built. Several other towns in the region remained ahead of Woodland on the list to receive new depots. Rumors of the new depot persisted in the newspaper until February 1911, when SP Superintendent Sheridan informed Woodland Sta-tion Agent John Fingland that a new depot was to be built. The re-cent news that the Northern Elec-tric Railway (later known as the Sacramento Northern) was building a rail line into Woodland with a new depot at Second and Main Streets probably hastened this decision.

Southern Pacific decided that the new depot would be located south of the old depot, straddling Lincoln Avenue. This location was chosen so that long trains could stop at the new depot without having to uncou-ple at Main and Oak Streets for roadway traffic. This decision was controversial but was approved af-ter community leaders met with Su-perintendent Sheridan. Construction of the new depot was begun in April, 1911, and com-pleted Monday August 7, 1911. It was built using the standard South-ern Pacific colonnade design with Colonial Revival and Craftsman elements which were popular at the time. For the most part, Southern Pacific crews were brought in by train and were used to construct the depot with one exception. A construction document found in the depot and newspaper reports show that local plasterer W.M. Williams was contracted to plaster all the walls and ceilings, and construct the cement floors in the waiting rooms and restrooms for $220. This was probably done as a con-cession to the business community for building the depot across Lin-coln Avenue which they originally opposed. Constructed of prime redwood and Douglas fir, the new depot was equipped with “every modern ac-commodation” according to the Woodland Daily Democrat newspa-per, including electricity and indoor restrooms. It also had a larger waiting room and a separate women’s retiring room, an attic store room, baggage room, and ticket and telegraph office. Continued on page 5.

The Sacramento Valley Historical Railways thanks the donors be-low for their generous contribu-tion to the SVHR Annual Fund.

Up to $650

Richard & Pat Wheeler Woodland Mike & Nancy Adams Woodland

Up to $150

Jeanie Sherwood Davis Al Van Hoosear Davis

Up to $50

David M. Evans Woodland Ken Kemzura Los Angeles Bill Wells Yuba City Bill Anderson Folsom Bill Davies Davis Gerald F. Feeney Sunnyvale David & Sharon Fidiam Vallejo Terry Ann Gilbert Woodland Bill & Dianne Hollingshead Davis John W. Newman Woodland Robert Perla Woodland Chuck & Gail Pope Woodland

If you would like to contribute to the SVHR Annual Fund, send

your tax deductible donation to: Sacramento Valley Historical

Railways, 1120 Lincoln Avenue, Woodland, CA 95695.

Donations can now also be made online

by going to our website at: www.SVHR.org

and clicking on the “Support SVHR” button.

Thank you, all.

100 Yr Old Depot Not acting It’s Age Thanks to Volunteers

Reflecting; Original builders are long gone, and Depot will be a memorial to RR and today’s restoration volunteers.

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By: Mike Adams I am sorry to have to report the passing of Bruce Guenzler on De-cember 23 after a two and a half year battle with cancer. Bruce was a long time member of the Sacramento Valley Historical Rail-ways and a past officer and direc-tor. He particularly enjoyed work-ing on SP caboose 1156 and helped SVHR obtain some impor-tant acquisitions for its collection.

Bruce initially worked for the Santa Fe Railroad but then signed on with Amtrak in 1973 as a ticket agent. He worked at a number of stations including Davis and Sac-ramento. For a time, he was Di-rector of Services for Amtrak’s San Joaquin. A Celebration of Bruce's Life was held on January 22, 2011 in Sac-ramento. It was joyous occasion reflecting on a life well lived. We will miss his cheerful personality and tales about working for Am-trak. The Sacramento Valley Historical Railways has established the Bruce Guenzler Memorial Fund

to honor Bruce’s memory and to further the historic preservation of the Historic Woodland Train Depot and SVHR’s railroad collection. Donations may be sent to the Sac-ramento Valley Historical Rail-ways, Historic Woodland Train Depot, 1120 Lincoln Avenue, Woodland, CA 95695 or may be made online by going to the SVHR website at www.SVHR.org and clicking on the “Support SVHR” button. For further information or questions, please call Mike Evans at 530-668-1506. * * * * * ___________________________

From The Right Side Of The Cab

Continued from page 2 Sacramento Northern Photos

I would also like to thank long time SVHR supporter, Tom Stallard, for loaning us his collection of Sacra-mento Northern photos. Tom built a replica of the SN depot on Main Street in Woodland for commercial use after the original building was heavily damaged in a fire. We hope to use some of these photos in upcoming Railhead articles. Trains Come in All Sizes We have a couple of toy train lay-outs from the 1950’s that we would like to have restored for dis-play and operation at depot spe-cial events. If you are interested in taking on this project, please contact me at SacValRR@gmail.com

New Members

The Sacramento Valley His-torical Railways welcomes the

new member below:

Dave Emmons of Woodland

If you would like to become a member of the Sacramento Valley Historical Railways,

contact Mike Adams at SacValRR@gmail.com or visit the SVHR website at

www.SVHR.org. _________________________ Track Repair Coming Soon?

Supvr. Sweeney Views Placerville

Line Damage Dateline; Folsom Supervisor Jack Sweeney was able to get out on the Placerville line to inspect the wash-out dam-age of several years ago. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Contractor John Haverty, a Folsom El Dorado Sacramento Historical Railroad Association Placerville & Sacra-mento Valley RR member. John put together a speeder inspection run for the supervisor. Also pre-sent was DOT engineer Russ Ny-gaard, a good friend of the area RR preservation movement. John and the P&SVRR crew seem close to getting permission to proceed on the repairs, which Nygaard classified as Mainte-nance, thereby eliminating the need for engineering on the Pro-ject. This could put the project on a fast track, with plenty of volun-teers available. Good luck guys!

In Memory of Bruce Guenzler

Railroad World loses a good one

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Continue from page 4 The 156 foot long arcade platform was 40 feet longer than the old depot was supported with 13 cast iron columns and as was the new custom, there no longer were liv-ing quarters for the station agent, and Agent Fingland and his wife moved to a residence on Depot Street.

After some controversy and delay, Woodland finally got its new train depot, and more. As part of the construction project, the Southern Pacific Railroad rebuilt its rail yard around the new depot, and moved the old depot southwest of the new one to be used exclusively as a freight depot. New roads were built to provide access to the de-pot and new landscaping was planted. The old hitching posts were moved to the new depot since it was still primarily served by horse-drawn conveyances. When the Historic Woodland Train Depot was built in 1911, trains were the primary form of long dis-tance transportation, women were organizing to get the vote, Wood-land City Trustees voted to close the city’s saloons, and automo-biles were still a novelty. Mark Twain had died just a year earlier and the Titanic sank a year later.

Woodland was a growing city with the new train depot as its main point of entry and connection to the outside world. The Historic Woodland Train Depot was brand new and just beginning to experi-ence its 100 years of history. As part of the depot’s birthday celebration, the Sacramento Valley Historical Railways has posted the “Depot Diary”, a day-to-day report by the Woodland Daily Democrat newspaper of the construction of the depot in 1911, on its website www.SVHR.org. If you would like to help plan the depot’s birthday celebration or give the depot a birthday present, con-tact Mike Adams at SacValRR@gmail.com or 530-665-3541.

The Sacramento Valley Histori-cal Railways, an all-volunteer non-profit organization based in Woodland, purchased the depot in 1991 from the Southern Pa-cific Railroad and moved it to its present location in 1992. Since then, volunteers have spent thousands of hours re-storing it for use as a commu-nity center, railroad museum, and event venue. End _____________________

Donations *** The Sacramento Valley Histori-cal Railways would also like to recognize other gifts and dona-tions made to further the mis-sion of the organization: Two hand-held CB radios, by gift of Pete Zuniga of Davis, CA.

By Mike Evans

Good news! Diesel engine 50 passed two tests. The crankcase oil and the fuel are usable. The next step to getting the engine op-erational is obtaining batteries. Steam engine 1233 continues to languish, but some work is being done to arrest its rust. The next step is to blast the old rust and paint and add new paint. Hopefully the driving rods can be installed once engine 50 is available to align the driving wheels on engine 1233. The caboose remains weather tight but the chimney remains un-installed. The next step for the ca-boose is a permanent electrical hookup. Thanks to Steve Slaybach, Ron Burch and Mike Gove for making things happen. If any member knows of someone with the skills and motivation to restore our Fairmont speeder, let me know.

Depot B-Day (continued) From The Yard

Our little Fairmont Speeder hopes to join the fray again one day. Put the word out. First the Depot, then the Fairmont then….the WORLD!

Annual Fund

Happy 100th To The Depot