Central California Traction Company

Central California Traction Company

Overview
Parent company	Union Pacific BNSF Railway
Headquarters	Stockton, California
Reporting mark	CCT
Locale	San Joaquin Valley, California
Dates of operation	1905 (1905)–
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	1,200 V DC (former)
Length	78 miles (126 km)
Other
Website	www.cctrailroad.com

Central California Traction Company
abandoned 1966 Sacramento Southern RR Eighth and X Streets Sacramento Union Traction Terminal WP Feather River Route Alhambra Boulevard Thirty-first and X Streets Car Barn State Fairgrounds Colonial Heights Colonial Acres abandoned 1966 UP Fresno Subdivision Procter & Gamble Polk Florin Road Kosova Coffing Sheldon Cosumnes River Wilton Dillard Walmort Valensin Centralia Herald UP Ione Lead Terry Kenefick Peltier Youngstown Woodlake Mokelumne River SP Kentucky House Branch Lodi Lodi Junction UP Fresno Subdivision Kettleman Ampere Norton Blacklands Ashley Foppiano A&K Cherokee Car Barn Vine Street branch STE SP Fresno Subdivision STE Pilgrim Street branch Aurora Street Stockton BNSF Stockton Subdivision Mineral Baths

The Central California Traction Company (reporting mark CCT) is a Class III short-line railroad operating in the northern San Joaquin Valley, in San Joaquin County, California. It is owned jointly by the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway.

Service

The railroad operates between Stockton and Lodi. CCT also operates the Stockton Public Belt Railway around the Port of Stockton.

It connects to the Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad company freight lines that serve greater Stockton. Several miles of the CCT track through Acampo are being used to store rolling stock, primarily Centerbeam flatcars that carry lumber, as of 2009.

CCT locomotive model BL21CG, built by Brookville Industries

History

The Central California Traction Company was founded on August 7, 1905, as an alternative city streetcar line to the Stockton Electric Railroad. Streetcar service began in 1906. The company soon had greater ambitions and became a 1,200-volt DC electric interurban railway, opening a line from Stockton to Lodi in 1907, and reaching Sacramento by 1910.

In 1928, the railroad was sold by the original owners and was then jointly purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad. The Stockton streetcar operations were taken over by Stockton Electric Railway (by then an SP Subsidiary) in 1928. Interurban service ceased in 1933, but local streetcars continued to run in Sacramento continued until the service was acquired by National City Lines in 1943.

The railroad operated over the same line from Lodi and Stockton to Sacramento until 1966 when the Sacramento belt line was closed, then trains were run over Southern Pacific's line into Sacramento. In 1998, service to Sacramento was suspended. Since then the tracks remain between Stockton and Sacramento, being kept for future operational options.

One of the Central California Traction Company train stations survives in Acampo, just north of Lodi. This station was converted into a residence, with altered interior walls and an expansion.

Locomotive roster

Model	Road no.
GE 44-ton switcher	25
	26
GE 70-ton switcher	30
	31
	32
ALCO S1	40
	41
	42
ALCO S2	45
EMD GP7u	44
ALCO S4	50
EMD GP7	70
	90
	700
ALCO RS-1	80
Brookville BL12CG	1201 & 1202
EMD SW1500	1222
	1501
	1502
	1503
	1504
NRE 3GS21B	BNSF 1243, 1247 & 1270
Brookville BL20CG	2101
EMD GP18	1790
	1795

See also

• List of California Interurban Railroads
• Sacramento Northern Railway
• Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad

References

Bibliography

• Burg, William (2006). Sacramento's Streetcars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738531472.
• Demoro, Harre W. (1986). California's Electric Railways. Glendale, California: Interurban Press. ISBN 0-916374-74-2.
• Fickewirth, Alvin A. (1992). California railroads: an encyclopedia of cable car, common carrier, horsecar, industrial, interurban, logging, monorail, motor road, shortlines, streetcar, switching and terminal railroads in California (1851-1992). San Marino, CA.: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-106-8.
• Hilton, George W.; Due, John F. (2000) [1960]. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3.
• Middleton, Wm. D. (2000) [1964]. The Interurban Era. Kalmbach Publishing Co. Milwaukee, WI. ISBN 978-0-89024-003-8.
• Robertson, Donald B. (1998). Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History - Volume IV - California. Caldwell, ID: The Caxton Printers. ISBN 0-87004-385-4.
• Stanley, David G.; Moreau, Jeffrey J. (2002). The Central California Traction Company. Lompoc, CA: Western Star Distributors. ISBN 1-930013-06-X.
• Stindt, Fred A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide - 5th Ed. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-290-9.
• Van Ommeren, Alice (2004). Stockton in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738528786.
• Walker, Mike (1997). Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - California and Nevada - Post Merger Ed. Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom: Steam Powered Publishing. ISBN 1-874745-08-0.

External links

• Official Central California Traction Company−CCT website
• Comprehensive Trainweb.org: CCT Site
• Trainweb.org: Current CCT Locomotive Roster
• Cencalrails.railfan.net: Photographs of CCT
• Donsdepot.net: Photographs of CCT
• Western Pacific Railroad Museum — home of CCT Caboose #24.
• Tidewatersouthern.com: CCT Steeple Cab locomotive #100.
• Davesrailpix.com: Photograph collection of all interurbans — includes CCT and TS.