Question: SVRR map
From: "Bill Anderson" bill@fedshra.org
I have a copy of a map, "Showing the alteration in the Line of Location of the SACRAMENTO VALLEY RAILROAD."
signed: J.L. Folsom, President, SVRR Co. and Theo. D. Judah, Chief Engr. SVRR.
Station 920 to station 1044.
No topo or other identifying features.
Where along the SVRR could it be?
—Bill Anderson
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 9:09 PM
7 Comments:
From: "Bill Anderson" bill@fedshra.org
The map. I'm an Old Surveyor. There is no date. There are 2 alignments, with curves. Not clear which is the chosen one. The bottom profile shows elevations from 242' to 269'. Elevation at Folsom Depot is 197'. Interesting.
California archives has a "table of alignments and gradients, SVRR Secret Ravine to Yuba River" Oct 1857. It is by J.P. Robinson. He did list changes in grade and alignment from station to station as well as duration of grade/curve by feet. From this it is clear that his stations are 100 feet apart.
It seems likely that Judah would have used the same number.
I suspect Judah's map is for a section 92000 to 104400 feet east of the Sacramento River– pretty close to Alder Creek. (20 miles would have been station 1056 – Folsom was 22.5 miles – so you are down around m.p. 18-19.) Do Judah's elevation numbers clearly state "above sea level" – or merely above datum. He may have assumed a starting elevation (Sacramento River) of 100 feet – which would make his elevation pretty close – that is 142 to 169 feet. Too, the fact that he is showing a change in elevation between his stations 920 and 1044 of 27 feet (over a distance of a little over two miles) seems fairly consistent with the area around Alder Creek.
Does the map have any indication of the curvature – radius or degrees? I could try to match them with his table of curves. If so, (and if the information is there) give me the station points where curves start and stop. His table does list length of curves. Same question with gradient.
—Wendell Huffman
From: "Bill Anderson" bill@fedshra.org
I have a copy of a map, "Showing the alteration in the Line of Location of the SACRAMENTO VALLEY RAILROAD"
The "stations" are surveying reference points. I don't think I have anything that refers to such station. However, since there is reference to "alteration of line" there must be surves involved, and there really aren't very many curves on the SVRR – a big long one down around Brighton, a slight one (and I think the only one where a train traveling from Sacramento veers right) around Buffalo Creek, and others from Alder Creek on into Folsom. Can you tell me more what the line does show? There was a realignment around Alder Creek, but I think that came after Judah. Is there a date on the map?
—Wendell Huffman
From: "Bill Anderson" bill@fedshra.org
Actually I was throwing something together for our exhibit at the Folsom History Museum.
Trains & Township, Past & Present is the theme. Starts Oct. 14 thru Feb, 2006. It coincides with the 150th celebration of the SVRR and the light rail opening. I found an article in Western Railroader about the McKeen and thought it would be fun to mention it. Not many folks in the area realize such a vehicle existed. You've given me great info. for the display.
The map. I'm an Old Surveyor. There is no date. There are 2 alignments, with curves. Not clear which is the chosen one. The bottom profile shows elevations from 242' to 269'. Elevation at Folsom Depot is 197'. Interesting.
—Bill
From: "Bill Anderson" bill@fedshra.org
Here is some curve data from the SVRR 'alteration' map:
Sta. 941.80 to 961.00 - radius 1910 ft.
Sta. 961.00 to 985.86 - tangent.
Sta. 985.86 to 998.48 - radius 2865 ft.
Sta. 998.48 to 1044.00 - tangent
Gradient:
Sta. 920 to 940 = -10ft./mile Elev. Sta. 940 = 248ft.
Sta. 940 to 955 = -20ft./mile
Sta. 955 to 960 = +20ft./mile
Sta. 960 to 970 = +10ft./mile Elev. Sta. 970 = 246ft.
Sta. 970 to 980 = +15ft./mile
Sta. 980 to 1030= +20ft./mile. Elev. Sta. 1030 = 269ft.
—Bill Anderson
From: Wendell Huffman
Tracks of the Sacramento Valley Rail Road did not reach Front and K streets in Sacramento until December 1858. Prior to that the SVRR terminated at Front and R (with their railroad extending from that point to Folsom—far short of the head of the Sacramento Valley as originally envisioned). As in many cities at the time, there was considerable animosity between teamsters and the railroad, with the teamsters wanting as much work as possible carting goods and people between the riverboat wharves and the railroad. In the end, it was the businessmen who tired of the trouble and the city who couldn't keep the streets passable who managed to win for the railroad permission to extend their tracks up Front street (in the same August 1857 council meeting which prohibited the free range of cattle west of 6th street). The railroad was first extended only to M street (in January 1858), reached halfway between K and L in September 1858, and finally to K street in December. The track was in the middle of Front street, with a freight shed on the west side of the street between K and L. The ticket office and waiting room were inside the What Cheer House on the southeast corner of Front & K.
The SVRR was on the scene on Battle of New Orleans day 1863 when the Central Pacific celebrated their "ground breaking", and what is presumed to be one of their locomotives is apparent in the famous mural in the SP Sacramento depot depicting that event (though it appears to have been modeled after a California Central locomotive). However, the city chain gang (assisted by teamsters) removed the SVRR from Front street in April 1864, on the very day that the CPRR commenced operation (from their depot just north of Front and K). Following litigation, the SVRR returned to Front and K in August 1864 (with teamsters parking their rigs on the track). As rebuilt, the SVRR was laid on the levee rather than on Front street itself.
The principals of the CP bought control of the SVRR in August 1865 (they did not buy the railroad for another decade, and the railroad was never a part of the CP). It was standard gauged (from five foot) in March and April 1866. A physical connection between the two railroads was made at Front and K in July or August 1866 on the west side of the freight sheds. The depot of the then-abandoned Freeport Railroad was hauled to Sacramento and re-erected just north of L street as the new SVRR depot in December 1866. (The rails of the old Freeport line were laid on the "east levee" between Brighton and the CPRR bridge north of Sacramento—the line along Elvas Ave next to Sac State and River Park. However, this railroad was then only used for levee repair and car storage. It was not used by trains.)
In February 1868 work was commenced building the Western Pacific south from the SVRR line at Brighton Junction (essentially 65th and R streets). To allow transcontinental trains to run on to Alameda on the WP, a "mainline" connection was made between the CP and the SVRR on the east side of the depots and sheds at Front and K in October 1869 (five months after Promontory). The SVRR between Front and K and Brighton Jct. was relaid with American iron to conform with the terms of the Pacific Railroad Act. Transcontinental trains ran from Sacramento to the Bay down Front street from October 1869 until the opening of the Benicia train ferry (and simultaneous opening of the new Sacramento "arcade" depot) in 1879. Freight trains continued to use Front street and R street running between Sacramento and the Bay until 1902 (I've never been able to pin this date down tight). At that time the railroad finally settled with farmer McCarty, who had for several years prevented trains from running on the "east" levee arguing successfully that he had granted a right of way for a levee, not a railroad. After that settlement, trains between Sacramento and the Bay ran on the "east" levee. Of course after the opening of the Roseville yard about 1907, few through freights even ran into Sacramento from Elvas.
—Wendell
[from the R&LHS Newsgroup.]
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