Railroad Ghost Town
 Things That Were, Are No More


At one time Oroville, California was a three-railroad town, served not only by favorite son Western Pacific but also by branchlines owned by one-time interurban Sacramento Northern and the "mighty" Southern Pacific.

(Author's Note: This material on this page was cut from Feather River Route, Volume 1 due to space limitations)
Presenting a bucolic scene of small town America is  this portrait of Sacramento Northern motor 405 it rests near downtown Oroville in March of 1951. At the time a young Art Lloyd snapped this photo, a freight car on the SN could still move from the railroad's northern terminus of Chico all the way to the Bay Area without interchanging to another railroad. 

The 405, a 360 hp machine built by SN's predecessor Northern Electric Railway (of nearby Chico) was actually retired in 1941 and restored to service in 1942 for the war effort. The original branch, which ran from Oroville Junction, was pulled out of service in 1937 when a swollen Feather River flooded and destroyed a bridge on the line. Thence forward, WP trains would transfer SN motors to and from Oroville where an island of overhead wire allowed electric operations until diesels took over on April 15, 1954. On July 1, 1957 Sacramento Northern called it quits in town and pulled out of Oroville for good. The 405 was finally retired in 1953. (Photo by Arthur Lloyd ©1999)

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Twenty-nine years later, in March of 1980, lush springtime grass, peppered with California Golden Poppies, attempts to hide two streaks of rust that represent the abandoned SP branch into Oroville. Originally built by the California Northern Rail Way in 1864, SP's Oroville branch ran from Binney Junction, near Marysville, 28 miles north to Oroville, where the line connected with WP's yard.

By the late 1970's, SP locals would run on the WP for about a mile through Oroville yard, then back onto home rails to service its own dwindling customer base (not unlike SP's, nee UP's current operation for their Oakdale Local in the Central Valley).

SP finally pulled out of town in the late 1970's but the line into town stayed in place and was eventually used by freight car repairer Solano Railcar for freight car storage. Today, even Solano Railcar has abandoned Oroville, vacating their leased site at the old WP roundhouse for a new home at Fernley, Nevada. Only the sound of Union Pacific and BNSF's fast freights sprinting through town can be heard by residents who at one time prided themselves as a three-railroad town. (Ken Rattenne Photo)

Three Photos by Ken Rattenne 
(Top) Solano Railcar on 12-12-87, was rebuilding the former DRGW Ski Train cars into what was to become the Napa Valley Wine Train.

(Below) WP GP40-2 3557 readies for departure from Oroville Yard for a trip up the Feather River Canyon on July 5th, 1980.
Today, Union Pacific is the only game in town and it's not a very prominant one at that. While Oroville Yard still exists, the yard office and most out buildings are not. 

The 1970s brought changes to Oroville, none of them good for the local work force. The once busy Oroville Yard was downgraded as was the engine facility.  When WP finally ceased servicing engines in town the company leased the entire facility to Solano Railcar, a freight car rebuilder.

Not long after the merger in December 1982, UP finished off Oroville by removing the town from the Division Point map. The yard office hung on for a few more years but by 1987 it too had disappeared. Today, trains  blast through town on their way to points east or west, stopping only to do occasional switching.  - Ken Rattenne

Captions (Top) A Union Pacific eastbound train is only moments from Oroville Yard on it's trek to Salt Lake City in 1996. (Above) UP SD40-2 3191 rounds the curve below Ophir Road as it leaves Oroville Yard behind.

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