Our train down Main : a history of the Petaluma and Santa Rosa railroad

It's quite an awesome sight to see a 1500 hp engine pushing its way through the streets of a small town even more so for the first time you see it's in your rear view mirror. However, this is how most people are first introduced to the Petaluma

and Santa Rosa Railroad. It's an active working railroad that hauls Apple products from the cannery down to Main street here in basketball and then over to santa rosa where it'll be shipped throughout the country. But at one time the train carried more than just Apple products

up until around 1932, there was a passenger service that connected with the steamers on the Petaluma River. This completed the service by carrying passengers and freight down to san Francisco. So once you join me in the only high school instructional television crew, so take a ride

in the past on our train down main. The Petaluma in Santa Rosa Railroad was formed in 1903. It started as an electric commuter line and then later switched over to diesel in 1946, truck and trolley wire stretched throughout western Sonoma County In those

days went west to to rock, east of Santa rosa, north to forrest ville and the south down to Petaluma. They're the passengers and freight were transferred onto the steamers, Petaluma and Gold. They were taken down the Petaluma River and off to san Francisco. The company advertised

an overnight freight service which never failed. The trains were fast reliable and on schedule, These tracks here were first laid down the center of Main Street in 1904 that makes today's date 1979, the 75th anniversary of our train down main. But the history of the Petaluma

and santa rosa railroad is more than just facts and figures. It's a story of people, both those who worked on it and those who wrote it. People like ed for teeny gaye Lebaron franco rear and others who have experienced the train down main. We thought you'd

like to hear their stories, their times of hardship, their pleasant memories. This then is their story. Yeah, In 1903 the Perelman Center was a railroad was incorporated. The railroad company was formed by combining the resources of five different street railroads. Of course it couldn't be

done without the community support. He talked to us about the early days. Well actually there's several street horse streetcar railroads that were in santa rosa. Let's see there were 1234 in santa rosa. Then there was one in Petaluma, they called it the Petaluma in Haystacks Railroad

that hadn't hadn't been in operation since the seventies. But apparently they still had the charter and they bought that for charter purposes. The ones in san rosa. They said at the time that they would be electrified but the things never materialized I guess. So all they

actually had was the was the electric railroad going down fourth street. And of course it went down main street of Sebastopol and still does and the people like that because it's just like having local service and it was capitalized at one million. What you did, you

went out to people interested people and tried to sell them money, give them a sales pitch of all the money that we're going to make. What did the company feel it would serve? Well we've got to remember there were no automobiles are practically no automobiles in

19 3. So it was rapid transportation actually between the country and the towns that it would serve. Petaluma, Sebastopol forrest ville and santa rosa. And then they also haul freight freight come both coming and going. Most of it is farm products during products and so forth.

Hay grain for the cattle and in the case of the pool area there was a huge shipments of apples in those days which were shipped down to Petaluma by on the electric cars. Why was the purchase of the steamer necessary? Well when we say the Petaluma

and santa rosa railroad, they operated electric railroad between Petaluma, Sebastopol Forrest ville and santa rosa. But they also delivered freight to san Francisco and they did that by steamer. In other words, the freight would be brought to Petaluma loaded onto steamers at the docks in Petaluma

and brought down to san Francisco and then the other way around merchandise was shipped into Sonoma County from san Francisco brought up by steamer to, Petaluma loaded on the uh freight cars and delivered up to the stations from here to Sebastopol santa rosa and Forestville In

1904. The first spike was driven in Petaluma who was at the ceremony. Well the ceremony, there were people that were interested in the construction. The president, assistant vice president, drove the first spike and a fellow named Vander Nehlen. He was ahead of the construction corps and

he drove the second spike. And the engineer for the railroad, fellow named Harry Griswold drove the third spike. That was quite a ceremony In 1904, the specific tracks were laid down Main Street, that was a good right of way and local communities wanted the railroad to

go along there because it would service to serve the local people as a street car line. Of course, now you wouldn't want, that's the last thing you would want. But then at that time there was no traffic to speak of it. Just horse and wagons. What

were the working conditions for the men during the construction? Well, the working conditions were just like the working condition of any hard labor at that time. I think they probably paid, oh, By half figures on the Skunk Rail or they're paying a $25 a day. That's

12.5 since an hour and a 10 hour day. I imagine this was just about that. I remember back in the 1917, that's quite, quite a few years after that. The section hands were making dollar 75 a day or 17.5 cents an hour. So I imagine they

made about 15 cents an hour. But they had lived right out in the open. Most of them had tents and they camped right along the railroad. Sebastopol of course was not the end of the line tracks and charlie

wire were taken east from there and over to santa rosa where some exciting things happen. Kayla Barron had some interesting things to say. Well what happened was that the man who owned the, what was in the California Northwestern Railroad, which is, is now southern pacific this

main north south line um was opposed of course to to the PNS are because it meant the end of really a monopoly for him because he owned the Fulton line also. So he was not going to grant easy access across his tracks which had to be

crossed in order for the PNS arctic to connect its, its sebastopol route with the car street car tracks, which were very important, the, the inside tracks. So he wouldn't allow the crossing. And of course it was mainly a court fight except for that one day in

1905 when they actually proposed to put the crossing over. This is before they got the injunction. This was before that was, it was they were before he was foster was legally enjoying to allow them to do so. So they came with a with a crossing ready

made on a flat car And came up to the tracks down here we're near Sebastopol Avenue and went to put the crossing over so they could haul a car across. And uh, foster the California Northwestern man moved his, His engines in with steam with a load

of water and turn the hoses on people. And there were several, I suppose maybe three, uh, maybe four workmen were scalded and had to be taken to the hospital. And it actually finally got down to this tremendous tug of war between I think it was frank

brush the banker who was so much in favor of the PNS are that he laid down across these tracks to stop the steam engines from coming in so that the crossing could be laid. And his workmen, the, the, the fosters workmen tried to pull him off

the track, his own work tried to hold him on and it got into kind of a tug of war with this gentleman over whether or not it was going to be done. Eventually it was done. And of course when it was accomplished, it was almost an

anticlimax because what they got was they got the car in between the tracks and then couldn't cross the next tracks until the court fight was over. So it was, it was quite dramatic who did the residents, they sided with the P and S. R. It's the

underdog. You know, they were the underdog because even then this north north south railroad was, was almost a monopoly. According to the newspapers, at least several 100 people came to to cheer whichever side they were in favor of. Most of the santa rosens were in favor

of the PNS are talking about sebastopol and santa rosa. Now, I think to hear mainly fruit because the cannery was here, the cannery was right here on where, just about where we're across the tracks from where we're standing and the fruit was there. The cannery was

here, the dehydrator. And it was important that they be able to to have easy access. How did the new line affect their mobility increased it, both in terms of freight and passenger service. It was, it was a long and difficult trip from the coast, say to

santa rosa, before the P and S. R. PNS are continued to expand in the months that followed. The workmen brought the road north of Sebastopol and into green valley where the little town of great would shortly be built. The plans were to run the line as

Forrest Forrest Ville, but on April 18, 1906, something quite unforeseen, literally shook up the plans for immediate expansion. Let's see what he has to say about the 1906 earthquake. Well, the community shook a lot and of course many of the buildings were destroyed by the earthquake,

including our home out on Mill station road. Well, the train was really important because it hauled debris away from Sebastopol. and in our own families case, my father and my uncle took the horse horses and the wagon, the big wagon and went over to santa rosa

and loaded used brick and rubble into the, into a gondola car and rolled it over to Sabah school, out to Mill station road and then they hauled the brick from there on up to the ranch and that was used to build the dryer killed. And I'm

sure that a lot of other apple dryers were built the same way with used brick from the rubble in santa rosa and from sebastopol. How did the experience bring the community closer together? Well, naturally, every time you have a disaster, it brings people together such as

during my lifetime, the various floods we've had down on the lagoon and people when there are problems seem to come together and get closer and help one another. It's a natural instinct to people to try to help each other in times of disaster. Mid July of

1906, the line of Forest Hill was built what was the reaction of the residents. Well, they were happy to have rail transportation from this area because the rail transportation at that time was only the northwestern pacific going from santa rosa through Maribel park to Greenville and

the forest ville, people didn't have any direct rail transportation without walking for a mile to the other railroad running along the river and in fact some of the students that came to an alley at that time came by a street car rather than bust as we

know it today. Could you tell me a little bit about the building we're sitting next to this building that's now owned by Hogan and Shock and Pelham Avenue. Of course, as you can see, is a stone building this portion back here behind me. As a boy,

I delivered dried apples in here to jim kelly. He was a fruit buyer, dried apple buyer for Rosenberg Brothers. And they used this portion for a warehouse and that goes back in the late twenties and early thirties. But this was the powerhouse section and as a

little boy, I recall standing out there watching these great big wheels and gears turning and it was very fascinating to a country boy to see all this mechanism changing alternating current to direct current. When the Penis are was formed, the company said it would take a

line out towards to rock in 1913 they finally completed this line. But Petaluma was where the real action took place. Everything had to be taken off the cars and then transferred under the steamers. Golden Petaluma too, that is until the night of the steamer burned In

1914. The Petaluma one burned. What exactly happened. Well, just like any fire, they don't know what happened. It it was at the doctor, it caught on fire and several jumped more fortunately most of people got out. Some of them jumped into the river and swam, but

one man was caught in there and that he was burned or drowned. And the remains are down on the canal at the present time. The automobile had captured the minds and hearts of Sonoma County and the commuter line was feeling its effects. In 1925 the passenger

service was discontinued to to Rock. What was the reaction of the residents? Well, they didn't like to have the railroad discontinued like no places. But on the other hand, the residents or the farmers were to blame too, that they didn't use it. They didn't ship their

freight out there. On June 30, 1932, the last passenger car made its way over these tracks. What was the public's reaction when the line was discontinued? Well, there were those that wished the streetcars would continue and some of them didn't give a darn because they were

getting automobiles and they could care less about the streetcar. How do you feel about the dropping of such a service? Well, it's unfortunate that it was dropped today with the problems of automobile traffic between here and santa rosa and petaluma. It seems that it might be

economically feasible to make a study and see whether it would be possible to start the streetcar service from sebastopol to santa rosa. Tell us some of your personal experiences with the train. Well, when I was a boy and we're going back, unfortunately to the late twenties,

I would take the streetcar from the present depot and where the car mark flower shop is out to mill station. And the location of middle station was where the railroad intersects with highway 1 16 or Grabenstein Highway North. It took about eight minutes to ride out

there and I think it cost six cents one way to ride out there. Why was the line sold to the Northwestern pacific in 1932? I believe it was sold because of economics. Uh, in santa rosa Railroad was a feeder liner connector line to Northwestern pacific, which

ultimately was a connector line to the southern pacific Railroad. And it was a matter of economics, they merged these corporations because the PNS are in itself at that time operated at a loss Once locally owned and operated. Electric commuter service was now owned by a large

Freight Corporation. Some changes were bound to happen. It took a while, but in December of 1945, the first diesel locomotive was put on the tracks, Franco rear started working as an engineer on the electric engines. In 1945, he told us of some of his adventures on

both the electric and diesel engines. There was enough power with electorates. And, and as if you got away from your source of power. Well, your, your power reduced. Well, the diesel was more efficient and you had your power plant with you all the time. Some of

your experiences while you were on the diesel one wheel of the Indian slipped off the tracks spread and one wheel dropped off. And I got up to go out to look and the superintendent asked me, what's, what's wrong? I said, well, we're on the ground. He

said, I didn't feel anything. And then he came out and we found one wheel was off the track. Oh yeah, we've talked to only a handful of people with stories to tell of the PNS. Are there still are hundreds of stories out there as long as

the train continues to run down these tracks and long after our train down main will continue to live in the hearts and minds of the people of Sebastopol. This program has been made possible by a grant from the youth grants

in the Humanities program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency established by Congress to promote research, education and public activity in the humanities. All findings and conclusions presented do not necessarily represent the view of the Endowment