Stockton Electric Railroad
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{short description|Former streetcar system in California}}
File:Electric railway journal (1915) (14575374247).jpg{{sfn|Guido|1957|pp=10}} ]]
The Stockton Electric Railroad was the streetcar system serving Stockton, California.{{sfn|McGraw-Hill|1920|p=16}} The company was under the control of Southern Pacific Railroad until 1939 when it was sold to Pacific City Lines.{{sfn|Hofsommer|1986|pp=60, 148}}{{sfn|Guido|1957|p=8}} By 1931, the railroad operated 40 streetcars over {{convert|28|mi|km}} of track.{{sfn|Demoro|1986|p=202}}
History
Incorporated in 1891, the company bought the mule-powered Stockton Street Railway Company (which was itself founded in 1871).{{sfn|Guido|1957|p=3}} Electric service began on July 15, 1892 and mules were eliminated the following month.{{cite news |title=The Electric Road |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-mail-the-electric-road/148926744/ |access-date=8 June 2024 |newspaper=The Evening Mail |via=Newspapers.com |date=July 14, 1892 |location=Stockton, California |page=5}} {{free access}}{{cite news |title=The Old Street Railway |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-mail-the-old-street-railway/148926763/ |access-date=8 June 2024 |newspaper=The Evening Mail |via=Newspapers.com |date=July 16, 1892 |location=Stockton, California |page=1}} {{free access}}{{sfn|Guido|1957|p=4}} Southern Pacific acquired the company in 1905, prompting full conversion of the narrow gauge rails to standard gauge.{{sfn|Guido|1957|p=4}} Starting in 1915, the Central California Traction Company began leasing their own streetcar lines in Stockton to the SER,{{sfn|McGraw-Hill|1920|p=16}} bringing nearly all local operations under their control. Pacific City Lines acquired the railroad's assets in April 1939 and converted operations to buses in September 1941.{{cite news |title=Electric Car Lines to Pass Into Oblivion Sunday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-elect/148926566/ |access-date=8 June 2024 |newspaper=Stockton Record |via=Newspapers.com |date=September 25, 1941 |location=Stockton, California |pages=13, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/stockton-evening-and-sunday-record-elect/148926633/ 21]}} {{free access}}
Lines
By 1927, the company operated six lines:{{sfn|Guido|1957|p=8}}
- Main and El Dorado Line
- California and San Joaquin Line
- Vine and Ophir Line
- Center and Aurora Line
- Poplar and Weber Avenue Line
- Pilgrim Street Branch
Rolling stock
Birney Safety Cars replaced two-truck cars between 1918 and 1921.{{sfn|Guido|1957|pp=7, 10}}
References
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=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book | last=Demoro |first=Harre W.| title=California's Electric Railways| publisher=Interurban Press|location=Glendale, California| year=1986| page=202| isbn=978-0-916374-74-7}}
- {{cite magazine |editor1-last=Guido |editor1-first=Francis A. |title=Stockton Electric Railway |magazine=The Western Railroader |date=April 1957 |volume=20 |number=6, iss. 210 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_western-railroader-the-western-railfan_1957-04_20_6 |access-date=8 June 2024 |location=San Mateo, CA}}
- {{cite book |last1=Hofsommer |first1=Donovan L. |title=The Southern Pacific, 1901-1985 |date=1986 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |location=College Station, TX |isbn=0890962464}}
- {{cite book |publisher=McGraw-Hill Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BvW7ax1FAEC |title=McGraw Electric Railway Directory |date=August 1920 |ref={{harvid|McGraw-Hill|1920}} }}
{{refend}}
External links
{{Attached KML |display=title,inline}}
Category:Transportation in San Joaquin County, California
Category:American companies established in 1891
Category:History of Stockton, California
Category:Defunct California railroads
Category:Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiaries
Category:Passenger rail transportation in California
Category:Electric railways in California