Sacramento Northern Railroad Bond Certificate

Description

Product Details
Nicely engraved antique bond certificate from the Sacramento Northern Railroad dating back to the 1910's. This document is signed by the company Assistant Secretary and measures approximately 10 1/2" (w) by 8 3/4" (h).
Images
You will receive the exact certificate pictured.
Historical Context
The
(SN) was an electrified interurban
in
that extended 183 miles from
north to Chico. There were two branches, one to Woodland-Colusa, and the other to Oroville. The SN had been two separate interurban companies connecting at
until 1925.
The
was a
-wire powered line that ran from Oakland through a tunnel in the Oakland hills to Moraga, Walnut Creek, Concord, Pittsburg, to Sacramento. It was renamed the
briefly.
The
was a third-rail powered line that ran from Sacramento north through Marysville-Yuba City to Chico. The train crossed the Sacramento River on the Red Gate Bridge. It was renamed the Sacramento Northern Railroad in 1914.
In 1928, the two lines combined to become the Sacramento Northern Railway and came under control of the
which operated it as a separate entity. An extensive multiple-car passenger service operated from Oakland to Chico until 1941 including providing dining car service on some trains. Passenger traffic was heaviest from Sacramento to Oakland. Freight operation using electric locomotives continued into the 1960s.
The SN was a typical interurban in that its trains, including freight, ran on downtown city streets in Oakland, Sacramento, Yuba City, and Woodland. This involved multiple car trains making sharp turns at street corners and obeying traffic signals. Once in open country, SN's passenger trains ran at fairly fast speeds. With its shorter route and lower fares, the SN provided strong competition to the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific railroads for passenger business and minor freight business between those two cities.
North of Sacramento, rail business was less due to the small town agricultural nature of the region with is small towns and by competition from the SP Railroad.