Tidewater Southern Railway

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Tidewater Southern Railway

Reporting marks	TS
Locale	Central California
Dates of operation	1910 – 1985 (merged into Union Pacific)
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Stockton, California

The Tidewater Southern Railway was a short line railroad in Central California in the United States. It was originally built as an interurban system, connecting to the Central California Traction Company in Stockton, California and leading southeast from Stockton to Escalon, California and thence to Modesto, California. The railway was incorporated in 1910; construction from Stockton began in 1911 and service to Modesto began in 1912 with steam locomotive-hauled passenger service. Electrification was completed in 1913, and regular electric car service began at a 2-hour schedule. In addition to passenger service, the railway operated extensive freight service in the area.

In 1916, the railway was extended to Turlock, California, and in 1917 to Hilmar, California. The lines to Turlock and Hilmar split at a junction known as Hatch, California. This portion was never electrified and never operated passenger service, being purely for freight. A freight-only branch to Manteca, California was constructed in 1918. While many references list this branch as being unelectrified, evidence from the TS mechanical department and the Western Pacific's accounting files show that the line was in fact electrified.

The railway was purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1917, and operated as a subsidiary thereafter.

Passenger service was abandoned in 1932 and the railway operated as a freight line thereafter, with the exception of offering passenger carriage in the line's cabooses. This situation lasted until the 1960s, with the parent company reportedly having forgotten to formally abandon the passenger tariff. The electrification was dismantled after this point except in Modesto, where a city ordinance prohibited the operation of steam locomotives. The railway therefore retained 2.1 miles of electrification within Modesto, and the railway's two steeplecab electric locomotives. Outside Modesto, all freight traffic was now steam hauled, and more steam locomotives were acquired from the Western Pacific and other sources.

Busy traffic during World War II increased the Tidewater Southern's traffic hugely, and locomotives were borrowed from other roads to handle it, including two Sacramento Northern Railway box motors, several steam locomotives and a number of diesel locomotives, the first on the system.

Map of the Tidewater Southern Railway, showing electrified sections. Map by Eugene Vicknair.

After the war, the acquisition of more diesel locomotives led to the rapid retirement of the railway's electric locomotives and some of the steam locomotives, although steam traction was retained until several bridges were upgraded in the late 1950s to bear the weight of diesel locomotives. Starting in the mid-1950s the line also added a small fleet of modern freight cars, some of which survived until the early 1980s.

From the late 1960s, the system's independence began to wither as it became more and more operated by Western Pacific locomotives and crews, until it became only a "paper road", nominally a separate corporation but invisibly so in actual operation. Its traffic, however, continued to expand. The construction of several grain silos near Turlock, used to supply animal feed, eventually required long unit trains to bring in the volume of Midwestern grain required to fill them. By the late 1970's, these trains were the main traffic on the line and led to much anger from the city of Modesto, where the mainline ran down the middle of Ninth Street, the major north-south roadway.

The end for the Tidewater Southern as a company came in 1983 when the Union Pacific absorbed the railway's parent Western Pacific Railroad.

Since 1983, the remaining portions of the Tidewater Southern have been the Tidewater Subdivision of the Union Pacific. In 2001, the line on Modesto's Ninth Street was abandoned, severing the railroad in the middle. The Turlock-bound grain trains now bypass the north end of the railroad and enter former TS rails just south of Modesto. The north end is still served by one train 3-4 times a week. The branch to Manteca was abandoned in the early 1990s.

[edit] Equipment

The Tidewater Southern only ever owned three interurban electric passenger cars; all were built by Jewett in 1912 and bought new. This roster was unusual in that all were combine cars, each having a freight section. The Tidewater was one of the few interurbans to never roster a "pure" electric passenger car. When extra capacity was needed, passenger trailers were borrowed from the Central California Traction Company.

It also owned two steeplecab electric freight locomotives: one was a stock General Electric model, while the other was built by the Central California Traction Company from an old flatcar.

Old reports indicate that Jewett also built an express motor, but now photos of it have come to light publicly.

The road rostered 3 steam locomotives, with one only being used in the earliest days of the line.

Small General Electric diesel switchers replaced the steam and electric locomotives. These were later displaced by larger locomotive made by the American Locomotive Company (Alco). Western Pacific locomotives took over all operations by the mid-1970's.

Tidewater Southern Locomotive Roster

Builder	Type	Locomotive Numbers	Built	Years of Service	Notes
Central Pacific Railroad	2-6-2T	1 (first 1)	1882	1912-1917	Used in construction and earliest operations.
Rome Locomotive Works	4-6-0	1 (second 1)	1891	1918-1946	Former Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, former Boca and Loyalton Railroad.
Baldwin Locomotive Works	2-6-2	132 (renumbered from 32)	1923	1940-1953	Last revenue steam locomotive on Western Pacific system.
Central Cal Traction	steeplecab electric	100	1912	1914-1948	Built from a flatcar.
General Electric	steeplecab electric	106	1921	1921-1948	Sold to Sacramento Northern Railway, retired and scrapped 1957.
General Electric	44 ton	135 (renumbered 735)	1946	1946-1967
General Electric	70 ton	141 (renumbered 741)	1948	1948-1964
General Electric	70 ton	142 (renumbered 742)	1948	1948-1967
General Electric	70 ton	743	1953	1953-1968	Currently owned by Dakota Southern Railroad.
American Locomotive Company	S2	744 (first 744)	1949	1967-1969	Ex-Missouri Pacific Railroad. Traded to Western Pacific Railroad for second 744.
American Locomotive Company	S2	744 (second 744)	1943	1969-1970	Ex-Western Pacific.
American Locomotive Company	S2	745 (first 745)	1943	1967-1970	Ex-Missouri Pacific. Traded to Western Pacific for second 745.
American Locomotive Company	S2	745 (second 745)	1943	1970-1976	Ex-Western Pacific. Last locomotive owned by the railroad.
American Locomotive Company	RS1	746	1949	1970-1976	Ex-Spokane International Railway. Retired and sold to Central California Traction Company.
American Locomotive Company	RS1	747	1949	1970-1975	Ex-Spokane International. Retired and scrapped.

When traffic was heavy, steam engines and later diesels were borrowed from the Western Pacific Railroad. Electric freight motors were also borrowed from time to time from sister roads Sacramento Northern Railroad and Central California Traction until the electrification was abandoned.

In the 1950's, the railroad built up a sizable fleet of freight cars, mostly insulated boxcars. One series of 25 cars wore a unique logo of a "Cornucopia" and bore the legend "Serving California's Heartland". This logo was one of the most colorful and complex ever used by an American railroad and is still remembered today. One of these cars is preserved at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum and its logo has been restored.