Nortwestern Pacific

[Frisco]

Does the Nothwestern Pacific still exist.

[tiny]

If you "google" it, will tell more then you will ever want too know

[JDLX]

The tracks are still in place.  Ma Nature closed the line north of Willits in the first week of 1998, with the FRA closing the south end around Thanksgiving 1998.  Since that time only a small part of the south end (roughly as far north as around Santa Rosa) has operated, and that was only for a few months in mid-2001.

The entire line is now in public ownership.  The line south of Healdsburg is owned by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART, while the line north of Healdsburg is owned by the North Coast Railroad Authority, a pulbic body owned and managed by the county governments of Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties.  NCRA has rights to operate freight service over the south end.

After an extended period of financial haggling and political fights it appears that things may be happening.  Work crews have been making repairs to the south end of the line within the past several weeks, and more repair work contracts are in the immediate future.  NCRA selected an operator last year.  That being said...the projected date to resume service over at least part of the south end has already slipped from 2007 into 2008. 

Repairs to the line will be largely financed with public money, which has always been a contentious issue.  Those associated with the NWP say that the line can be a profitable, self sustaining operation.  There are many others who doubt that this railroad will ever be able to live without subsidies.  Time will tell how much of the railroad gets returned to operation and how long those operations last.

Ultimately SMART would like to start a commuter rail service similar to what the NWP used to have.  However, much of the trackage that the old NWP commuter operations used is gone, and a lot of infastructure would have to be built to tie what railroad exists into other transportation modes.  SMART also gets shot down by the voters any time that a tax assessment to finance the startup of commuter rail operations comes up during local elections.  Until they get some funding they are not really going anywhere.

In the meantime, the on-going saga of the NWP is a popular discussion topic on the Altamont Press discussion forum.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

[tiny]

Thank's Jeff for that info on the NWP, Wein i was a kid it was called the "Never Will Pay". With that said, Have a good time......

[Frisco]

I have reacently heard rumers that they are reabuilding track on the farthest south portion of the line. Can any one conferm this?