Since the 1870's, when the Central Pacific/Southern Pacific juggernaut had cemented its stranglehold on California's Central Valley, the resident's and industries had tried to find ways to break its
grip. The coming of Claus Spreckels' San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway (sold to the Santa Fe in 1900) had helped bring competition to the valley, but by the 1900's, the new interurban movement had local promoters again looking for
ways to bring new competition to the "friendly" SP. The Central California Traction Company began discussing a southern extension while its line from Stockton to Sacramento was still being built. CCT General Manager Samuel
McLenegan made public comments in February 1908 that the company wanted to reach Modesto. In March of that year, a committee of made up of Manteca, French Camp, Lathrop and Ripon residents met to create a plan to acquire right of way for
the CCT. On March 18, this committee incorporated the South San Joaquin Improvement Company to work toward the goal of extending the Traction Company through their communities. The management of the CCT continued to make bold claims of
reachin south until April 4, 1908. In a press conference, Traction Company officials stated that any extension to Modesto rested with the local residents and their willingness to purchase $400,00 worth of bonds. The support fell
away and the idea of an interurban to Modesto lay silent for a time. In September of 1908, the San Joaquin Valley Electric Railway announced plans to construct a 35 mile railroad between Stockton and Modesto passing through French Camp
Manteca and Ripon. Promoted by one Morris L. Brackett of New York, the venture became know as the "Brackett Road". The road was incorporated on October 3, 1908 with a listed capitalization of $1,000,000 and another New Yorker, H.
C. Holmes, as President. Meetings were quickly held with the Stockton City Council and the Modesto Board of Trustees to determine routes within the terminal cities. While the SJVE met with success in Stockton, the Modesto Trustees
did not like the proposed alignment and denied the SJVE's franchise. Negotiations finally led to the granting, on December 16, 1908, of a franchise to operate on Ninth Street. The SJVE now claimed it possessed all the rights of way
and franchises to allow the road's construction. Vice-President Brackett confidently announced that the company would have rails to Ripon by July 1st, 1909. He also stated that the SJVE would not be a fully electrified system, but
would instead rely on self-propelled gas-electric motor cars. Competition was brewing however. Although the CCT appeared to have lost interest in a Modesto extnesion, others besides Brackett viewed the Stockton-Modesto corridor as an
opportunity. On October 29, 1908, the Stockton Evening Mail
reported that a group of valley farmers, in association with J. A. Mitchling of Cincinnati, Ohio, had quietly been buyin land in Stanislaus County for use in building an electric railway north out of Modesto. According to land maps from the TS company records, some of the purchases were occuring as early as 1905. This name of this new line was reported to be the Tidewater & Southern Railway.
While 1909 passed quietly, 1910 saw a flurry of activity around these fledgling ventures. In July 1910, CCT Vice-President George Peltier stated that the CCT was still planning on extending to Modesto and even as far south as
Fresno. Eventually, however, this idea was dropped and the CCT remained as a Stockton-Sacramento property. On October 3, 1910, articles of incorporation were filed for the Tidewater & Southern Railroad (or Railway Company, there
are conflicts as to which was the official name), which was to build a standard gauge railroad from Stockton southward. Once, extensive riverboat traffic on the San Joaquin River had provided reliable transportation as far as Fresno. But, by
1910, silting of the river's channel had built up to a point that navigation beyond Stockton became nearly impossible. Hence, the name "Tidewater". Meanwhile, the SJVE had begun grading its own line on August 1, 1910. In November, the San Francisco based firm of Moriarty and Perkins received a contract to build a bridge of the Stanislaus River. The railroad had also
abandoned plans to use gas-electric cars and instead stated that it would be a third rail electric. Tracklaying on the SJVE began in April, 1911, however the line was showing signs of trouble. During the fall of 1912, there was much
discussion about merging the SJVE with the Modesto and Empire Traction Company, but they came to naught. The SJVE forfeited its charter on March 1, 1913 and the line quickly sank beneath a fusliade of lawsuits against Brackett and the
other officers of the company.
The new company offered a stock issue of 10,000 shares and began refining the
route on which to lay its railroad. An
Tidewater Southern Railway
Dreams of Empire...1910-1917
History of the
Next chapter...
Death of an Interurban
1918-1946
freight traffic grows, interurbans decline, and the plug is pulled on the juice jacks
With its mainline open, the Tidewater began opening up land along its route to new towns and developments. One such site was the town of Atlanta, to be built on land
owned by the railroad. In mid-1913, the Stockton firm of Storey & Triola began advertising lots for sale in Atlanta, ranging in price from $250 to $400 with 10% down! In writing, these developments were viewed as future vital centers for
trade and commerce, but few if any every flourished the way the railroad hoped.
By 1918, the Sharps Lane route was abandoned and the road made its entry by crossing the SP and WP tracks at Ortega, then using the trackage of the
former Alameda and San Joaquin (a predecessor line to the WP, which used the A&SJ line south of Ortega) running along the west side of the SP line, and finally using trackage rights on the Central California Traction Company/Stockton
Electric Railway line up Center Street to the joint office with the CCT.
The Jewett Car Company built three combination interurban cars for the Tidewater in late 1912. (Sources indicate that a fourth car was also built, a baggage
interurban, but few details of this car are known.) The installation of 1200 volt DC overhead catenary began in May of 1913 and was complete to Modesto by November. On November 15, electric passenger service commenced with each car making
three daily roundtrips between downtown Stockton and Modesto. Running time for the one way trip was carded at one hour and twenty-five minutes. The competing SP trains required 15-30 minutes longer for the same trip.
On January 15,
1914, the Tidewater took delivery of its first electric freight locomotive, wooden body
The line was an early success. By 1916, the Tidewater Southern was operating 24 trains daily
between Stockton and Modesto. The 33 mile trip time had been shaved to 65 minutes. Picnic trains ran to the Stanislaus River during nice weather with special rates in effect on Saturday evenings and Sunday roundtrips. However, by early 1915,
the growing prevalence of the automobile made it clear that the TS could not rely on passenger revenues alone. It was decided that interurban service, and the catenary, would not be extended beyond Modesto. No regular passenger service would
ever be offered outside the Stockton-Modesto corridor. Freight continued to grow, however. During World War II, the TS even found it necessary to lease additional motive power. Oakland, Antioch and Eastern box motor 101 came
over on a monthly lease, helping move the heavy wartime traffic. This motor would later become Sacramento Northern and make a repeat visit to Modesto.
In July 1916, the Tidewater Southern made good on the original promise of the
Tidewater & Southern by opening an extension to Turlock. One year later, the mainline reached the town of Hilmar, diverging from the Turlock "branch" at Hatch. While plans would exist into the 1930's for further extensions down
the valley to Fresno and Bakersfield, the line never extended beyond Hilmar. In May 1918, the last major trackage was added to the line when a 6.6 mile electrified branch was opened to Manteca from Manteca Junction.
In 1918, the road
also entered into a plan with the Modesto and Empire Traction to expand industrial trackage in downtown Modesto. MET President T. K. Beard proposed that the TS build, maintain, and pay all levies on a terminal area for the two roads just south
of downtown. The MET would pay rent to the TS and they would have joint operation in the terminal. In 1920, the area was placed under the control of the Modesto Terminal Company, an affiliate of the MET. The joint operation arrangement would
last until 1958, when the MET took over sole operation.
The Tidewater's plans of southward expansion captured the attention of the Western Pacific Railroad. Fresh from its first bankruptcy and free of its original charter restriction prohibiting it from
building or acquiring branch lines, the WP was in a mood to grow. In January 1917, a majority of TS stock was purchased by the
Western Pacific Railroad.
The Stockton Hotel, location of the joint Tidewater Southern-Central California Traction depot and ticket office in central Stockton.
photo by W. C. Whittaker, courtesy of the Dave Stanley Collection
While the SJVE still appeared to be a threat to its own plans, the T&S sought to gain an advantage and secure terminal trackage within Modesto. The Tidewater & Southern proposed, on April
18, 1911, to lease and operate the Modesto Interurban Railroad, then building a line from Modesto east to the town of Empire. The plan was accepted and the T&SRR brought in a gas car (literally a car, it was an automobile with flanged
wheels) leased from the Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad to run on the MI line. It arrived on April 30 and was used for only a matter of months. With the T&SRR being intent on building its line, the MI was allowed to begin falling
apart. On October 17, 1911, the lease was ended and the Modesto Interurban was reincorporated as the Modesto and Empire Traction Company. This little railroad would continue to play a large part in the Tidewater story until the present day.
The original mainline of the TS entered Stockton to the east of the
The T&SRR only managed to lay about four miles of rail on a graded roadbed of nine miles between Modesto and Turlock by the end of 1911. Another company, the Tidewater & Southern Transit Company, was incorporated on February 16,
1912. This company proposed to build from Turlock to Fresno, a city which would remain a goal of the successor Tidewater Southern Railway for some 20 years. The T&STC graded some four miles of roadbed near the Merced River, but never laid
any rail.
On March 11, 1912, the two companies were consolidated to form the Tidewater Southern Railway, under the leadership of T&SRR president Byron Bearce. By May 1912, grading was completed between Escalon and the Stanislaus
River. The first motive power arrived in July when an 1882 vintage 2-6-2T was purchased from the SP. (It does not appear that either the T&SRR or the T&STC owned any rolling stock, although
switchlocks
and other small items still exist with T&S markings.) Construction moved quickly during 1912, with the 32.23 miles mainline from Stockton to Modesto being opened by October.
A postcard view of the Stockton Waterfront as it appeared in the late 1910's and early 1920's. It was here that the railroad reached "Tidewater". Stockton owes its position as a railroad crossroads to its location on navigable water. The TS and CCT shared trackage into the port area.
Eugene John Vicknair collection