Sacramento Valley Railroad (1852–1877)
The Sacramento Valley Railroad was the first transit railroad company in California to file papers of incorporation on August 4, 1852 although it was not the first to become operational. The railroad's gauge was 5 ft 3 1⁄2 in (1,613 mm), (7 inches (180 mm) wider than 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge) and was laid with 60-pound-per-yard (29.8 kg/m) Welsh iron "pear" rail.
The original plans called for the railroad to run from Sacramento to Marysville by way of Folsom. These plans never fully materialized as the railroad was only built from Sacramento to Folsom. The Sacramento Valley Railroad ran from the Sacramento River levee at Front and "L" Street in present-day Old Sacramento and terminated at Folsom. On February 22, 1856, the first train operated over the entire 22.9-mile (36.9 km) line. Thus the line is not the oldest working railroad in the state; the Arcata and Mad River Railroad had been operational since December 15, 1854.
The first president of the Sacramento Valley Railroad was future American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. Theodore Judah was the Chief Engineer of the Sacramento Valley Railroad. Judah would later become the Chief Engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad and the chief proponent of the first transcontinental railroad over the Sierra Nevada by way of Dutch Flat.
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