Central California Traction Company

The Central California Traction Company  is a Class III short-line railroad operating in the northern San Joaquin Valley, in San Joaquin County, California. It is owned jointly by the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway.

Service
The railroad operates between Stockton and Lodi. CCT also operates the Stockton Public Belt Railway around the Port of Stockton.

It connects to the Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad company freight lines that serve greater Stockton. Several miles of the CCT track through Acampo are being used to store rolling stock, primarily Centerbeam flatcars that carry lumber,.

History
The Central California Traction Company was incorporated on August 7, 1905. Streetcar service began on March 3, 1906 with 9 mi of trackage in Stockton. The company also had greater ambitions and became an electric interurban railway, opening a line from Stockton to Lodi starting on September 2, 1907. The original line into Lodi ran down Lodi Avenue, turning north on Sacramento Street and reaching as far north as Turner Road. In 1908, current on the third rail system was raised from 550 volts to 1,200 volts. The extension to Sacramento began service on September 1, 1910.

In 1928, the railroad was sold by the original owners and was then jointly purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad. The Stockton streetcar operations were taken over by Stockton Electric Railroad (by then an SP Subsidiary) in 1929. Interurban service ceased on February 4, 1933, but local streetcars continued to run in Sacramento until the service was acquired by National City Lines in 1943. Electric service ended on December 22, 1946.



The railroad operated over the same line from Lodi and Stockton to Sacramento until 1966 when the Sacramento belt line was closed, then trains were run over Southern Pacific's line into Sacramento. Tracks into Sacramento's city center were removed that year. In 1998, service to Sacramento was suspended. Since then the tracks remain between Stockton and Sacramento, being kept for future operational options.

One of the Central California Traction Company train stations survives in Acampo, just north of Lodi. This station was converted into a residence, with altered interior walls and an expansion.