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The Solano was a large railroad ferry, built as a reinforced paddle steamer with independently powered sidewheels by the Central Pacific Railroad, that carried entire trains across the Carquinez Strait between Benicia and Port Costa in California daily for 51 years, from 1879 to 1930.
Central Pacific ferry El Capitan was the largest ferry on San Francisco Bay when built in 1868. [5] Ferry Berkeley (served 1898–1958) at the San Diego Maritime Museum. The first railroad ferries on San Francisco Bay were established by the San Francisco and Oakland Railroad and the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad (SF&A), which were taken over by the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) in 1870 ...
A railroad ferry Solano was established in December 1879 to carry entire trains across Carquinez Strait between Benicia and Port Costa, which enabled the transcontinental trains to reach Oakland, California in a much shorter time. [2] [6]
The Solano, later joined by the Contra Costa, carried entire trains across the Carquinez Strait from Benicia to Port Costa, [6] from where they continued on to the Oakland Pier. [6] Businessman George W. McNear built the Port Costa Warehouses and Dock Company west of the new ferry terminal in 1880.
The free ferry service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Boat operators are on duty 24 hours a day to provide service to individual passengers and motorists crossing Steamboat Slough. [2] The ferry is served by the vessel J-Mack (or J-Mac), a 92 ft × 32 ft (28.0 m × 9.8 m) cable drawn ferry that can carry up to six vehicles. Because ...
In 1878, the Solano train ferry began operating in the United States across Carquinez Strait remaining in service until 1930 when a bridge was built. [16] [17] In 1899, the SS Baikal train ferry was assembled in Russia to link the eastern and western portions of the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Lake Baikal. [18]
The ferry boats Solano and Contra Costa were removed from service when the nearby Martinez railroad bridge was completed in 1930. From 1913 until 1954 the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electrified interurban line, crossed Suisun Bay with the Ramon, a distillate-powered train ferry.
Blue & Gold also operates tourist and excursion services under its own brand from Pier 41 in San Francisco, with midday ferry service to Sausalito and a variety of tourist routes. The company is the Bay Area's largest ferry transportation provider and carries approximately 4 million passengers annually.