08/17/2026
đźš‚
On August 17, 1855, Locomotive No. 1, known as the “Sacramento” belonging to the Sacramento Valley Railroad Company, and two open rail cars filled with 200 passengers made a trial run on a new railroad line from the foot of R Street heading east until 17th Street in Sacramento, California.
Hundreds of spectators were in attendance to witness what is considered to be the first railroad train ride in California. Two days later, C.K. Garrison, the president of the railroad company, held a more exclusive run for investors.
The Sacramento Valley Railroad reached Brighton (just south of Sacramento State) by the middle of September 1855 and reached Folsom, crossing the American River at what is today Black Miners Bar, on February 22, 1856. Today, the Gold Line Light Rail route of Sacramento Regional Transit parallels much of this route from Midtown Sacramento to Folsom.
Copy of a lithograph depicting the “first railroad ride in California” from the January 1, 1856 edition of the Sacramento Pictorial Union, a special illustrated edition of the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper.
