The Yreka Western Railroad (YW, AAR #873) is a Common Carrier Class III (Shortline) railroad directly serving the Siskiyou County California communities of Yreka and Montague CA. The YW originally built and has been operating the rail line since 1889, over 137 years, and has never been consolidated into a larger railroad. Railmark Holdings, Inc., the railroad’s 15th lifetime owner, acquired the railroad in January 2017. The Yreka Western Railroad (YW) interchanges and partners with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) as a handling line carrier.
Since 1909 the YW has provided “Rail-To-Truck” (formerly “Rail-To-Wagon”) transloading services and facilities to our customers not directly located on rail. The Yreka Western’s historic 1909 wooden transloading rail crane is still standing, serving as a memorial to the railroad’s early rail service innovations and commitments to excellent customer service delivery which continues to this day. Conveniently located just off U.S. Interstate 5, Exit 775 in Northern California, the Yreka Western Railroad’s market reach serves the upper seven counties in California which represent 17% of the total geography of the State of California. The YW is also convenient to customers located in northwestern Nevada and southern Oregon. The YW has its own M-2 Zoned, 58-Acre Rail Industrial Park and can offer “turn-key” and economically attractive rail-centric industrial sites to those industries wishing to locate in Siskiyou County.
