Although the Intermodal Depot appears to be a vintage Southern Pacific passenger depot, it was built in the 1990s and patterned after early 20th century depots such as the surviving depot in Folsom.

The actual Southern Pacific Depot in Roseville was demolished after passenger service to Roseville was discontinued in 1972.

Passenger service resumed in October, 1987, under the management of Amtrak, when the California Zephyr stopped in Roseville for the first time in fifteen years.

The memorial marker, visible in the third photograph, was erected by the Roseville Historical Society to honor eleven local railroad workers who were killed in a train accident between Roseville and Lincoln on April 8, 1935.

A powerful storm in April of 1935 left much of Roseville and the surrounding area flooded, including eleven sections of railroad track between Roseville and Lincoln.

On April 8, fourteen workers were dispatched to make repairs. They were coming home in a pair of open railroad cars at approximately 8:30 PM when they collided with a gravel-filled car coming the other way. The gravel car was pushed by an engine behind it, and the driver couldn't see the men in the open cars.

The accident devastated the town's morale.

Roseville was a tightly knit railroad town of 5,500 where doors were not locked at night. Despite the Depression, hobos could find work and get a meal from residents. Railroad workers were making about 35 cents an hour, a low wage for the time but welcomed considering the high unemployment rate.

Source: Adapted from an article in the Roseville & Granite Bay Press Tribune.