A local newspaper, called the Washington Independent, came up with a simple solution to the town's problem: "…connect with Newark". Ironically, in February of 1881, a South Pacific Coast branch line made the connection. The three-mile-long railroad was constructed along a nearly straight line in one lane of Baine Avenue. Sections of Baine Avenue remain today between Newark and Centerville.
But instead of steam trains like the ones that served Newark, the branch line used motive power that looked like it should have been pulling the old stages. Full train service was provided by horses. A single horse pulled a small four-wheel horsecar for passengers, at 10 cents per trip. Two or even three horses - hitched in tandem - pulled full-sized narrow gauge freight cars. A ride on the branch line took thirty minutes, one way, and the horsecar made regular connections three-times-a-day with the steam-powered passenger trains that arrived daily at Newark.
Henry Burdick became the line's most celebrated driver. For twenty years, Henry's horses made the daily schedule in all weather, summer and winter. The horses grew so accustomed to their task that they automatically stopped when they spotted passengers at waystations like the Mattos Ranch, about halfway between Newark and Centerville. When Henry unhitched the horses at the end of the line, they would circle to the other end of the car without command or guidance, patiently waiting for Henry to hitch up for the return trip.
The Centerville horsecar lasted until the opening of the standard gauge Southern Pacific Dumbarton Cutoff, when steam trains at last took over. Henry Burdick made the last horsecar run on Friday evening, May 28, 1909.
