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    Sierra Railway
    Sierra Railway
    Sierra Railway
    Ebook151 pages1 hour

    Sierra Railway

    By Stephen D. Mikesell

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The Sierra Railway is one of the most intact steam railroads in the United States. It is operated today by California State Parks to interpret and celebrate the importance of steam railroading in California history. Located in the Gold Rush town of Jamestown, in Tuolumne County, the railway began operations in 1897 and played an important role in developing the economy of Tuolumne and adjoining Calaveras County. While nearly all other steam short-line railroads in the United States were dismantled in the 1950s, the Sierra line has survived in a remarkably complete condition. The railway was a big hit among railfans, who flocked to it as early as the 1930s and in increasing numbers in the 1950s. Now operated as Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, the steam operation of the railroad is very much alive.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateFeb 8, 2016
    ISBN9781439655771
    Sierra Railway
    Author

    Stephen D. Mikesell

    This book is filled with rare photographs of the line from the 1890s to the 1990s, mostly from the collection of California State Parks, which cooperated with completion of this book. Stephen D. Mikesell, a consulting historian and historic preservationist, has uncovered hundreds of historic images of the Sierra Railway and its Mother Lode setting sure to excite the imagination of the railfan, the historic preservationist, and the lover of California's Gold Country.

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      Book preview

      Sierra Railway - Stephen D. Mikesell

      Suzanne.

      INTRODUCTION

      Railtown 1897, a California State Historic Park in the Mother Lode, is a legend among railfans, especially fans of steam railroads. Simply stated, Railtown 1897 contains one of the finest collections of railroad shops and steam-era rolling stock anywhere in the United States. This book concerns the Sierra Railway, which created the shops and bought or built most of the rolling stock currently in use at Railtown 1897.

      Railtown 1897 is maintained by the California State Department of Parks and Recreation as a working adjunct to its equally famous California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Railtown 1897 is situated in the little unincorporated community of Jamestown, some 150 miles south and east of the California State Railroad Museum, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The Sacramento museum displays a wide array of artifacts from railroads throughout California. Railtown 1897 tells the story of a single railroad, the Sierra Railway, and specializes in being a working railroad, not a static museum. Together, the two museums—the predominantly static museum in Sacramento and the working steam facility in Jamestown—produce an unparalleled picture of steam railroading in California history.

      The Sierra Railway, however, assuredly did not begin life as a museum. The railroad was built in 1897 by wealthy entrepreneurs who sought to fill a most basic need—rail service in California’s Mother Lode—and hoped to make some money in the process. As such, the Sierra Railway was similar to dozens of other short-line railroads built throughout California and the hundreds that were created throughout the United States. The Sierra Railway is important not so much because it carried the most freight or made the most money, but because it survived largely intact when most other steam lines were dismantled as railroads were converted to diesel-electric power in the 1950s.

      The Sierra also converted to diesel—dieselized (the common term for this process)—in 1955. However, it elected to retain its vintage steam rolling stock as well as the shops needed to support that rolling stock for two simple but unusual reasons: the company was making money using its steam fleet and shops in support of the motion-picture industry, and railfans were trekking to Jamestown by the hundreds to ride excursions on this magical line. The movie business had an attraction to vintage railroads as early as the 1910s, and the Sierra Railway was one of the first working lines to realize the potential profits that could be made. As hundreds of movies (mostly Westerns) were filmed using the Sierra Railway, the railway’s owners, looking for a way to survive as trucks took away much of their business, kept its steam fleet intact even after the freight business converted to diesel. Railfans, who had discovered the line as early as the 1930s, offered additional economic reason for the owners of the Sierra to keep the steam line open and operating.

      The Sierra Railway is a national treasure chiefly because its steam heritage still exists and is now open for public enjoyment as part of the California State Parks system. The photographs in this book give readers a hint of the magic of Railtown 1897 and its steam equipment and excursions. Those perusing this book are advised to read it, then do the obvious thing: go to Railtown 1897, located in the picturesque and remote California Gold Rush town of Jamestown, and experience this magic firsthand. No words, no photographs can take the place of that! (California State Railroad Museum.)

      One

      THE FOUNDERS OF THE

      SIERRA RAILWAY

      The Sierra Railway did not begin life as a museum or a movie set. It started in 1897 as a workhorse railroad designed to move the freight of the extractive industries, chiefly mining and lumber, of the Sierra Nevada and its foothills to ports and markets elsewhere. The men who organized the line recognized that in the days before good roads and trucks, it was nearly impossible to fully exploit the minerals or the lumber of the Sierra Nevada without access to a railroad that connected these remote operations with potential markets and supplies elsewhere in California, the nation, and the world.

      The developers of the Sierra Railway were not museum operators, nor were they engaged in a philanthropic endeavor. They hoped to profit from the operations of the railroad itself, and they also hoped to profit from the industries the line would serve. As the Sierra Railway was built to one market or another, the owners were quick to buy up quality mining and lumber operations in the area, knowing these investments would increase in value almost instantaneously when railroad service began.

      Three men—Thomas S. Bullock, Prince Andre Poniatowski, and William Crocker—willed and invested the Sierra Railway into existence. These three speculative investors continued to own and operate the line between its creation (in 1897) and the 1910s. At some point, however, the speculative profit ceased to exist, and the owners either sold their interest, died, or decided to operate the Sierra as a working railroad, without any real potential for speculative profits. By the end of the 1920s, control of the railroad was concentrated in the hands of W.H. Crocker, and to his heirs afterwards. The Crocker family sold the diesel Sierra Railroad to a private party in 1980 and sold the Jamestown property to California State Parks (for Railtown 1897 State Historic Park) in 1982; the family simultaneously donated all the railroad equipment to the state.

      Thomas S. Bullock was the key figure in the creation of the Sierra Railway, because he was the most daring. Like many American entrepreneurs, he was born with little money, made a great deal of money, and died nearly broke. Before coming to California, Bullock

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