Category Archives: Railroad

Here’s a few pictures I took out behind the roundhouse at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park.  (click to embiggen)

An old Shay is awaiting restoration. This type of locomotive uses gears instead of rods to drive the wheels. Speed was low, but pulling power was much higher than conventional steam locomotives.

Here’s the other side of the same locomotive. This angle is not as interesting visually, and very few historic photographs of Shays  show this side.

Underneath an awning they’ve got an old narrow gauge boxcar saved from the Yosemite Short Line. Sadly, there are no plans at present to restore this historic little gem. I’d really hate to see this car just rot away.

Most of the equipment at Railtown appears to be in need of a little work (some more than others), but #3 is fully restored and running. It takes passengers on a short but enjoyable ride through some beautiful foothill country.

There has been some concern that Railtown might have to close because of state budget cuts. I urge anybody who likes old trains to get out there and ride this one and help them continue to operate.

Spent the day in Jamestown, CA town. Among other things, we paid a visit to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park and took a ride behind Sierra Railway #3. I’ve got some good pictures, but it’s late and I’m tired so I’ll post them tomorrow.

For anyone interested in western railroads, one of the members of the Google Earth Community has posted a file showing both the original and present day routes of the famous Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Once you’ve downloaded the file, you can install it by firing up Google Earth and selecting Add/Network Link from the menu bar.

A valuable reference for archaeologists, historians, modelers, and anyone else interested in early trains, a compilation of bulletins 1-10 of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society is available for free online. (At 617 pages it’s a rather large download, so people with slow connections be warned.)

Although published in the 1920s, most of the articles deal with 19th century railroading. The bulletins are weighted toward Eastern U.S. railroads, which is not surprising to anybody who has seen a railroad map of North America. There are, however, a number of articles on western railroads as well, especially on the Central Pacific. There are also a few dealing with lines in the U.K. and Canada.

I plan to comment on the recent paper by Paul A. LaViolette proposing that the Pleistocene mass extinction was caused by a solar flare, but I haven’t had a chance to read and digest it yet.

So in the meantime, I’ll offer some more train porn. Over the weekend we rode the restored Virginia & Truckee from Carson City to Virginia City and back. I took quite a few pictures, a few of which I am posting. (Click to embiggen)

Here’s the locomotive used on this run. It’s of a type known as a Mikado (wheel arrangement 2-8-2), and was built in 1914 for the McCloud River Railroad, a logging road operating near Mt. Shasta in California. This locomotive was also featured in the film Water for Elephants.

The modern V&T has an authentic 1870s era TSA agent on duty at the Eastgate station.

Another view of the locomotive, this time at Virginia City. It burns fuel oil, like the original V&T did for most of its existence.

The two passenger coaches were acquired from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. It would have been nice to ride in original V&T cars pulled by an original V&T locomotive, but that’s not possible. The equipment that still survives in operable condition is all in the hands of museums, who understandably don’t want to subject it to the wear and tear of regular service.

Overall, it was a very fun trip through some wonderful scenery. We even met a herd of wild horses on the way back. I don’t think this was the last time I’m going to be riding this train.