After my own tour of the Sumpter Valley Railway grounds, I went to one of the covered picnic tables and worked on part one of this story then picked up my ticket and continued before it was time to put the computer back into the car and board the train. Our train had two coaches with an open air car in between. With it being rainy, I took the rear side bench in the rear coach then Bob Riskie arrived and joined me, after which I called Let's Talk Trains before our train left the McEwen station for Sumpter.
The station we left from this morning.
The Sumpter Valley water tank was left behind.
The wye switch was passed next as we left the sation area. Now we would cross the area of the valley where the dredges ripped the ground apart in search of gold. Every low point is now filled with water and the high areas are what was put on the ground by the dredges.
The inside of our coach on today's trip. Bob and I went out into the open air car for the westbound trip to Sumpter.
The waste from the dredges litter the landscape.
The water in the low points was really pretty.
Views ahead of our train this morning.
A very unique landscape which is really beautiful.
More freight cars in a siding.
What the dredges destroyed nature has turned into beauty.
The Whitney Highway.
More ponds along our route.
More of the dredge waste piled upon the earth here.
Many ponds are seen as we made our way to Sumpter.
Curving to the left.
Another pond.
A seecond left curve.
The view ahead of our train.
The Powder River which our train's route follows.
The view ahead.
We have reached the limits of Sumpter.
From the view in this pond, you can tell it was raining.
Curving to the left.
One of the plethora of ponds.
A curve to the right.
I find all these ponds of great interest.
Another curve to the left.
The train has reached the siding at Sumpter and after everyone detrained, the engine would run around the train.
We had a train robbery on our trip.
The west end of the siding.
The Cracker Creek Museum of Mining in Sumpter.
The sign for the Sumpter Valley station.
The train robbers had fun robbing the train as the rain continued. We arrived at the station and detrained then Bob and I walked out to the main street and half a block east to a restaurant.
We went to Scoop-N-Steamer Restaurant where we had an excellent French Toast breakfast then walked back to the station.
The Sumpter station.
The train reversed from the siding to the station.
Sumpter Valley Dredge, the last of three built in Sumpter Valley, this one in 1935, all of which worked the Powder River. It ran almost continuously from 1935 until 1954. In 1934, the current dredge was crafted from pieces of the first dredge and was manned by three employees. The dredge finally closed in 1954. In total, it hauled in an astounding $4 million worth of gold. By today's gold standard, the haul would have amounted to around $150 million. The last dredge sat abandoned for years, though it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Two views of our steam engine.
The train in front of the station. It started to rain hard again so I boarded the train, Bob soon joined me and we enjoyed the trip back to McEwen station listening to the sound of the Heisler pulling our train. Once we returned, it was time to cut off the steam engine so it could be reloaded with wood.
This is the same steam engine I fired on four trips back in 1981.
The steam engine then went to get wood. A special thank you to the Sumpter Valley Railway for the excellent trip they provided me.
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