After the Railtown 1897 trip, Elizabeth and I headed back west down CA Highway 108 to a place which saw on the way up but could not safely stop. We pulled in and were quite amazed at what we found.
The caboose advertising wine tasting at the Hurst Ranch.
This station building was used as a prop in the Hollywood film "The Unforgiven" starring Clint Eastwood. It was built in Canada where the movie was first being filmed. Then the filming company got in a kerfuffle with some Canadian regulators. The next chapter of its life took about ten years. Mr. Tom Doyle, friend of Clint's and owner of the Big Whiskey, where Hollywood stars stayed when filming in Tuolumne County, bought and stored the disassembled station on his property. On a hay delivery, Joe Hurst saw it and made a deal with Tom to take it off his hands and it was re-erected here at the ranch.
An unknown flat car.
Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator car 10529.
Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator car 11647.
Southern Pacific box car 672159.
Union Pacific water car. We next drove up to Standard to get the station there.
The Sierra Railway station in Standard. From here we went to Sonora and at the north gate of the fairgrounds, we found our next steam engine.
The plaque for the steam engine located here.
Pickering Lumber Company two-truck shay 3 built by Lima in 1910 as Sugar Pine Railway 3. The Sugar Pine was set up as a subsidiary of the Sierra Railway Company in 1903 to feed the Standard Lumber Company's mill at Sonora. With an economic recession in 1907, management was turned over to Standard Lumber. In 1921, Pickering Lumber bought Standard Lumber, which continued to operate as a separate company until consolidated into Pickering in 1926. The steam engine was retired in 1957 and went on display in Standard. Twenty years later, it was moved to its current location at the junction of West Stockton Street and Southgate Drive at the entrance to the Tuolumne County Fairgrounds in Sonora.
We drove to the next stop of our trip at Angels Camp and found two items.
The Sierra Railway freight house in Angels Camp.
The former Sierra Railway right-of-way.
The Sierra Railway passenger station built in 1902. To get to our next steam engine, we had to drive up Highway 4 to the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum in White Pines.
Yosemite Lumber Company 3 truck shay 4 built by Lima in 1920 which came from the Nevada State Railroad Museum after languishing for twenty years at a scrap dealer in Stockton, California. This locomotive was purchased by Heber Creeper Railroad who realized it did not fit their needs so they sold it to the Nevada State Railroad Museum who ran it but came to the same conclusion. They in turn sold it to the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum.
Elizabeth being dwarfed by the steam engine.
Steam engine models, not for sale, at the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum. Elizabeth was extremely hungry so we stopped at Subway in Arnold for lunch. We then drove to our next depot of the trip in Valley Spring.
I found this neat historical marker with plenty of information.
The Southern Pacific Valley Spring station built in 1888. From here we took CA 26 to CA Highway 49 to continue north.
The wildflowers were in full bloom on the way to our next stop of Martell.
The old Amador Central engine house is still standing but unfortunately the station is completely gone and has been so for some years. If you want to see this station, go to my Ghost of the Amador Central story from 2012. I was driving north on CA Highway 49 and to our surprise, we came upon Nashville, California and Elizabeth and I had a good laugh about it. You see, we all know there is a Nashville in Tennessee and we found one in Georgia where we are going to be riding a train in the next few weeks. And now there is one in my home state that I never knew about. The joys of travelling! We next made our way to Placerville Fairgrounds. This is part of the El Dorado and Western Railroad's collection of equipment.
Michigan California Lumber Company narrow gauge 0-4-0T 6 built by Lima in 1899 as Diamond & Caldor Railway 4 at Diamond Springs, California.
Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe speeder 4.
Caboose with side baggage door undergoing restoration. From here we drove to Shingle Springs.
Southern Pacific caboose 1188 built by the railway in the 1940s.
El Dorado and Western 45 ton switcher 5104 built by General Electric in 1944 for Cemex, ex. Lone Star Products, nee Pacific Coast Aggregates 5104.
Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe caboose 2.
The Southern Pacific Shingle Springs depot built in 1897 that now houses a bicycle store.
The El Dorado and Western information board about train rides.
A grab shot of another El Dorado and Western engine as we were driving away. We next headed down US 50 to Folsom.
The Southern Pacific Folsom station built in 1914.
Southern Pacific caboose 1197 built by the railway in 1942 on display beside the station.
Southern Pacific heavyweight Harriman coach.
A replica Sacramento Valley station.
Sacramento, Placer and Nevada station called Ashland Station. Our final stop of the day was at Routier.
Southern Pacific Routier station along the RTA Folsom Line. From here we drove to the Best Western Inn in Roseville. After resting a few minutes, we drove to the Black Bear Diner and had a delicious meal then returned to the room, wrote the story and called it a night.
| RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE |