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McCloud Rails : Last Train to Car A |
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On Tuesday 20 June 2006 the McCloud Railway ran what should be the last train ever to venture up the Lookout Line beyond Bartle. The last train beyond Car A operated in mid-November 2005 when two locomotives ran through to Hambone to bring a string of boxcars stored in the siding there down to Car A. That trip is covered on the Last Train to Hambone page on this website. The boxcars remained at Car A through the winter. The railroad started to make efforts to get them in the Spring of 2006, but the amount of snow thwarted efforts to reach the cars. The railroad eventually decided to have Sierra jobs bring the cars down in cuts. By the third week in June only four boxcars remained at Car A, and the railroad decided to get them with the Sierra job scheduled for the 20th. |
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The day started out with the #37 bringing three empty centerbeams from McCloud to the Bartle Wye, where the cars would be left on the main line while the locomotive proceeded up to Car A to get the boxcars. A small stream provided a nice reflection of the locomotive. |
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The locomotive quickly leaves Bartle behind and starts the journey up a line that has not seen regular train service since December 2003. |
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How do you know you are on a timber railroad? When the locomotives start growing branches of their own. |
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McIntosh Vista used to provide some good panoramic shots of Mount Shasta and the McCloud River Valley, but the trees are starting to get in the way. |
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The #37 rolling through the trees near the old station site of Young Spur. |
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McCloud Railway employee Keith Jones met the #37 at Car A to help with the coupling and air testing the boxcars. Here he is giving Bob switching instructions over the radio. |
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Engineer Bob Sharrah at the controls as the last train starts back towards Bartle. |
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The #37 about halfway back to Bartle with the boxcars. |
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The #37 once again rolling through McIntosh Vista on the return trip. |
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One of the most photographed places on the McCloud River Railroad outside of McCloud in the early years was this long, low curved trestle right at the base of Bartle hill. The railroad replaced the trestle with a fill, and the trees eventually grew large enough to make repeating the photographs impossible. Here is a very early shot of the #8 on the trestle with a loaded log train bound for McCloud. |
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The #37 doing its best to repeat the famous photographs on what may be the last train over the former trestle site. |
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The #37 leading the train over the east leg of the Bartle Wye. The locomotive will leave the cars on the mainline just short of the west leg switch, where they will be picked up on the return trip to McCloud two days later. Baring a miracle this should be the last train movement on the old Lookout Line. |
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