Exploring the Sugar Pine Railway

On Wednesday, October 18th, Railtown Interpretive staff Daniel, Mike, and Avery accompanied Volunteer Curtis Watson on the old Sugar Pine Railway grade near Gurney in Twain Harte. Although seldom mentioned in our tours, the Sugar Pine Railway and its owner the Standard Lumber Company (later Pickering) were an important part of railroading in Tuolumne County, especially in regard to the Sierra Railway.

Volunteer Curtis talks with Interpretive Aides Mike and Avery about the Sugar Pine Railway.

The original Standard Lumber Company plant at Sonora circa 1905.

In 1901, Thomas Bullock and partners founded the Standard Lumber Company for the purpose of expanding the local logging industry to export finished lumber all over the country. Two years later, the Sugar Pine Railway was established, branching from the Sierra Railway mainline at Ralph (originally Campbell's station) at Milepost 54, just under three miles from Tuolumne.

Camp Sequoia on the Sugar Pine Railway above Lyons Dam. This camp only operated in 1913.

In the early days, logs were felled and milled at numerous small mountain sawmills above Twain Harte and the rough cut lumber was then shipped via the Sugar Pine Railway down to finishing mills in Sonora. By 1913, insurance for these mountain mills became unobtainable due to the threat of fire, and the company established a new permanent mill site at Standard, a town built exclusively to sustain the lumber company's operations. Over time, the mills out in the woods and in Sonora were shut down and replaced as the Standard mill was modernized, but the Sugar Pine Railway continued branching out into the woods throughout the Stanislaus River watershed. The railroad remained in regular operation until 1965, and the rails were finally scrapped in 1974, just three years after Shay No. 7's fire was dropped for the last time.

Daniel, Curtis, and Avery explore the Depot site in Tuolumne. The water standpipe is all that remains.

Since the walk on the Sugar Pine grade above Gurney was shorter than expected, Mike led the group on a driving tour of other points of historical interest on the way back to Railtown, including the old Depot site in Tuolumne, the junction at Ralph, and the old townsite at Standard. The trip was very enjoyable, we hope to be able to hold more expeditions like this in the future!

Curtis, Daniel, and Avery stop to see the Apple packing house and Pickering telephone shack at Ralph.

The 597 Odyssey!

Back in August, our crew of maintenance volunteers began work to replace several rotted plywood panels behind the bar in Mountain Observation car No. 597. Over the years, exposure to rain has led to a buildup of moisture between the exterior siding and the interior paneling, causing the wooden panels to deteriorate. Fortunately, this was nothing that our volunteers couldn't handle, and the work was wrapped up this week.

David Ethier and Greg Romelfanger fit and fasten new plywood panels in the 597.

Gary Hosman checks how the work is going

By October, the work was finished! Robert Williams and David Ethier admire the results.

Following a few coats of wood stain, the finished panels really pop!

Tales of the Roundhouse 2023

After much preparation and anticipation, "Tales of the Roundhouse" has come and gone again, with many satisfied visitors and volunteers! Not a typical "Halloween" event, Tales of the Roundhouse is one of the few events we do here at Railtown that brings a number of unknown individual stories of life and death on the Sierra Railway to a larger audience.

One of the unique things about Railtown is the opportunity we provide visitors to experience railroad history in an authentic period setting. Tales of the Roundhouse is an excellent example of not only how to relate history to current generations in an entertaining manner, but why what we do here matters: keeping stories of the past alive to be discovered by our visitors.

SRYC 80-ton Diesel No. 1638 takes its first run on the mainline!

Today was an exciting day for Railtown staff and volunteers, as our 1952 General Electric diesel locomotive No. 1638 was fired up for its first runs on the Sierra Northern Railway mainline in more than 25 years!

The locomotive followed the 3:00 P.M. Mother Lode Cannonball train out and back on its own, followed by two "Extra" trips after that with Coach No. 14 on the first run and Mountain Observation car No. 599 added for the second trip. To finish off the evening, No. 1638 served as the power for the "Tales of the Roundhouse" special excursion train. The locomotive performed very well, and may occasionally be seen pulling Railtown trains or performing switching moves in the future!