Based on recommendations from my fellow bloggers, my wife and I visited the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad. Since this was a weekday, there was only one trip, on the narrow-gauge line up to Bear Mountain.
There really doesn't appear to be much difference between a narrow gauge and a standard gauge Shay. The basic mechanism all seems to be familiar, apart from the width of the trucks.
And here's the sandbox on the back of the tender, because the rear truck needs sand just like everybody else.
As we're heading up through the trees, it's impossible to get a good idea of just how tall and straight they are. Pictures don't do it justice. And in several places the cab appears to miss one of these trees by two or three inches. There's no doubt who would win if there were a collision.
The line originally had a loop with a tall trestle, which was burned down by vandals back in the 60's. The remains are still there.
Including the twisted rails:
At the top of the hill is a reverse loop, where the train pauses for several minutes of wandering about and picture taking.
I wonder if they ever made Shays for left-handed engineers.
Of course all the tourists want their picture taken in front of the engine.
But I must say the videos hardly give you the feel of how loud it was while the engine was working. The exhaust was blowing leaves off the trees, and you couldn't hear the conductor talking through the PA system. Before starting down the hill, a trainman came along and set the retainers on all the cars. I can remember that Herb's Burlington coaches had retainers, which we were warned not to touch because there was of course no need for them on our railroad. Not so here!
The material yard is full of Shay parts, as one might expect.
Are any of these California rail sites threatened by the current widespread wildfires?
ReplyDeleteC Kronenwetter
As best I can tell, the answer so far is no, except for perhaps the Napa Valley Wine Train that we didn't visit. Roaring Camp appears to be well out of the fire zone. To an outsider, there seems to be so little vegetation in the Rio Vista area that it's difficult to see how a fire could spread, but that's just a statement of ignorance, I must admit. During our trip, we visited an olive farm run by a friend of my wife. The fires have been burning nearby, but so far this particular farm has been spared. I find it hard to imagine how something like that could happen.
ReplyDeleteThe Western Railway Museum is only 15-20 miles from the fires on the east side of Napa Valley.
ReplyDeleteThere was a grass fire just to the west of their main museum site a few months ago and the museum let the firefighters use their water supply to put it out but the fire came very close to their tracks and buildings.
The unfortunate side effect of the heavy rains that hit California this past winter is that there was far more dry vegetation than normal to catch on fire and we have not had any rain in months. We are approaching our rainy season which will hopefully arrive quickly to put out the fires.
I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds rather worrisome.
ReplyDelete