Preserved Equipment

California is rich in railroad preservation projects , and many pieces of narrow gauge equipment have been saved. Much of this equipment comes from two sources, the last two operating narrow gauge railroads in the state, the Southern Pacific's Keeler branch and the Westside Lumber Co. This list is by no means complete, but it does cover all the major collections. As with all the information on these pages additions and corrections are always welcome. A quick note on the Links included here, Many of these museums don't have an official web presence... so the information here is uneven. Some unofficial links exist because of the enthusiasm of a single individual, others are the product of local visitor agencies. If a roster of the groups equipment is available I have linked to it separately.

Where the goodies are!

• Travel Town, Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation. Travel Town has an amazing collection of equipment, but only a small portion (6 pieces) is narrow gauge. For me this collection holds a special significance as it was the site of my first ride on a narrow gauge train, and my first exposure to steam. The site has an active volunteer group, The Southern California Scenic Railway Assoc... Travel town has two official pages... "The SCSRy Site" which includes both a newsletter, and a list of equipment (the narrow gauge is mixed in with the Standard gauge stuff under Freight cars and Cabooses and Passenger cars) and"The Official City site."

  
  

• Orange Empire Railroad Museum, Home of Ward Kimball's Grizzly Flat Railroad. By the way... Orange Empire also houses an incredible collection of Street cars including more than 25 from The Los Angeles Railway... a narrow gauge (3' 6") electric line.
  Basic information for the Museum may be found here.

  
  

• Laws Railroad Museum is more than just an equipment collection. When the Southern Pacific abandon the Keeler branch they donated the Laws station and yard complex as well as complete steam drawn freight train to Inyo County for preservation. Photos of the equipment are found on the "Slim Rails" page.

  
  

• "California State Railroad Museum" page has seven pieces of narrow gauge equipment on display and more in storage. Additionally they opperate a library of railroad history.

  
  

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• Society for the preservation of Carter Railroad Resources, Known as "SPCRR" collects and restores early wooden narrow gauge equipment in East Bay Regional Park District's Ardenwood Historic Farm. They opperate a 1 1/2 mile long railroad using horses as locomotives. A Roster of Equipment is available.

  
  

• Roaring Camp and Big Trees, not a museum, but a tourist railroad. Roaring Camp runs narrow gauge trains up 8% grades behind geared locomotives. They also opperate standard gauge equipment between Santa Cruz and Felton over a right of way which was built by the narrow gauge Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad in 1875, and opperated by the South Pacific Coast until 1909.

  
  

• The Nevada State Railroad Museum, has both standard and narrow gauge equipment on display at two sites. Rosters of their equipment are available for both the Carson City andBoulder City (Las Vegas) locations.

  
  

• "Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum" page Has a growing collection of narrow gauge equipment in Grass Valley, California, recreating one of Califonia's earliest narrow gauge lines. Their page includes a roster of their equipment with lots of photos.

  
  

Other Equipment can be found at; The Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad at Fish Camp, and in numerous private collections.

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Copyright Randy Hees, 1996

Page created by: hees@ix.netcom.com
Changes last made on: Sat Jul 27 11:36:25 1996