Steam & Excursion > Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad

I made a day trip to the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad late in August this summer. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it for the 11 am departure, so I went for a chase instead by following a dirt road off of Hwy 41 I found while studying a map the night before.

Ex-Westside Lumber Co. Shay #10 showed up backwards on the 11 am train, first clip, and the engineer performed a blowdown, which I might have interrupted. Ooops. This ruined my plan to hop on the 12:30 pm train later, since I had to catch the #10 running forwards.

There's a balloon track at the east end of the trip, while the main entrance and the west end only has a runaround track, so the Shay alternates between going forward and backward.

In the second clip, Shay #10 and the 12:30 pm train departs from the main entrance going forward. In the third clip, the train arrives at the east end, taking the balloon track going clockwise. The running gear and a glimpse of the firebox is seen in the fourth clip as the train waits for the return trip.

In the fifth clip, Shay #10 is working hard climbing the grade in the forest. In the sixth clip, #10 returns to the main entrance.

- Ex-Westside Lumber Co. Shay #10.
- Rest of the train at the main entrance.
- Video as described.

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- Shay #10 at the balloon tracks and the picnic area.
- A crew inspecting the running gear.
- Closer look.

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- Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad's GE diesel #402.
- Young European couple (Germans?) enjoying the Jenny Railcars, which are flanged-wheel version of the Ford Model A.
- I rode the Jenny Railcar later, since I missed riding behind the Shay.

That's all folks.

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Great photos. This is one that's been on my list for a long time.

Awesome Photos. In fact I was there last April and I got to ride in the cad of the shay and it was a amazing experience.

Nice to see No. 10 in the yellow pine forest where it belongs.

Stan

Is the grade crossing down the hill in the middle of nowhere still there?

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> Is the grade crossing down the hill in the middle
> of nowhere still there?
>
> Out

Yup. I was just south of that where the engineer did a blowdown. You can hear the crossing whistle sequence right after that (in the video).

Thanks for this! Wow, you can sure detect the 1-2-3, 1-2-3 beat! One seems louder than the others for some reason, maybe leaking less?

Cab ride, huh? Now I really want to go! Stopped by once over 10 years ago on a camping trip to Yosemite Valley, but they were done running for the day...

Nice shots and video, Charles...as always.

~Ryan

Don't have them processed yet, but just scanned a couple photos taken there about 30 years ago. (will have to check the dates to be sure.) Glad to see it is still operating. Thanks for posting the photos and video. In my photos at the top of the hill, you can see the building with the name on it. In your video it is obscured by the now grown up trees there.