Steam & Excursion > Looking for info on Laws, Calif / SPNG track / building layout

Wondering if anyone has info / diagrams on how the tracks and facilities at Laws were laid out before 1960.  Was there a locomotive shed or roundhouse to go with the turntable?  Was it much different from the current museum arrangement?

Also, what was the arrangement of frieight spurs (if any) with whatever industry was in Laws.  (Since it was the northern terminal for the last 20+ years, I assume there was an industry there.)

Finally, does anyone have a listing of industries for the Keeler Branch from 1937-1959 and where they were located?  I know of Sierra Talc in Keeler and the soda ash company just south of Keeler, but am not aware of any others.

TIA!

Z

There was the Talc load-in platform at Zurich.

I might also recommend Yahoo Narrow Gauge Group which has a bunch of experts on the SP and other Narrow Gauge lines.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

A good source of information, which will answer all of your questions, is the book, Southern Pacific's Slim Princess in the Sunset 1940 - 1960,
by Joe Dale Morris.

The book contains a detailed yard map of Laws, showing all industries.  The book also gives a detailed information of each shipping point and the type of
freight shipped.

There was no engine house or engine shed at Laws.  I recall hearing rumors on the SPNGHS yahoo discussion group, of an engine house during C & C days,
back in the 1800's.  But nothing definite.

Ron - Yorba Linda

Find:Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge [color=#555555 !important]Hardcover[/color] [color=#555555 !important]– 1982[/color]by Mallory Hope Ferrell

It has the entire line with maps of each terminal, loading spur, track structures and more. 

If you really need it fast, I could scan that page in my book and put it here.

Line 1, no, no and no. The industry was across the street, Hartley Minerals. What's left is pretty much what
was at Laws, no real enclosed service structures on the line.

Out

Regarding a shop building; there is a building with two tracks running up to, and presumably into it, on the West side of the museum area.  When I was there a few years ago, it housed the motorcar they were working to restore and potentially operate.  If that was not originally a shop, it sure seems to serve as one now?  What was it originally, if not a RR shop?  

That was not an original SP building I do believe.

Out

The aluminum shed that currently houses the Brill rail car was not an original SP structure; it was added years after abandonment.

As I recall, in the 1990's, there was a group that hoped to lay 4 miles of track, from Laws to Bishop as a tourist railroad.  The Brill car was restored to operating condition, and the existing aluminum shed was erected to house the Brill car.

For liability purposes the Union Pacific removed the timber trestle that was the south Owens River crossing.  The remains were taken to Laws, to eventually be used to cross the Owens River on the proposed route to Bishop.
 
For some time, the remains of the trestle and stacks of rail were stored on the east side of Laws.

For a combination of reasons, the scheme to build the tourist line fell apart.
 
The Brill car is occasionally operated on several hundred feet of track around the Laws yard.

Ron
 

Awesome info.  Thanks everyone!

Z