Steam & Excursion > Another And Much Different Shop With A Changing Of The Guard!

Not all steam servicing facilities that witnessed the change from steam to diesel power were located in city roundhouses like the one we saw yesterday.  Some were actually in quite beautiful settings as we see here.

The date is the late 1950's and we see the steam servicing area of Soap Creek Pass Camp on Pickering Lumber Corp.'s impressive rail line in the Sierra above their mill at Standard, California.  It was here that Pickering's remaining active steam power would spend the night and receive light servicing to ready them for the next day's logging chores.

Even though Pickering's steam power abounds in the first scene with 3-truck Shays #33 and #11 present, there is an interloper in the group.  This modern power is the recently arrived EMD #103.  She joins the already in service PLC #101 and #102 who have been holding down most mainline log runs for several seasons now.

The white posts seen in these photos hold lights for use in servicing the engines at night and before the sun comes up in the morning.  #33 in the first view has been spotted here next to the sand house and is ready to depart.  When she does, #103 moves up as we see in the second view to have her sand boxes filled  so she is ready to attach the grueling grades of Peeled Onion and the like on the way to Standard with her log loads.

Times were changing on the Pickering.  In a few years Soap Creek Pass Camp will be abandoned and the line cut back to Lyons Lake.  After that the steam power will see very little use except for some spring line clearing chores.  The change over to diesel power will be complete just in time for Pickering to abandon the line all together in December 1965.

Martin



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 03:59 by LoggerHogger.

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Did more of the steam locomotives they had at the end get saved or cut?
Luke

Posted from Android

Luke,

Many of Pickering's steam locomotives got saved.  Some of the early Shays and the Climax did not survive and neither did their 2 truck Heislers.
Pickering's  3-truck Heislers #1, #2, #5 and #10 along with 2-truck Shay #3 and 3-Truck Shays #6, #7, #8, #11, #12 and #33 were all saved.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 08:23 by LoggerHogger.

I wonder what the status is of the four diesels.  The last I saw was that they were scattered east of the rockies.  It would be cool to get one and restore it for the Pickering.

I just noticed thst the Pickering EMD Switchers had a long-swing coupler drawbar for tight curves..

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

JimBaker Wrote:
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> I just noticed thst the Pickering EMD Switchers
> had a long-swing coupler drawbar for tight
> curves..

The one in the picture also has Flexicoil trucks which are much more forgiving of bad track.

PHall Wrote:
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> JimBaker Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I just noticed thst the Pickering EMD Switchers
> > had a long-swing coupler drawbar for tight
> > curves..
>
> The one in the picture also has Flexicoil trucks
> which are much more forgiving of bad track.
Look at the bearings

Posted from Android

We are fortunate that 11 of Pickering's steam locomotives have survived! Probably the late date the railroad operated had a lot to do with it, but it was probably more to do with a cooperative management and especially those who steped forward and put their money where their mouth was or worked to arrange donations. Pickering had some great crews who really loved their railroad and their jobs on it. As a brakeman on the 1971 Sugar Pine Railway Labor Day weekend operation I had the honor to work some with long time Pickering employees Garnet Dambacher and Bill Scott who came down to help us get started that first day. On that morning I pulled the air on engineer Scott to prevent a collision with Howard Wise on a speeder pulling a water car. Scott didn't see my frantic hand signals as he was somewhat distracted, but that is another story that I won't get into !                    Martin's great photo collection along with his commentary provide us all with interesting history lessons on a constant basis.I know that when I first log on to the TO site his is the first post I always go to. Thanks Martin for your generosity in sharing with all of us.                                                                                                                                              -Chris Collins

back in 1991 a few of us visited this and other areas of the Pickering. The tank had pretty much collasped, and you could see where the sand and enginie houses used to be. Thanks for sharing.

Chris,

Thanks  for your kind words.

Martin