Steam & Excursion > When The End Came For This Line This Was Left In The Enginehouse!

The Diamond & Caldor narrow gauge logging railroad of Diamond Springs, California lasted long after the railroad regulators of that State thought that it should.  It was not until 1952 that in inspector from near-by Sacramento happened to stop buy and, to his surprise, discovered the line was still using link & pin couplers, even though those had been outlawed many years earlier.  This brought about an immediate order to convert the line to automatic couplers or cease all operations.  This, coupled with the fact that the Diamond & Caldor Lumber Company was nearly out of merchantable timber spelled the end for the little narrow gauge logging railroad.

By February 14, 1954, when this photo was taken of the ramshackle D&C enginehouse in Diamond Springs, the only motive power left on the line was D&C 2-truck Shay #4 and a handful of gas "critters" that had once carried loggers and track maintenance crews over the line.  By this late date, all the other 3-truck Shays of the D&C had been scrapped along with the log cars that made up the bulk of the rolling stock.  #4 was the last steam locomotive left, and the company had plans to donate her to the nearby fairgrounds for posterity.  Railbus #10 on the right would be saved by a railfan and would also live on pas the final scrapping of the line.

Soon after this photo was snapped, the enginehouse and the last of the trackage of the Diamond & Caldor was scrapped leaving almost no traces today of this quaint narrow gauge logger whose time finally ran out, long past it's prime.

Martin

P.S.  Shay #4 ws removed from the fairgrounds a number of years ago for a planned restoration back to operation.  That effort made progress until her boiler was determined to need replacement and the funds were not ther to do that.  Today she is in the County Museum inPlacerville, California.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/19 04:14 by LoggerHogger.

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Although the D&C was strictly a lumber hauler/logging railroad for California Door, it was established in 1904 as a common carrier, so as to use eminent domain to gain right-of-way across privately owned properties.  They never thought it necessary to have their common carrier status cancelled.  Then the railroad inspector came along (state or federal) and found the link-and-pin coupler infraction (I heard that this happened during a fan trip on the line).  The order to convert couplers or cease operations came, and California Door took the cheap way out.  I'm pretty sure that if they were not a common carrier, the "convert to automatic coupler  regulation" would not have affected them, as they would have been considered a private industrial operation, and exempt.

I have heard for years that the D&C had to give up because of the link and pin couplers.  The above relates that this issue had to do with the D&C still being a common carrier and using link and pin couplers.

The West Side also had some link and pin cars at the end, although a vast majority of their rolling stock had automatic couplers.

Did the West Side avoid the regulation that caused the demise of the D&C by no longer being a common carrier?  Or did they get by because MOST of thier rolling stock had automatic couplers? 

It would seem to me the D&C could have avoided all this be simply dropping thier common carrier status.

Earl,

The West Side was a common carrier until the early 1940's.  The line was the Hetch-Hetchy & Yosemite Valley Railways.  They gave up their common carrier status in part to avoid the regulations such as automatic couplers that went along with that status.

Here is West Side #8 in her factory photo from 1922 showing the common carrier name on her cab.  Even though she was shown with automatic couplers in the builder's photo - the West Side was all link & pin until 1940 when the Swayne Lumber log cars arrived.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/19 18:48 by LoggerHogger.

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Thanks for filling in my fading memory banks, Martin.  I knew the WSLCO started out as the HH&YV, but didn't recall when they dropped the common carrier status.  I had thought it was a link and pin operation until the Swayne equipment showed up.

Too bad the D&C didn't follow WSLCO's lead and drop the common carrier status.  Perhaps they would have stayed around a bit longer and maybe one or two of thier nice little 3 truck Shays would have survived.