Steam & Excursion > Sierra Railroad's last regularly scheduled passenger train

      Attached is a letter sent by Sierra's President Charles Crocker to all Sierra Employee's announcing the end of the railroad's passenger operations. It lists a few reasons why this decision was reached. While we are fortunate to still have the State Park operation offering limited train rides they are nothing like the Sierra once ran.       -cc51

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What are the big differences between the ride now and when Sierra Railroad operated the excursions?

Thanks,

-Alan

Hi Alan:    The Sierra offered a variety of rides of varying distances, travel both east and west  of Jamestown, and a wide variety of equipment. Special excursions were run as far as Oakdale (making an 84 mile round trip) and from Jamestown east to Ralph which was where Pickering Lumber's logging railroad connected with Sierra's tracks.The round trip here was 26.94 miles. The Sierra trackage from Ralph to Tuolumne (site of the West Side Lumber Co. mill) another 2.71 miles, was out of service at the time of these runs. There were dinner trains, wine and cheese trains, and just plain trains. The Pacific Locomotive Assn. operated several "mixed trains" which included freight cars along with passenger equipment. The current state park operations (before the virus!) ran from Jamestown west to a siding used as a runaround  that is short of Chinese making for a close to 11 mile round trip. this run uses a couple of passenger cars plus the locomotive. It is my understanding that a diesel may be used sometimes but I can't verify that as they are shut down up there due to the virus.   Hope this answers your question.   -cc51

Then there was the previous end of passenger service when the 28 backed through a switch and derailed (if I remember correctly) which
shut excursions down for over five years.

Out 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/20 19:38 by callum_out.

On a typical Saturday in 1979, the Sierra ran 3 trips from Jamestown up the hill to the former Pickering mill at Fassler - about 18 mile round trip, a Wine & Cheese train to Cooperstown - a 44 mile round trip and a dinner train to Oakdale - an 80 mile round trip.  All powered by steam, except the dinner train which got a diesel helper.  There were two steam locomotives hot every Saturday.

Today's Railtown excursions run from Jamestown down to a siding near Woods Creek - about 5 mile round trip.

Big difference between then and now.


 

I was there last summer.  It was neat to see the stuff I've only seen in pictures my whole life.  The only S-12 left his hidden in an industrial plant near Oakdale so I couldn't see it.  I did the current short ride and then explored what I could  plus Westside.

Back when they were running two steamers on Saturday was that 28 & 34?  

-Alan

Double headed steam on a long Wine & Cheese train returning from Cooperstown in 1977.

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Several organizations and individuals sponsored special trips on the Sierra.

Among them:
The Original Whistle Stop in Pasadena.
Monrovia Model Railroad Club
Short Line Enterprises, Inc.
Charlie Jumps
Larry Jenses, Jerry Kitts.

Short Line ran 3 trips with their ex D&R  4-4-0, No. 8 anf three ex Virginia & Truckee cars.
No. 8 was also on the 1979 Triple Header {Bob Dockery photo}

 

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The Sierra Railroad in the 1970's was a truly fabulous place to see steam on a regular basis.

Martin

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I rode a charter trip in November 1979 behind No.8 and No.3.
After that I rode weekend steam trips in both directions.  That was in the early 1980s.
When was the last trip to Tuolumne? I seem to recall going as far as the lumber mill at Standard.

PVSfan Wrote:
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> I rode a charter trip in November 1979 behind No.8
> and No.3.
> After that I rode weekend steam trips in both
> directions.  That was in the early 1980s.
> When was the last trip to Tuolumne? I seem to
> recall going as far as the lumber mill at
> Standard.

Last Sierra steam in Tuolumne was #28, October 19, 1963.

We had the epc PLA trip in I think 1972 with the 28 which didn't make it out of the Jamestown yard, so they added 3 as a
helper and we made it all the way to Black Oak. 

Out 

Chris, thanks for posting that letter, I was one of the employees that received it.

In the late 1970s business seemed very good for the Sierra. By 1978 freight trains were running 5 days a week, up from 4 days.  From April through October the short runs to Standard, the “Cannonball”, operated on Saturday and Sunday and on Thursday and Friday during July and August. On Saturdays in the spring and fall Wine and Cheese trains operated to Cooperstown and dinner trains ran to Oakdale. During the summer months of July and August the very popular Twilight limited ran to Cooperstown in the evening with dinner in the park following the trip. All trains ran close to or at the rated tonnage for the locomotives. The 11 or 12 car dinner trains and Twilight Limiteds all ran with a diesel helper. On Saturday evenings there were usually well over 600 passengers on the trains.

By the fall of 1979 there was change in the air and Mr. Crocker’s letter mentions some of the problems that the Sierra faced, rising fuel and insurance costs, and the coming recession of the early 80s.  In addition to these factors the Louisiana Pacific Corp. had purchased the former Pickering Lumber Corp. mill in Standard and Keystone from the Fiberboard Corp. Fiberboard had an agreement with the Sierra that guaranteed a minimum number of loads of woodchip cars per year.  With LP ownership not only was this guarantee lost but the number of carloads of dimension lumber and plywood went down. The other problem the Sierra faced was deferred track maintenance, specifically tie replacement.  The last big track maintenance program had been in 1949 and throughout the 70s tie replacement was at a bare minimum. 

The Sierra was just one part of Crocker’s many holdings.  As I recall around 1980 Crocker Associates divested itself of its majority share of stock in the Southern Pacific, and sold a very large real estate partial that included most of Mt. San Bruno in San Mateo County.

While not totally unexpected the announcement did come as a shock to Sierra employees.  The seasonal Railtown employees were the most affected as were the extra board train and engine service employees. The Jamestown roundhouse had 5 employees, 2 were transferred to the Oakdale diesel shop, 2 went to the section gang, and one was laid off.  The real hardships for the employees came several years later when car loadings dropped to all time lows and trains sometimes ran only once a week.

Dave Sell

DGS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chris, thanks for posting that letter, I was one
> of the employees that received it.
>
> In the late 1970s business seemed very good for
> the Sierra. By 1978 freight trains were running 5
> days a week, up from 4 days.  From April through
> October the short runs to Standard, the
> “Cannonball”, operated on Saturday and Sunday
> and on Thursday and Friday during July and August.
> On Saturdays in the spring and fall Wine and
> Cheese trains operated to Cooperstown and dinner
> trains ran to Oakdale. During the summer months of
> July and August the very popular Twilight limited
> ran to Cooperstown in the evening with dinner in
> the park following the trip. All trains ran close
> to or at the rated tonnage for the locomotives.
> The 11 or 12 car dinner trains and Twilight
> Limiteds all ran with a diesel helper. On Saturday
> evenings there were usually well over 600
> passengers on the trains.
>
> By the fall of 1979 there was change in the air
> and Mr. Crocker’s letter mentions some of the
> problems that the Sierra faced, rising fuel and
> insurance costs, and the coming recession of the
> early 80s.  In addition to these factors the
> Louisiana Pacific Corp. had purchased the former
> Pickering Lumber Corp. mill in Standard and
> Keystone from the Fiberboard Corp. Fiberboard had
> an agreement with the Sierra that guaranteed a
> minimum number of loads of woodchip cars per
> year.  With LP ownership not only was this
> guarantee lost but the number of carloads of
> dimension lumber and plywood went down. The other
> problem the Sierra faced was deferred track
> maintenance, specifically tie replacement.  The
> last big track maintenance program had been in
> 1949 and throughout the 70s tie replacement was at
> a bare minimum. 
>
> The Sierra was just one part of Crocker’s many
> holdings.  As I recall around 1980 Crocker
> Associates divested itself of its majority share
> of stock in the Southern Pacific, and sold a very
> large real estate partial that included most of
> Mt. San Bruno in San Mateo County.
>
> While not totally unexpected the announcement did
> come as a shock to Sierra employees.  The
> seasonal Railtown employees were the most affected
> as were the extra board train and engine service
> employees. The Jamestown roundhouse had 5
> employees, 2 were transferred to the Oakdale
> diesel shop, 2 went to the section gang, and one
> was laid off.  The real hardships for the
> employees came several years later when car
> loadings dropped to all time lows and trains
> sometimes ran only once a week.
>
> Dave Sell

And then, in August, 1986, Jerry Gregg showed-up, and things really went to hell.

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We had the epc PLA trip in I think 1972 with the
> 28 which didn't make it out of the Jamestown yard,
> so they added 3 as a
> helper and we made it all the way to Black Oak. 
>
> Out 
In 1971  Labor day weekend, 34 couldn't get pass the yard board at Jamestown and 28 hooked on the end to shove to Flasser

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We had the epc PLA trip in I think 1972 with the
> 28 which didn't make it out of the Jamestown yard,
> so they added 3 as a
> helper and we made it all the way to Black Oak. 
>
> Out 

Sierra #3 & #34 at Black Oak, Sept. 3, 1972.

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