Nostalgia & History > Quincy, Ca.--1960

I took a vacation to Eastern Oregon during August 1960.

Stopped at Quincy on the way.

Feather River RR 2-6-2---#8

Don---Napa

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There's my baby! Thinking about her condition today always makes me grind my teeth.

This looks like the trackage into central Quincy, not near the mill.

The caboose survives as well, although it is in sad shape. At one point, someone cut the cupola off to move it.

Z

zephyrus Wrote:
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> There's my baby! Thinking about her condition
> today always makes me grind my teeth.
>
> This looks like the trackage into central Quincy,
> not near the mill.
>
> The caboose survives as well, although it is in
> sad shape. At one point, someone cut the cupola
> off to move it.
>
> Z


Ah! I've always wondered what happened to the caboose after it was at Quincy. Where did it end up?

The caboose was also off the Clover Valley Lumber Co. as was 2-6-2 #8. I last saw it at the museum at Portola.

I too wonder where it is now.

Martin

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LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> The caboose was also off the Clover Valley Lumber
> Co. as was 2-6-2 #8. I last saw it at the museum
> at Portola.
>
> I too wonder where it is now.
>
> Martin


The caboose was ex-WP 779, a Haskell and Barker car. It was never owned by the WP Museum, but was stored there for a while. It went to Gold Hill and is today stored on private land in Mound House.

Z

Is the caboose with #8 on the same land?

Martin

Love those little rails. 35-40# maybe???

-John

As I sit in my office in Quincy, I wish there were some additional angles so I could attempt to figure out where these were taken! One appears to be down by the "depot".

Tom Y

Tom, you and me both. For all the times I've driven through Quincy and "sorta" followed
the line after it left the mill, I could never really figure out where the "in town" part
ended and why.

Out

Tom, this is around Andy's Way and Leonard Ave. The ROW is the walking/bike path that starts by the HS off Quincy Jct Road and crosses Highway 70 next to the Gold Pan hotel. You can see Radio Hill in the background of the first image.

Here's an aerial shot from 1960. The engine and caboose are in the same exact spot as Don's shots above. The building off Leonard Ave is still there today as Butterfly Plumbing and Pump. The oil distributor is still there too. The depot is now Plumas County Facility Services. I don't know if they repurposed the original depot structure or built a new one but it sure looks like the old depot is in there somewhere to me.

The lot across the former tracks is a PG&E yard now and fenced off. The location of the former engine house is a paved parking lot. These two lots butt up to Railway Ave on the east side.

It's actually amazing how much is still there 55 years later.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 14:06 by trainjunkie.

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Thanks for the post, that's a great shot, always wondered where the thing ended (as I slowly
drove by the CHP office).

Out

Tom, to provide perspective about direction in Quincy, can you clarify, is the steam engine facing toward end of track or facing toward the WP connection up the hill?

BTW, great picture of Quincy from the 60s.

Thanks,

exprail

The WP connection is more around the hill if I've got the orientation right and I'd say
it's at least facing East? Highway 70 goes over the hill past the HS, the QRR ran around
the hill on the North side and then through the mill site, then across the meadow and
up to the WP/UP. The shot shown is on the North side of downtown, parallel to Hwy 70
and toward the West end of town.

Out



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 15:43 by callum_out.

So the small yard and engine facility would have been west of the mill with the oil co. spur close to end of track and engine facing end of track?

Thanks,

exprail

In the aerial view, Andy's Way and Leonard Ave. are running due N-S. North is to the lower left in the photo, so the left side of the photo is West.

Actually Andy's Way is about the most West N/S street in downtown, so the train is facing the end
of track. And yes, the whole thing is well West of the mill.

Out

Hey, it's been a long time...,.
We have a H & B caboose at WRM...painted ugly silver...# 10.?? We have a set of drawing for it and I think there might be an "O" G. model around some where.

I was by Quincy about 10 yrs ago.?. and tried to photo the engine at the interchange--U P---They tried to hide the engine back in the trees until the cars came down from Portola. then chased it down to Quincy. Interesting.

Don---Napa

Thanks, OUT.

exprail

callum_out Wrote:
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> ...always wondered where the thing ended (as I slowly
> drove by the CHP office).

Depending on which source you believe, when the QRR was the Quincy Lumber Company, the line continued on a "branch" another 5 to 7 miles westward to Meadow Valley and a timber stand there. This would have probably been in the early to mid 1920s. I'd have to look through my notes but I believe it was removed before the State highway came though.

Just looking back at some old topo maps and aerial photos, I can't find anything that can comment one way or the other on that claim. However, if the railroad basically followed the path that later became the road, they would have a nearly level track all the way there. So it is certainly feasible that a logging railroad existed out in that direction for a few years.