Nostalgia & History > Info on NWP

After following the old NWP tracks to Arcata, my interest has been sparked on the history of the line.

Anybody out there know of the best book(s) obtainable for some research?

Thanks.

LW
Bakersfield

Northwestern Pacific Railroad(Vols I&II), by Fred Stindt
now out of print but occassionally available in resale market.
Summary of NWP chronology available on "railroads"' website IIRC.

Here's a link to a politically sensitive website presenting a rather strong opinion of what goes on in the woods of Northern California besides cultivating various medical products: http://www.wildcalifornia.org/html/pages-page-28.shtml .
This represents a political opinion which should be recognized, not my politics but a significant influence on what happens up that way (ie: tree-huggers, which is locally not considered a bad word by the way).
Also would like to point out that the access roads around the Eel River are often claimed by pot growers and are actively protected by the grower or by booby traps. Also quite a bit of Law enforcement projects going on up there, usually later in the growing season.
Should also check out the 'speeder' clubs who had travelled the line a few times, maybe somebody has photos or video. Also suggest checking out some of the Pentrex videos, one in particular has Morrison-Knudsen footage of the 1962 storm damage and other small tidbits of info. Chased a few trains up there but wish I had been able to see more.

Thanks for the replies on the NWP. I had finished a book by Kneiss that had a great picture of the silver spike ceremony at a place called Cain Rock in 1914. It is west of Garberville about 21 miles. The picture shows the RR president and his daughter along with 100 or so other people dressed up. I've always liked visitin these types of historic sites, but getting to this one could present some problems.

Thanks again.

LW

In addition to the two Stindt books, I would very highly recommend Steam in the Redwoods by Henry Sorenson and Henry Carranco.

Stindt's NWP volume 1 does a pretty good job of covering the NWP from inception up until the mid-1960's. Some later printings of that volume have an added chapter about the 1964 floods that basically destroyed the majority of the NWP north of Willits, but earlier printings to not. Volume 2 was released around 1985 or 1986 and has a chapter providing NWP history from 1964 to the then present, a chapter on NWP steam locomotives, a chapter each on the steam and diesel power that SP assigned to the railroad, a chapter on the Petaluma & Santa Rosa, a couple pages of photos of the California Western, a chapter on preserved NWP equipment, and a chapter on the Eureka Southern Railroad, which purchased the railroad north of Willits in 1984. Both are very good books.

Most of the current NWP around Arcata started out as logging railroads of one sort or another, and the Steam in the Redwoods book covers all of them in extreme detail, complete with a lot of maps. Check it out, it is definately worth it.

Wesley Fox has published two photo books about the NWP...the first was Northwestern Pacific Pictorial, published in 1983. Many (but not all) of the photos from that book were later re-printed in Northwestern Pacific Railroad and it's successors, which came out in 1995. The book contains a photographic tour of the NWP from north to south, including brief looks at the Arcata & Mad River and California Western railroads, a photographic tour of the North Coast Railroad, and photographs of the California Northern, with timelines provided for the NWP, the Eureka Southern and the North Coast railroads.

There is an NWPRR fan group at Yahoo (requires Yahoo membership to join and participate in), and the NWP and it's future are always being debated over on the Altamont Press discussion board.

JDLX
Elko, NV
http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails

There is also an NWP Historical Society that can be a good resource:

http://www.nwprrhs.org

best regards,
Mark G.