Nostalgia & History > Pickering Shay 11 @ Beardsley Dam

Here's a nice 1958 view by the late John Hungerford of Pickering Lumber Corp. 3T Shay 11 starting her train at Beardsley Dam. Ahead are about 15 miles to get to Schoettgen Pass. Pickering frequently ran a helper job out of here with the second loco cut in 10 or 11 cars deep.
This Pacific Coast type was the only one on Pickering's roster & survives today at Mt. Rainier Scenic Ry. in Mineral, Washington. She was the heaviest of this type built, owing to her oversize oil tank.

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I like the shot at Beardsley Dam. About 15 years ago my wife, myself and two friends visited the area. The rails are long gone from the dam, but in the woods we found a Willamette doneky, some remnants of Diamond-T Pickering logging trucks, company housing, where the enginehouse once stood, a water tank, and more. - Tony Johnson

I've been to Beardsley Dam only three times. Twice, while the railroad was still in operation, we were told by the MofW personnel stationed at the dam that the train had "just gone through"! I never had the pleasure of seeing a train at this awesome location, and know that I would have been torn by the decision of what beautiful spot to photograph the train at. The third visit to Beardsley Dam was after the railroad had been lifted; at the road crossing, the rails were still in the pavement and the crossing buck still stood. Are the rails still in that roadway"?

Curious: How do you get to Beardsly Dam and Soap Creek Pass. Off of Hwy 108?

WAF Wrote:
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> Curious: How do you get to Beardsly Dam and Soap
> Creek Pass. Off of Hwy 108?

That's it exactly...there's a good, but steep road down to Beardsley Dam. I believe that you can still drive across it & then follow the old ROW back to Soap Creek. You may even possibly try going further & get to Skull Creek. Try this late next spring before it gets to hot. Turnoff to Beardsley is about 5-6 miles past Strawberry on the left & is marked.
You can also try hiking the other direction from Beardsley Dam & head up the grade toward Tunnel Creek. You'll pass through the "Peeled Onion" & maybe even the old PG & E incline if it's still there. You'll get a good feel for the railroad by doing this.
Tom

I still remember the great little ride through the woods to get to Beardsley and my surprise at seeing the tracks, enjoyment of the steam sounds all day long, but disappointment at never actually seeing any of the Pickering trains. On that ride down below the dam, my dad's 1952 Chev. pickup was in low gear and the shifter kept trying to jump out of gear the road was so steep. And we caught no trout.

I was stationed at the Calif. Dept. of Forestry fire station at Skull Creek 1972-75. The station is located above the old main line at the confluence of Skull Creek and Griswold Creek. This was the site of the cat shop and a log reloading facility. There are still traces of logging spurs and occasionaly disgared rail and tie plates. The right-of-way from Beardsly Dam to the gate at the south grove of Calaveras Big Trees State Park is used as a primary logging road. The gate is about at MP 67 (from Standard, CA). The bridge over Griswold Creek was unique in that log girders where placed on concrete piers. Trestle bents were then built on the logs to bring the crossing up to grade.