Nostalgia & History > Colusa & Lake stuff

TonyJ, Charlie, etc., my brother Bill passed this along about Colusa & Lake:

“Harold, was interesting to hear about C&L on TO. You must not have seen the files on them when you got everything from the old house. I found a C&L file folder yesterday in the old house file cabinet. Thanks for passing this along. Since I can’t post on TO please pass this along. Do you happen to know if “TonyJ” is Tony Johnson? ~Bill”

“Colusa & Lake served the Sites sandstone quarry, slate wasn’t mined there. This sandstone was of high quality and was used for building construction. Several businesses in downtown Colusa were constructed with Sites sandstone and the most famous of Sites sandstone buildings is the Ferry Terminal in San Francisco. C&L was taken over by the E&P-EN late in its life but they couldn’t make it a viable operation. In the final years C&L was operated with a motor car (a converted truck) since running the remaining steamers was too costly. When the sandstone quarry closed C&L lost almost all of its revenue, hence the abandonment. The remaining cars (less what went back to Nevada) and the remaining steamers were all sold to United Commercial Company in South San Francisco. I know one (maybe more) flat car(s) went to Santa Cruz Lumber Company. Roaring Camp & Big Tree’s has a former C&L flat in their collection. The steamers were all scrapped by UCCo. The Porter was cut up in Colusa prior to the abandonment. It was referred to as the “Peanut Roaster” by the C&L crews (after the derailment with the passenger train to Sites, according from crew reports, it was never the same).
“Back when I was into research and before I got sick, Guy Dunscomb shared his C&L info with me and I got some prints from him. Don’t forget the C&L feature that Western Railroader ran. There is a ton of C&L information in the Colusa Sun-Herald newspaper archives, when we were kids I used to read it when visiting Grandma and in the Memories section they seemed to always have something railroad related (SN, NE, C&L, the narrow gauge project from Red Bluff to the Bay Area, etc.). The Colusa library also has information. Robert Johnson of Colusa (a former Colusa Sun-Herald staffer) has been working on a book about C&L for years (since we were kids), not sure if he is still alive. You might try 411.com to try and track him down. Chico State has some C&L pictures in their collection and I’m sure Ellen at CSRM has a C&L file too. Mal Hope Ferral may have stuff on C&L since he is heavy into narrow gauge information, don’t have his address but Hundaman (the CTC Board people) may be able to forward a letter to him. Believe he just released a new book through them about Southern trains from what Kenny told me. As you know the business files were all lost so I have no way to find his e-mail or street address, check the “letter” files you have as there might be something in there. We exchanged letters in the 1970s when he was still flying for the airline but you know that my memory is poor. You might also check the CD’s that I used for back-up of all the old information. I know the coverage is spotty but there might be something in there. Look at the Aug75 CD because I think that is where all the letters about Colusa are at. Having all these blank spots in my memory is really frustrating but I think that is the date you should look for, let me know what you find.
“Any way, good to hear from you and hearing about Colusa & Lake is always exciting. Might get me motivated to do research again! Got to have something to do in between doctor and hospital appointments LOL. Take care. ~Bill”

And so ends the e-mail from Bill. Any more questions about Colusa & Lake please send them to me or post them on Trainorders. TonyJ, can you send me the article on C&L? I can check it against what I have and what Bill has. Thanks!
H

H. & Bill! Yipe! That is a lot of helpful information you've provided.

First of all, the Colusa & Lake article came about by accident. After seeing the old C&L roundhouse earlier this year (one more winter storm should blow it down. It looks much worse than when I saw it about 6 years ago.)I talked with my daughter Barbara. She lives in Colusa and works for the county. She suggesed the Colusi County Historical Society so I contacted them. Gene H. Russell, Ed.D and Editor of the society's WAGON WHEELS told be about a Mr. Richacrd Johnson, MD, who is the CCHS immediate past president. He also suggested Ellen at CSRM. She's help me much in the past.

Anyway, when I mentioned to Gene that years ago in SP REVIEW I wrote an article on SP's Colusa Branch, he asked if it would be possible to publish it in WAGON WHEELS. I sent the article, which also includes some on the Colusa & Lake, and he said he wants to publish it. However, the word count is 3,445, which is aboput 1,000 more than he could publish, so he's asked if I could re-write the article into two: SP's Colusa Branch and the C&L. The Colusa Branch will be the first article sometime in 2006. I haven't really worked on redoing the C&L article as yet.

Nice to know RC&BT has a former C&L flatcar. Prior to my retirement in 1994 my wife and worked and lived in Santa Cruz. Maybe I have a photo of it and don't know it. I'll see if I can get a roster from them.

I have that special WESTERN RAILROADER feature. Glad you mentioned it as I forgot it had a roster and disposition notes in it. Then you also mentioned Guy Dunscomb. He was my hero and if he were still here I would have asked him for information. He was always very generous and his humor was delightful. What a good friend he was to so many people.

You mentioned checking your CDs that you used as back-up for your old information. Where are these? AT CSRM?


That's it for now. I'm dirty and tired after working on restoring the cupola on a 95-year-old CB&Q caboose in 95 degree heat. I need a shower.

Tony Johnson

HELLO NORCAL.....

BOY some fantastic information on the little C.& L. RR !!

Now as to C&LRR flat cars at RC....I was a locomotive firemen
at RC for 3 1/2 years back in the 1960's The kid ashcat....
I was 19, and all the crews for a time were SPCo. enginemen
anyway.......to make a short story long..... we had 4 WSLCo.
flat cars, #1 ,a heavy duty flat with link & pin draw bars.
ex. WSLCo. 287, 293, 296 also with link & pin . And one
Ex. SPNG gon. cut down to the deck

CAL.....I would like to know more about the ex.WSLCo,ex.
C.& L. RR Flats.


THANKS SO VERY MUCH for posting the information




CHARLIE HOPKINS
ONTHESPOT
MIDNIGHT GOAT AT SANTA CLARA !

ONTHESPOT Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HELLO NORCAL.....
>
> BOY some fantastic information on the little
> C.& L. RR !!
>
> Now as to C&LRR flat cars at RC....I was a
> locomotive firemen
> at RC for 3 1/2 years back in the 1960's The kid
> ashcat....
> I was 19, and all the crews for a time were
> SPCo. enginemen
> anyway.......to make a short story long..... we
> had 4 WSLCo.
> flat cars, #1 ,a heavy duty flat with link
> & pin draw bars.
> ex. WSLCo. 287, 293, 296 also with link &
> pin . And one
> Ex. SPNG gon. cut down to the deck
>
> CAL.....I would like to know more about the
> ex.WSLCo,ex.
> C.& L. RR Flats.
>
>
> THANKS SO VERY MUCH for posting the
> information
>
>
>
>
> CHARLIE HOPKINS
> ONTHESPOT
> MIDNIGHT GOAT AT SANTA CLARA !


What does "WSLCo" stand for? I can't think of it. - Tony J.

WSLCo--could that be West Side Lumber Co.?

DNRY122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WSLCo--could that be West Side Lumber Co.?


It would make sense since it was also 3-ft. gauge. - Tony