The West Side Lumber Company railway was the last of the narrow-gauge logging railroads operating in the American west.Ferrell, Mallory Hope, West Side: Narrow Gauge in the Sierra, pp. 1-32, 293-312, Pacific Fast Mail, 1979.

History

West Side Flume & Lumber Company The West Side Flume & Lumber Company was founded in May 1898 to log of land outside of the town of Carter (now called Tuolumne). A long gauge railroad was laid into the woods east of the town.

Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Railroad In 1900, the lumber company incorporated their railroad as a common carrier called the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Railroad. Although it never reached either Hetch Hetchy or Yosemite valley, the company hoped to attract tourist traffic.Hilton, George W. American Narrow Gauge Railroads, p. 324, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1990.

West Side Lumber Railroad In 1925, the Pickering Lumber Company purchased the West Side Lumber Company.

Westside and Cherry Valley Railroad

In 1968, Frank Cottle leased the lower end of the railroad from Pickering Lumber and opened the Westside and Cherry Valley Railroad as a tourist attraction. He restored locomotives #12 and #15 to run trains on tracks laid on the old mill site. In 1970, the Pickering Lumber company took over the operation from Cottle and extended the line by 8 miles to River Bridge.

In 1972, Fiberboard Corporation (which owned Pickering Lumber Company) transferred the railroad to another subsidiary, Trimont Land Company, with the rationale that the property might be suitable as a real estate development. The plan to carve up the property did not come to fruition, and in 1976, the railroad was sold to Glen Bell, the founder of the Taco Bell restaurant chain, who invested over $10 million in the railroad. This gauge railroad used the lower section of the track and several steam locomotives of the West Side Lumber Company railway. The operation also offered boat rides on the old mill pond and RV parking. The theme park/railroad did not attract the anticipated number of visitors, and in 1981, Bell sold the 340-acre property to Henley Management Company for less than $500,000 and the railroad was shut down. In 1986, Quality Resorts of America bought it from Henley, and converted the property into an RV park, with limited railroad service. It sold off much of the rolling stock to other railroads, such as the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. Today, the railroad is no longer in operation, but part of the right-of-way is a hiking trail.Perry, Gerald. Reviving a Railroad to Lure Tourists," Modesto Bee, p. F-7, Modesto, California, October 7, 1979."Railroad Park Slowly Becoming Resort," Merced Sun-Star, p. 5, Merced, California, January 27, 1986.Fein, Julian. "Tourist Park Begins to Take Shape on Old Mill Site," Modesto Bee, p. C-4, Modesto, California, January 23, 1977.White, Bob. "Railroad Theme Park Resurrected as Camping Resort," Fresno Bee, p. C-2, Fresno, California, January 19, 1986.

Locomotives

Narrow gauge

NameNumberBuilderTypeDateWorks numberNotesImageFidoH.K. PorterSold to the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company's Schoettgen Pass railroadStarH.K. Porterex-Ferries and Cliff House Railroad, San Francisco1HeislerTwo Truck18991028Sold to the Swayne Lumber Company; scrapped 19402HeislerTwo Truck18991040Placed in West Side Memorial Park, Tuolumne, Ca. in 19603HeislerTwo Truck18991041Converted to standard gauge in 1947. Converted back to circa 1962. Now Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad No. 2 Tuolumne (operational)4HeislerTwo Truck19011049Scrapped 19505LimaTwo Truck Shay1902730Scrapped 19506LimaTwo Truck Shay1903817Scrapped 19427LimaThree Truck Shay19112465ex-Butte and Plumas Railway #4; now running on the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad, named Sonora.8LimaThree Truck Shay19223176Now displayed at Granby, Colorado at the Moffat Road RR museum, static display. Oct 20219LimaThree Truck Shay19233199Operable at Midwest Central Railroad, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Lettered for West Side Lumber Company. Trucked to Silver Plume, CO, arrived February 2, 2011. Colorado Historical Society will rebuild 9 to operate on Georgetown Loop Railroad - estimated completion 2012. The 12, a Baldwin 2-6-2, will go to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, after #9 enters service on the Georgetown Loop RR.10LimaThree Truck Shay19283315Now running on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. Reportedly the largest narrow-gauge Shay locomotive ever built.12LimaThree Truck Shay19273302ex-Swayne Lumber Company railway #6. Now at the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.14LimaThree Truck Shay19162835ex-Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company #10. Now at Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad, named Rosa.15LimaThree Truck Shay19132645ex-Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company #9. Operable at Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.

Standard gauge

NameNumberBuilderTypeDateWorks numberNotesOld BetsieH.K. Porter1886770Built as a for the Prescott and Arizona Central Railroad1HeislerTwo Truck18991036ex-Sierra Railway #93HeislerTwo Truck19011049converted from gauge in 1947 (see above)14Baldwin18825851ex-Sierra Railway #4

Various artifacts of the railroad and photographs are preserved at the Tuolumne City Memorial Museum in Tuolumne, CA. The museum also arranges annual field trips to West Side logging camps in the woods.Kauppi, Art, “Annual Field Trip Will Travel to Site of West Side’s Camp 44, Active in 1940’s,” Tuolumne City Memorial Museum Newsletter, pp. 1-2, Summer, 2011, Tuolumne, CA.

Several pieces of rolling stock from the West Side Lumber Company are preserved at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad & Transportation Museum, including two tank cars, two cabooses, a hopper car, flat car, block car and a parts car. The West Side had a very capable shop, that could make major engine repairs as well as build cars from scratch, including a caboose which is on display at the Southern California Railway Museum.

References

External links

Abandonedrails.com: The West Side Lumber Company Railroad 2007-02-23 Press release regarding restoration effort Tuolumne City Memorial Museum website