Carson & Colorado President Dave Mull tells Trains News Wire that the trip on the Oct. 4 is a private charter for the Lone Pine Film Festival, but the runs on the Oct. 5 will be open to the public. There will be a charge to ride the trips but ticket prices have not been determined yet.
The organization has constructed about 300 feet of track, and hopes to add more but it must cross two creeks. To do so, it must negotiate with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to obtain permission to bridge the waterways. Mull said Carson & Colorado hopes to eventually have about 1,500 feet of track, which would include a loop.
No. 18 was built for the 3-foot-gauge Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad as No. 12. The locomotive stayed on the roster until 1926 when SP bought it and standard-gauged the line. Renumbered 18, it was transferred SP’s 3-foot-gauge lines in Nevada and California. It operated until 1954 until it was replaced by a General Electric diesel. It was put on display in Dehy Park in Independence in 1955. The line through Independence was abandoned in 1960.
No. 18 sat in the park until 1997 when Carson & Colorado began a campaign to restore it. In October 2016, No. 18 was steamed up for the first time in 62 years. The group has constructed an engine house to shelter and maintain No. 18. In September 2017 the engine was trucked 45 miles to the railroad museum in Laws for a weekend of runs on original SP narrow gauge tracks before being returned to Independence. Mull says a return to Laws is planned in the future.
Hooray!!! Another Steam Locomotive saved from the scrap yard by volunteers and donators who pledge to save another part of our history! Keep on keeping on, friends.
When I first learned of the attempt to restore that loco, I thought it was Mission Impossible. But somehow these volunteers managed to pull it off. A larger issue is the lack of track and the location of the track. The former Carson & Colorado ran down the east side of the Owens Valley where the towns were not. So, as far as a reconstruction of any of that line, even if it were done, would be some considerable distance from town.
Next time I’m in the area, I’ll have to pay a visit.
Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but are the October trips going to be run on only 300 feet of track? That should be about a 2 minute round-trip.
Mr. McFarlane: Now that would almost…ALMOST, mind you…be worth going back to California for…
The above remarks are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Go find your own damn lawyer.
What really needs to happen is to reconstruct the line between Laws and Independence, then we can start talking.
Ah, yes…the original Slim Princess. Now that takes me back…
The above remarks are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Go find your own damn lawyer.