Sierra Railroad

Sierra Railroad Corporation
Company type	Incentive
Industry	common carrier
Founded	1897;128 years ago; United States
Headquarters	United States

Last updated February 28, 2025

The Sierra Railroad Corporation is a privately owned common carrier. Its Sierra Northern Railway freight division handles all freight operations for all branches owned by the Sierra Railroad. The company's Mendocino Railway group operates the diesel- and steam-powered Sacramento RiverTrain (Woodland-Sacramento) and the Skunk Train (Fort Bragg-local). The company's Sierra Energy division is for energy projects.

History

The similarly named Sierra Railway Company of California was founded in 1897 to connect the California Central Valley to the Gold Country foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Its historic western terminus has always been in Oakdale where a junction was once formed with both the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and the Southern Pacific. The Santa Fe's (now BNSF Railway) Oakdale Branch provided one freight outlet to the AT&SF Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Valley Division at Riverbank, California; the Southern Pacific Oakdale Branch from Stockton was abandoned in 1986 and torn out by 1990. The Sierra Railroad bought the BNSF mainline from Riverbank MP1 to Oakdale in 2008. The portion of the former Sierra Railway conveyed by the railroad's historic owners, the Crocker Family, to the California State Park System are with "Sierra Railway", which preserves the original operating name of the entire line and is headquartered at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California.

Beginnings

The Sierra Railway Company of California was incorporated on February 1, 1897 by founders Thomas S. Bullock, Prince André Poniatowski, and William H. Crocker. In May, the first rails were laid in the grain fields just east of Oakdale, and the stops grew to include Occidental (Now called Arnold), Paulsell, Warnerville, Cooperstown, Chinese, and finally on November 8, 1897; Jamestown, California. The railroad owners had no intention of ending the line there, and the line was extended to Tuolumne, some 16 miles (26 km) from Jamestown. By 1900, the line had been completed, the same as it is today,^{[ when? ]} with the exception of the abandonment of the Standard to Tuolumne Right-Of-Way. In 1937, the Sierra Railway was sold at a public auction to the new Sierra Railroad Company, and the debts of the original company were settled. In 1955, the railroad made the switch from steam to diesel power, but retained the steam locomotives for movie and television work for which the railroad is famous. In 1971, the Sierra Railroad used its vintage steam locomotives and facilities to its advantage, and opened "Rail Town 1897" as a tourist attraction. In 1979, The Crocker Association, which was the sole owner of the railroad at that time, closed Rail Town and put both the Sierra Railroad and the Jamestown complex with equipment up for sale separately. In 1980, the Sierra Railroad was sold to Silverfoot Inc., and in 1982 the California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased the Jamestown facilities and reopened the site as Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. In 1995, Silverfoot resold the operation to the Sierra Pacific Coast Railway, and in 2003 merged with the Yolo Shortline Railway, as it exists today.^{[ when? ]}

Locomotive roster

Number	Builder	Type	Date built	Heritage	Disposition	Notes
A	Plymouth	DLC6	1925	HC Collins
1	Unknown	2-6-0	Unknown	Prescott & Arizona Central #1	Sold/Transferred to West Side Lumber Company as Mill Switcher
2 (1st)	Unknown	4-4-0	Unknown	Prescott & Arizona Central #2	Scrapped circa 1899	Only used during construction of the railroad
2 (2nd)	New York	0-6-0	1889	Northern Pacific	Sold to Lassen Lumber & Box, scrapped in 1940
3	Rogers	4-6-0	1891	Prescott & Arizona Central #3	Donated to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, Operational	Known as the "Movie Star Locomotive" for its roles in many films and television shows
4	Baldwin	4-4-0	1882	Northern Pacific #99	Sold to West Side Lumber Company as Tuolumne Mill switcher in 1917, scrapped in 1938
5	Schenectady	0-6-0	1899	New	Sold to Hawaii Consolidated (converted to a 2–6–2), scrapped in 1947	Sierra's first new locomotive.
6	Baldwin	4-4-0	1883	Northern Pacific #144	Sold to Atlas-Olympia, later converted to a stationary boiler and scrapped in 1937	Primarily assigned to passenger service.
7	Baldwin	4-4-0	1882	Northern Pacific #93	Sold	disposition unknown, presumed scrapped.
9	Heisler	Heisler 2-Truck	1899	New	Sold to Standard Lumber Company as #8, resold to West Side Lumber Co., scrapped in 1947	Built for service on the Angels Branch.
10	Lima	Shay 2-Truck	1902		Sold to Hofius Stell & Equipment, resold to Walville Lumber Co. then to Diamond Match Co. scrapped in 1942
11		Shay 2-Truck	1903		Sold to United Commercial Company, resold to Pickering Lumber Co., resold to Verdi Lumber Co. then to Clover Valley Lumber Co., scrapped in 1952
12		Shay 3-Truck	1903		Sold to Pickering Lumber Co., now owned by the Pacific Locomotive Association, stored serviceable	Sierra's only 3-Truck Shay. Built for service on the Angels Branch.
18	Baldwin	2-8-0	1906		Sold to private owner, now stored in Merrill, OR	Tender sold to Tidewater Southern in 1952 for use with their #132 and scrapped with loco in 1955.
20	Baldwin	2-8-0	1916		Sold to US Army as #6814, resold to Kurth Lumber as #20, scrapped in 1955.
21	Climax	Climax 2-Truck	1906		Sold to Sugar Pine Railway as #1, resold to Grant Rock & Gravel, Stillwater Lumber, Zimmerman, Wells, Brown, Sigardson & Bartholomew Logging and finally Jamestown-Oregon Lumber Co.	Sierra's only Climax. Built for service on the Sugar Pine Railway.
22	Baldwin	2-8-0	1920		Sold to California Western as #41, scrapped in 1950
24		2-8-0	1912	Nevada Copper Belt #3	Scrapped in 1955
26		2-6-0	1908	Ocean Shore #6	Sold to Davis-Johnson Lumber Co., scrapped in 1939	Sierra's only 2-6-0 locomotive
28		2-8-0	1922	New	Donated to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, Operational
30		2-6-2	1922		Sold to Howard Terminal Railway as #6 (rebuilt as 2-6-2T), now owned by the Pacific Locomotive Association, undergoing restoration as 2-6-2 configuration as built	Mostly assigned to the Angels Branch.
32		2-6-2	1923		Sold to Tidewater Southern, April 1940, renumbered 132; scrapped in 1955	Original tender wrecked 1952, replaced with tender from Sierra #18.
34		2-8-2	1925		Sold to Reed Hatch 1962, resold to Fred Kepner circa 1987, stored at Railtown 1897.	Leased to and operated by Railtown between 1971 and 1980.
36	ALCO	2-8-2	1930		Sold to Reed Hatch 1962, used on White Mountain Scenic Railroad, now privately owned in Merrill, OR	Sierra's last new steam locomotive.
38	Baldwin	2-6-6-2	1934	Weyerhauser Timber Company #4	Sold to Rayonier Inc., now privately owned in Merrill, OR	Sierra's only articulated locomotive.
40		S-12	1955	New	Scrapped in 2008	Sierra's first Diesel.
42			1955	New	Stored out of service	Sierra's last completely new locomotive
44			1951	Sharon Steel #10	Scrapped in 2008
45	EMD	GP9	1954	Great Northern #667	In service
46		GP9E	1957	Southern Pacific #5731	Sold
47		GP7	1952	Reading Company #607	In service
48		GP20	1961	AT&SF #1162		Currently leased to Napa Valley Wine Train
50		GP20	1961	AT&SF #1130
52	R.J. Corman/Railpower	RP20DB	2014	New		Built from ex Yolo Shortline #135.
56	R.J. Corman/Railpower	RP20GE	2007	UPY #2628
131	EMD	GP9	1957	SP #5759		From Yolo Shortline.
132	EMD	GP9	1957	SSW #823	Stored, out of service	From Yolo Shortline.
133	Homebuilt/Railpower	RP20DB	2012	New	In service	Built from ex T&NO GP9 #436.
134	EMD	GP7u	1952	AT&SF #2704		From Yolo Shortline
136	EMD	GP7u	1952	AT&SF 2833		From Yolo Shortline
1227	Lima	0-6-0	1914	SP	Restoration	From Golden Gate Railroad Museum
2608	R.J. Corman/Railpower	RP20GE	2006	UPY #2608	Out of service, waiting repair
2609				UPY #2609	In service
2612				UPY #2612	Out of service, waiting repair
2620			2007	UPY #2620	Out of service, waiting repair
2652			2007	UPY #2652	In service

External links

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Sierra Railroad

Contents

History

Beginnings

Locomotive roster

See also

External links