Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad

Not to be confused with Yosemite Valley Railroad.
Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad
Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad's Shay No. 10 backing into the shops after a run on the line.
Commercial operations
Built by California Lumber Company
Original gauge 3 ft (914 mm)
Preserved operations
Preserved gauge 3 ft
Commercial history
Opened 1874
Closed 1931
Preservation history
1961 Reopened
Headquarters Tuolumne
Website
http://www.ymsprr.com/

The Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad (YMSPRR) is a historic 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad with two operating steam train locomotives located near Fish Camp, California, in the Sierra National Forest near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. Rudy Stauffer organized the YMSPRR in 1961, utilizing historic railroad track, rolling stock and locomotives to construct a tourist line along the historic route of the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company.

Service began with the purchase of three-truck Shay locomotive No. 10 from the West Side Lumber Company railway of Tuolumne, California. Built in 1928, No. 10 was recognized as the largest narrow gauge Shay locomotive—and one of the last ever constructed. After his retirement in 1981, Rudy Stauffer was succeeded by his son, Max, as the railroad's owner and operator. In 1986, the YMSPRR purchased Shay No. 15—also a former West Side Lumber Company locomotive—from the West Side & Cherry Valley Railroad tourist line in Tuolumne.

The two steam locomotives operate daily during the summer months, while the railroad's Model A "Jenny" railcars, capable of carrying about a dozen passengers, typically handle operations during the off-season.

History

View of the railroad's track as it winds south into thick forest cover.

The current railroad follows a portion of grade originally carved into the mountain by the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company in the early 20th Century. The company originated in 1874, when it was organized as the California Lumber Company to log the area surrounding Oakhurst, California.[1] The Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company once had a large sawmill at Sugar Pine, California, just south of the current YMSPRR.[2] The railroad had seven locomotives, over 100 log cars, and 140 miles (230 km) of track in the surrounding mountains.[3] In addition to the railroad, the Company also transported lumber in a flume that stretched 54 miles (87 km) from Sugar Pine to Madera, California.[4] This was the most efficient way to transport rough cut lumber out of the mountains for finishing and transport at the bottom of the mountain. The Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company practiced clearcutting, which removed almost every single tree within the stands of timber surrounding the YMSPRR track. The thick forest surrounding YMSPRR today belies this history, although large stumps from the original old growth timber dot the forest floor lining the tracks.

Due to the onset of the Great Depression and a lack of trees, the operation closed in 1931. But the graded right-of-way through the forest remained, enabling the Stauffer family to reconstruct a portion of the line in 1961. The current railroad utilizes locomotives, converted log disconnect cars, and other railroad equipment purchased from the West Side Lumber Company after it ceased railroad operations in 1961.[5]

No. 10 taking on water at the midway point of a crisp morning run.
A Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Co. log train climbing a steep grade near Sugar Pine, California, circa 1915.

Motive Power

Points of interest

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hank Johnston. The Whistles Blow No More: Railroad Logging in the Sierra Nevada 1874-1942. Stauffer Publishing (1997) (a thorough study of steam railroad logging in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains around the current YMSPRR). For additional information regarding railroad logging operations, consult other similar works by Hank Johnston, available at http://www.ymsprr.com/gifts.html.[]
  2. ↑ Id.
  3. ↑ Id. at 12.
  4. ↑ Id. at 87.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 12, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
  6. ↑ Other former Pickering Lumber steam locomotives survive today. The Niles Canyon Railway in Fremont, California preserves Pickering No. 12, a three-truck Shay, and No. 1, a three-truck Heisler. The Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad maintains No. 11,"Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2009. a three-truck Pacific Coast Shay. No. 3, a two-truck shay, is stored on display at the Tuolumne County Fairgrounds in Sonora, California.. The El Portal Transportation Museum preserves No. 6, a three-truck Pacific Coast Shay similar to No. 11. The Humboldt Log Museum, near Korbel, California, preserves No. 33, a three-truck shay. No. 8 is another three-truck shay, currently in private ownership awaiting repair in Oregon. No. 7 is a three-truck shay on display at the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California.
  7. ↑ http://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/lima3354/sn-3315.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/lima3354/sn-2645.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.sierrascalemodels.com/Gallery/Yosemite/Yosemite.htm
  10. ↑ Id.
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