Work is well underway to revive the McCloud Railway, one of the most well-known short line railroads in California. A volunteer weekend was held Sept. 25-27 to clear vegetation, replace rail and ties, repair buildings, and work on locomotives and passenger cars.
Leading up to the work weekend, over 1,700 ties were donated to the railroad, with 700 being delivered to the property and over 150 being placed along the line.
By Sept. 24, one day before the session officially began, volunteers had already shown up and prepared to hit the ground running the following day. Over 70 people descended on the railroad’s base in McCloud, Calif., including a group of six from Washington that were affectionately nicknamed the “Vancouver Boys.”
In just 48 hours, the results of the volunteer work were becoming visible. More than 80 windows went into the shop, which now has lights. A tie crane got new hoses, new batteries and new fuel. McCloud Railway 38, an EMD SD38 locomotive, was fired up for the first time in 9 years and rolled into town. This was a major milestone, says Braden Brickman, general manager of the railroad.
“We brought the engine into town, and there had to be at least 60 or 70 people there waiting for us,” said Brickman. “That wasn’t our volunteers. That was the townspeople. It kind of hit me like, wow, they haven’t seen this since the railroad shut down — and this is proof right here that we’re actually going to do this.”
Brickman says even the local fire department aided them by providing water for the locomotive, which was leaking when they first fired it up.
“I think they were more excited for the engine running than we were,” he said. “We had a call in a couple of times so that we could keep putting water in the locomotive.”
Brickman’s primary job is serving as the chief mechanical officer at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, Nev. He says that while a lot was accomplished during that weekend, the work hasn’t always been easy. One of the biggest challenges so far has been getting the railroad’s shop into working shape.
“You have to have a shop to work on the equipment, fix the equipment, take care of the equipment,” he said. “You can’t go out and buy materials and buy tools when you have no windows in your building to prevent people from getting in.”
Other work included sanding and preparing passenger cars for new paint. Some of the cars that ran on the McCloud’s original dinner trains are at the St. Maries River Railroad in Idaho, waiting to be brought home.
The railroad was founded by the McCloud River Lumber Company in 1897 as the McCloud River Railroad Company. The railroad was built to move logs and connect the company’s sawmill near Mt. Shasta with the Southern Pacific. At its peak, the railroad operated a 130-mile route through the woods of Northern California. The railroad went through many ownership changes before being sold to Jeff Forbis’ 4-Rails, Inc., which renamed it the McCloud Railway.
In the 1990s, the railroad began offering excursions, including behind steam. Freight traffic declined and ceased by the mid-2000s, and McCloud ceased operations entirely by 2010. It was purchased by Mike Williams Group the following year, which is reviving the railroad today.
Much of the right-of-way was removed after the railroad ended freight operations, but the 16-mile line from McCloud to the Union Pacific interchange in Mt. Shasta is intact, along with four miles of track east of McCloud. Rail bike operations are planned on the east end of the railroad.
The railroad is arranging more work sessions — as early as late this fall, and definitely by spring. Full work weeks are being planned instead of weekends, but winter weather will decide how soon that happens.
The initial goal for the railroad is to run excursion trains with a locomotive and a couple of cars to a switchback between McCloud and Mt. Shasta. From there, the plan is to work toward operating excursions over the rest of the line.
— Nick Stewart
