Even though I've neglected the blog for the past month, the crew has been busy working behind the scenes. And we've had time to visit two California railroad museums.
After our a photographic tour of the Bodie State Historic Park last Saturday, Keith and I (and our wives) drove to Bishop on Sunday to visit the Laws Railroad Museum in Laws, California. The museum is located about five miles north of Bishop on U.S. Highway 6.
The museum was built right on the right-of-way of the old Carson and Colorado Railroad, later acquired by the Southern Pacific. The narrow gauge railroad ran from Carson City, Nevada south to Keeler, California from 1880 to 1960. It never reached the Colorado River as implied by the name. It was one of the last narrow gauge lines to operate in the west.
Here's what one Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge website has to say about the No. 9 (known as the Slim Princess):
Locomotive No. 9, a 4-6-0, was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, November 1909 for the Nevada-Calif.-Oregon Railway as their No. 9. It was acquired by the Southern Pacific Railroad, September 1, 1929, rebuilt and put in service on the Owens Valley line Feb. 21 1930 as the S P No. 9. It was put on stand-by service when the diesel electric locomotive was put in service, Oct. 1954, was retired when the railroad was abandoned. The locomotive was donated to the City of Bishop and moved to Laws for display, April 30, 1960.
1 comment:
The Carson & Colorado Railroad ran from Mound House, Nv. to Keeler, Ca. and not from Carson City as indicated above.
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