Archives

The Sierra Railway’s 4-6-0 #3 and Marion Style A steam shovel #1 are seen here, circa 1902. The train, steam shovel, and maintenance-of-way crews are posed in front of #3. Queenie Potts photo, Mike Shevlin Collection.

West Side Lumber Company Shays #6 and #7 pause for the company photographer in the early 1920s. Both were lettered for the Hetch Hetchy & Yosemite Valleys Railway at that time. Martin E. Hansen Collection.

A warm summer day in 1921 finds Hetch Hetchy Railroad’s 2-6-2 #5 waiting at Mather, California, for her passengers to return so she can head back to the connection with the Sierra Railroad at Hetch Hetchy Junction. Martin E. Hansen Collection.

The Sierra Railway’s 2-8-0 #18 was the line’s primary movie locomotive from 1935 to 1950. It is seen here in 1938 racing a stagecoach on the prairie near Warnerville during the filming of “Dodge City.” The movie starred Errol Flynn. Warner Bros. photo.

In 1937 the Sierra Railway emerged from bankruptcy with a new name, the Sierra Railroad Company. On a cool January 14, 1953, Sierra 2-6-6-2 #38 has just turned on the wye at Cooperstown and is now headed west with her freight to Oakdale. Glenn Beier photo, Martin E. Hansen Collection.

Pickering Lumber Corporation Shays #8, #11 and #33 assemble their log trains at Beardsley in 1958. Jerry French photo, Martin E. Hansen Collection.

Pickering Lumber Corporation Shay #8 heads upgrade as she climbs above Beardsley dam on her way up the famed “Peeled Onion,” a narrow ledge on a mountainside high above the Stanislaus River. Martin E. Hansen Collection.

In 1950 4-6-0 #3 became the primary movie locomotive. Over the years it has been used in more than 100 Western movies and television shows. It is seen here at the water tower in Jamestown during the filming of the television series “Petticoat Junction” in 1963. Henry W. Brueckman photo.