Wednesday, April 28, 2021

A Steam-Powered Narrow-Gauge Journey into Sierra Logging History




The Madera-Sugar Pine Company became a casualty of the great depression and closed out the 57-year-old logging operation that was largely responsible for the founding of the city and county of Madera

Rudy Stauffer arrived in the Sierra in 1954. He bought property from Dr. Wells near the former Sugar Pine mill, opened a small motel called the Swiss Melody Inn in 1957.

In October, 1965, Stauffer purchased a Shay locomotive similar to the one used by the Madera Sugar Pine company from the West Side Lumber Company. He also bought 14 cars, two old speeders and 20 tons of spare parts.

Loading Shay No.10 on a flatbed for transport to YMSP 1966





On Labor Day, 1967, the Yosemite Mountain and Sugar Pine made its first run barely over 800 feet of track. A map below shows the present day track route of the YM&SP RR with the Madera-Sugarpine Co. routes of long ago.



HISTORY of the AREA LUMBERING

1874-1878 The California Lumber Co.
1878-1898 The Madera Flume & Trading Co.
1899-1933 The Madera Sugar Pine Co.
1965-         The Yosemite Mountain-Sugarpine RR


YMSP Shay No.10

No. 10 Shay leaving on a trip through the woods 1971

A log passenger excursion car

Rudy Stauffer & son Max

No.10 Shay working on the Westside Lumber Co.



Monday, April 26, 2021

Virtual Sugar Pine Centennial




 I attended the virtual Sugar Pine Centennial conference on April 24th. The clinic was hosted by Jeff Johnston, the premiere authority on research of the Madera - Sugar Pine Railroad. He gave a virtual ZOOM presentation which included a field trip of the old logging operation near “Central Camp” east of Bass Lake & Oakhurst, California.

(map by Donald C. DeVere)
“Rails to the Minarets” by Hank Johnston cir. 1980

The SPLC operated mainly in the 1920’s and was bankrupt by 1931. It harvested the timber near the Bass Lake area. The lumber was transported to a mill in Pinedale north of Fresno for processing.

(map by Donald C. DeVere)
“Rails to the Minarets” by Hank Johnston cir. 1980


This operation mainly used ALCO 2-8-2T’s (4 purchased between 1923 and 1925), used above Bass Lake and in the woods. A 2-10-2T “Minarets” No.5 (1927) Saddle Tank locomotive was used on the main-line from Bass Lake to Central Camp. The SPL also acquired one 2-truck Lima Shay, SPL No. 10.

SPL No. 10 Lima Shay

SPL - ALCO “Minarets” 2-10-2T No.5






Tuesday, February 23, 2021

N Scale Micro-Trains MTL 113520 - 30' Skeleton Log Car w/ Log Load

 


N Scale - Micro-Trains - 114 00 160 - Skeleton Log Car

Purchased 6 skeleton log cars for my layout. These are the Micro-Trains cars from 2007. I hope to also purchased some single skeleton dis-connect log cars. Theses cars have very fine detail for an N scale prototype layout.


MICRO-TRAINS N SCALE MTL 11350719 DISCONNECT LOG CAR W/ VARIABLE LOG LOAD





Sunday, February 21, 2021

N Scale figures to add to the layout

 Model Tech Studios Figures

I bought these lumberjack figures to add to my planned layout for the mountain spike logging camp in the woods. These should add some realism to the scene along with planned mp3 sounds of lumber operations and nature sounds to bring the forest to life.









Logging Camp details to add to my layout

 


KMP Models - N Scale Logging Camp




JV Models - Boyd N Scale Logging Camp







Lumber Mill details to add to my layout

 

KMP Models - N Scale Lumber Mill






Spar Tree details to add to my layout

 

KMP Models - N Scale Tree Spar scene






Steam Donkey details to add to my Layout

KMP Models - N Scale Willamette Loader Steam Donkey












Saturday, February 20, 2021

Woodland Scenics Layout

STARTING with a KIT

 I purchased a Woodland Scenics “Scenic Ridge” kit to help start my layout. The enclosed n scale track plan will need to be modified for better use for a railroad logging layout.



I figured it would be easier to start with a kit for a few reasons;

• more cost effective than buying separate items

• the track kit is included (code 80 Atlas track pack)

• the kit can be modified to many different layout configurations

• this layout fits a 3’ x 5’ area, smaller than my planned 4’ x 6’ layout

The hard part of planning will be trying to include elements from all 3 prototypical logging operations and fitting as many elements as I can and not over-crowd the scenes. I’d like to include a mountain at various elevations, a waterfall, stream and logging pond, a main lumber mill, a smaller spike camp mill, a spar hoist, engine maintenance yard, a small town and logging camp & operation.

Some layout ideas I like:




Some elements I want to incorporate for the main mill site.






Friday, February 19, 2021

(2) Atlas Two-Truck Shay’s for my logging layout

SUGAR PINE LUMBER CO. 2-TRUCK SHAY STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 

ATLAS #41625 N-SCALE




I purchased two of these n scale shay steam engines with Sugar Pine Lumber Company lettering. Each are labeled, locomotive #10 for prototypes on my logging layout. After the Pickering Lumber Co./Westside Logging Railroad operation ended, engine #10 was sold to the Yosemite-Sugar Pine Railroad of Fishcamp, California in 1967.

https://ymsprr.com/our-trains/



SHAY #10

Built by Lima Locomotive Works of Lima OH. in March of 1928 for the Pickering Lumber Corporation’s West Side Lumber Company’s operations in Tuolumne, CA. The largest narrow gauge Shay built. Purchased from West Side Lumber Co. in 1967 by Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad and assumed the starring role as the only steam locomotive on the old Madera Sugar Pine Company track.

  • Type: 3 cylinder, 3 truck Shay geared
    C-3 70 ton class
  • Cylinder Size: 12” dia X 15” stroke
  • Boiler: 200 psi, superheated steam
  • Weight: 81.6 tons
  • Capacity: 1200 gals. fuel oil
    3500 gals. water

*** (Information from the Yosemite-Sugar Pine Railroad website)

eBAY

These engines are occasionally found on eBay and are difficult to come-by.

The detail and running gear on these engines is incredible! I also plan the install DCC sound decoders to add realism to the scene.


Book source research for my layout





I came across this book about “Rails in the Mother Lode” by Adolf Hungry Wolf from 1978 with great illustrations by Donald C. DeVere.

It covers research on the Pickering Lumber Co. operation from Sonora, California north of and along highway 108, towards Strawberry Lake (present day Pinecrest Lake).








A second written source for research is a book called “Hetch Hetchy and its Dam Railroad” by Ted Wurm dated 1990. 




Sugar Pine Lumber Co. & Madera Flume

 While searching on Google, I came across an article by Linda Gast about a flume built in 1897, used to transport logs from the Sugar Pine lumber mill to Oakhurst. It was an efficient way to move the lumber for processing. Today the flume no longer exists with the exception of a modern steel section near Bass Lake at the flume hike trailhead. 

A link to the article is below:

https://www.yosemitethisyear.com/sugar-pine-lumber-company-madera-flume-by-linda-gast























A link in the article is below from the Sierra Star newspaper that talks about the Sugar Pine Mill with pictures. 


Below are a few pictures from the article of the Sugar Pine Lumber Camp from the collection of Dr. & Mrs. Lillian Wells.

This article was written by Debbie Sebastian, special to the Sierra Star. Dated May 28, 2019.         







Thursday, February 18, 2021

Researching for my Logging Layout


The three following railroads are the main focus of my layout research. 

MADERA-SUGARPINE CO. (1899-1932)
SUGARPINE RAILWAY & PICKERING/STANDARD LUMBER CO. (1903-1941)
SUGARPINE LUMBER CO. (1921-1931)


I chose these logging railroads as research for my N Scale layout. I plan to model it on a 4ft. X 6ft. size tabletop area. This layout will not be modeled after one specific logging railroad, but a combination of the three I have picked. Much of my research will be taken from books that I’ve acquired from various authors that have done extensive research on each of these operations. These logging operations are close to my home near Modesto, California and visiting the actual sites for exploring was a big considerations in choosing them to model.

(1) The Madera Sugar Pine Railroad Co. 1899-1932


The Madera-SugarPine Railroad Company existed from 1899 to 1932. This logging operation operated in the mountain area of Fish Camp north of Oakhurst and Bass Lake. It was close proximity to Yosemite NP and just south of Wawona and the park boundary. The processed lumber from the SugarPine sawmill operation was sent to Madera via a 54 mile flume system. The Madera Flume & Trading Company operated from 1878 to 1898 and succeeded to defunct California Lumber Co. which built a 52 mile V-flume (the longest in the world at the time). A two-saw steam mill was built on California Creek (eight miles northeast of Oakhurst) and seven miles of flume was erected originally.

The great Madera Flume near Lady Bug grade

Map of Madera Flume by Don DeVere


The MF&TC built two new mills in the Sierra, installed a Dolbeer steam donkey and two-pole log chutes in the woods. In 1889, the timber in close proximity to its mills was becoming cut over and the first logging railroad in the Sierra was built using a seven-ton, cog-geared locomotive known as “Betsy” and a dozen bob-tail log bunks.


“Old Betsy” circa 1901


“Old BETSY” of Sugar Pine








“Betsy” was purchased in 1899 from Madera Flume and Trading Co., its origination was unknown. This little steam engine was the first logging locomotive in the southern Sierra.

Sugar Pine Sawmill




This sawmill was constructed six miles northwest of the former MF&T property and the original flume was extended to the new mill. The existing flume was re-built the entire 54 mile length. During the entire 31 years of operation, almost a billion-and-a-half board feet of lumber was shipped to the world-wide market. Innovations in high-lead and sky-line logging techniques enabled crews to reach remote stands of timber. The company used five wood-burning Shay engines and at its peak, employed over 800 men. The company voluntarily went out-of-business in 1933, a casualty of the Great Depression.



Map of the Madera-SugarPine by Don DeVere


Thunder in the Mountains



By Hank Johnston

The book written by Hank Johnston and illustrated by Don DeVere in 1968 and published by Trans-Angelo Books of Los Angeles, CA.. This publication chronicles the Life and Times of the Madera Sugar Pine Railroad. The Library of Congress Card No. is 68-23072.

This is a unique story about the first logging railroad in the southern Sierra and the flume conveyance that was utilised.





The Yosemite Mountain - Sugar Pine Excursion Railroad


The Yosemite Mt. SugarPine Railroad is an excursion railroad near Fishcamp just outside the Yosemite Nat’l. Park boundary. Today, this business provides excursion rides to the public on a portion of the track that existed during the Madera-Sugar Pine Railroad Company operation. Besides rides, they also host a rustic bbq and evening entertainment in the woods. This business started operation in September, 1967 with a Shay No. 10 purchased from the Westside Lumber Co. of Tuolumne County. Rudy Stauffer began the railroad using the old right-of-ways from the Madera-SugarPine RR. 

YM&SP Railroad



By Hank Johnston & Rudy Stauffer

The book written by Hank Johnston, Rudy Stauffer and illustrated by Don DeVere in 1974 with modern photographs by Joseph Bisho. This publication chronicles a short history of the area lumbering of the Central Sierra. This pamphlet was produced for the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, “A Stem-Powered Narrow-Gauge Journey into Sierra Logging History”




Illustration by Don DeVere (1974)

A drawing of the Yosemite Mt.-SugarPine Railroad showing the original site of the Sugar Pine sawmill and log pond with the over-lay of the present day excursion railroad near Fish Camp along highway 41, south Yosemite NP boundary.





(2) The Pickering & Standard Lumber Corporation 1903-1941




Map showing the Sierra Railway, Sugar Pine & Westside Railroad (drawn 1989)


The Pickering & Standard Lumber Corporation operated along highway 108 in Tuolumne County. The main mill was located in Standard with other smaller mill operations at remote logging camps adjacent to the highway heading towards Strawberry, California. Not much remains of this operations. A few of the structures that do remain are located at the present day Boy Scout camp, John Messinger north of Beardsley Reservoir.

The SugarPine Railway was started in February, 1903 in Tuolumne, CA. Above the town of Sonora. This logging railroad layed rails to areas within both Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties to transport timber processed at woods mills and hauled to Middle Camp station and loaded onto flatcars for the trip to the Standard Lumber Co.’s Sonora planing mill for finishing into fruit boxes, doors, window sash, trim and other lumber used for construction.

The Standard Lumber Co. acquired the Sugar Pine Railway in 1908. In 1912, a mill was built four miles east of Sonora and renamed Standard. In 1921, the Standard Lumber Co. was sold to the Pickering Lumber Co. of Kansas City, Kansas. The Pickering name carried on the rail line and milling operation of the Sugar Pine through the Great Depression, World War II until the last train left the woods in 1965.

All combined, these railroads consisted of 70 miles of mainline, 400 miles of spurs, sidings and inclines, camps, water tanks, landings and stations.

Logging Camps


Map of the Sugar Pine Railway Logging Camps



New Camp Crandall near Crandall Peak


Timber Saw Mills


The Cold Springs Mill - TCHM























The Standard Lumber Co. Sonora Plant near the junction of Lime Kiln Rd. And south Washington St. is where the planning mill was to manufacture boxes, door sash and trim. By 1923, the box factory, sash and door operation was moved from Sonora to the mill at Standard.

Pickering Shay Locomotives 


Shay No.3 with a load of logs moving along a trestle

Shay No.3 with the Pickering Lumber Co. logo on the cab

80-ton Pickering Lumber Co. 3 truck Shay No.12 in color

The Pickering Lumber Co. Shay No.12 is currently owned by the Niles Canyon Railway an is the oldest operating 3-truck Shay in the world. It was built new for the Sierra Railway in Jamestown in 1903. The Standard Lumber Co. used it in 1912 as No.12, then it became the Pickering Lumber Co. #12 in Standard, CA..
Shay No.2 with a full load at Long Siding near Middle Camp


Pickering “Crummies”


Original Sugar Pine Railway caboose No.1, lettered for Pickering No.1

Pickering Lumber No.4 caboose
The loggers called these shop-built cabooses  “Crummies” because they were equipped with only the basic amenities for the rear train crews to ride in to observe the log cars and control the trains brakes. Caboose No.4 is the only known completely original Pickering caboose left in existence currently located at the Niles Canyon Railway in Brightside, CA. 

The Sugar Pine Railway caboose No.1 was the first caboose Pickering’s used until the 1940’s and was an ex-Central Pacific four-wheel “bobber” style caboose. These “Crummies” (No. 1,2 &3) used frame and trucks of short Russel log cars. Caboose No.4 was constructed from a shortened log car of steel construction.


Sugar Pine Railway Memories 






By Pamela A. Connors

This collection of writings and recollections of a steam engineer, Manual J. Marshall, portrays memories from the Sugar Pine Railway. It was written in and copyrighted in 1991 by the Tuolumne County Historical Society and published by Word Dancer Press of Fresno, CA.. The Library of Congress No. is 91-075109.





(3) The Sugar Pine Lumber Co. 1921-1931



The Sugar Pine Lumber Co. was incorporated on July 26, 1921. A sawmill complex was built on 574 acres near Fresno, CA.. The Minarets and Western Railway laid 53 miles of track from the new mill site to a terminus at Bass Lake. The Sugar 
Pine Lumber Company connected its logging railroad with the M & W terminus, 11 miles away from the main logging camp, called “Central Camp”. The main logging camp was built as a central operation to remote timber-cutting operations and was comprised of seventy structures at an elevation of 5,335 feet on the south fork of the San Joaquin River (Sand Creek) which passed through the camp.







The Minarets and Western Railway was a common carrier operation which was also owned by the same share holders of the Sugar Pine Lumber Co.. It’s route started at the Bass Lake Dam terminus at the southwest corner of the lake at an inter-change named “Wishon”.

Even though the M & W RR was a common carrier, it never carried any paying passengers except for several sight-seeing excursions. Being listed as a common carrier, this enable the company to acquire property rights-of-way on Sierra foothill private ranch lands and government forest preserves with the power of eminent domain, without providing full public service.



Central Camp



A map of Central Camp by Don DeVere

























In July of 1923, the main forest camp known as “Central Camp” was put into operation. This location provided housing, commissary, postal services and general living comfort for the loggers, their families and all the camp service workers. It operated from April after the snow melted until the late fall before winter would set-in. This camp included many modern features for the time, a community water supply, two large dormitory style buildings to house 104 loggers each, two rows of guest houses for visitors, two smaller dorm to hold 52 men, a fifth “hotel” dorm, a hospital, a company administration building, headquarters offices, a warehouse-commissary, a cookhouse, dining hall, a “rag” tent camp, a school, a pool hall, a community hall and facilties for maintenance and railroad equipment servicing. The camp had electricity, water, sewage disposal and a barn and corral for livestock.


The Machine Shop at Central Camp 


The Big Pinedale Mill



























The first load of logs were unloaded at “Lake Pinedale” at the mill on July 12, 1923. The main mill was three stories high and had a capacity of producing 600,000 board feet of lumber and used two shifts. The original mill complex was comprised of fifteen structures with 14 acres of floor area. South of the mill was a group of six large buildings; a box factory, planing mill, dry-storage house, shook-storage and two grading sheds. North of the mill was the powerhouse which furnished all necessary electrical power for the plant. Also extending north of the mill was a 520-foot green-chain sorting table which allowed for 230 grades of lumber sorting. A drying kiln had a capacity of forty carloads of lumber a day.

Pinedale Mill map by Don DeVere

Locomotive Power of the Sugar Pine 

& Minaret and Western Railroads

Minaret & Western No. 104 2-8-2

The Minarets ALCO 2-10-2T #5

The  SPL No. 10 Lima 2-truck Shay 

The common carrier railroad, the Minarets and Western Railway Co. had a roster of locomotives, all ALCO 2-8-2 steam powered engines, numbering 101,102,103 & 104.

 The Sugar Pine Lumber Co. consisted of five ALCO saddle tank locomotives especially built for the logging railroad. Engines 1,2,3 and 4 were 2-8-2T models. Engine 5 was a larger 2-10-2T. The only Lima 2-truck Shay locomotive had limited use on the railroad.

The ALCO saddle tank engines were custom built for the Minarets and Western for the severe operating conditions of the main line logging road and woods spur service. They were designed for the steep grade and sharp track curvature conditions. The 2-8-2T locomotive could regularly handle 16 standard air equipped flat cars with bunks up an 11-mile unbroken 4-1/2 per cent grade combined with 62, 20-degree curves. These engines were the only ones produced of their type in the country.

Log Cars & Loads

A string of loaded M&W awaits transport to the Pinedale mill

Ohio steam crane loading logs on a M&W flatcar

Top car is all-steel & bottom car is wooden flatcars carrying
An average load of eight logs totaling 7,800 board feet of lumber


The Terminus at Bass Lake Dam



























The terminus was the point where both railroads met and transferred car loads. The Sugar Pine branch would end and the Minarets & Western would continue on to the Pinedale mill. The log loads were transferred in the early evening with two trains. Early in the morning the return trip would bring the M&W empty cars to the Wishon terminus. M&W No.5 pictured atop the Bass Lake dam 1927.


Map of the Wishon terminus by Don DeVere

Logging in the Woods

A trainload of electric transformers to power lumber machinery

A heavy log train crosses bridge no.2 on the 9 line (1929)

Map of the Sugar Pine RR by Don DeVere


Sugar Pine has 108 car, $140,000 order shipped

Largest single train order ever shipped from California Sept., 1931

M&W No. 104 heads a 108-car train to Pinedale Junction





Rails to the Minarets

By Hank Johnston 
This book was written by Hank Johnston and illustrated by Don DeVere. This edition was printed in 1980 and was published by TimberTimes, Inc., from Hillsboro, Oregon. This book is a collection of research and photographs and tells the story of the Sugar Pine Lumber Company of Fresno, CA., and the Minarets & Western Railway. The Library of Congress No. is 79-66757.







Other books I am using for research are:


I plan to start by first reading the following books to study the material and pictures for ideas for my layout. My layout will not be an actual prototypical layout with exact specifications to the actual rolling stock or static structures. Due to the limitations of modeling in 1:160 N Scale, I plan to scratch-build some structures and hand-make most of the scenery.





When Steam was King

By Gerald French









Empire

By Mark Steven Francis


 

  Shaver Lake Mill & Flume While camping at Shaver lake (August 2022) I visited the Museum of the Sierra at Camp Edison. They had displa...