Sierra Railroad 1955

The middle of Hetch Hetchy Jct. The Frt train , Loco # 5, will be restaged back on the Groveland staging track before the next operating session. the cars behind the caboose will remain in staging. The scenery base is the old process of hardshell over newspaper and cardboard strips. One of these days the white plaster will get painted and finished. The #5 is a 2-8-2 from NWSL and should be numbered as #3 but since there can only be one #3 on the layout that honor goes to the Sierra #3.

The Hetch Hetchy Junction wye and the Hetch Hetchy mainline heading towards Groveland (staging track). The small walkie talkie is used during session when there is a Dispatcher. They are used in place of radios to communicate with the Dispatcher.

The east end of the Junction. The train behind the building is the Hetch Hetchy Rock Train. It’s the first train out of Groveland staging and usually has 6 -10 empty Rock Hoppers that will be interchanged with the Sierra Rock train. The locomotive is the Hetch Hetch #6, a 3 truck Shay (Bachmann model).

The west end of Keystone and Keystone cattle. The structure to the right of the cattle pen is a Woodland Scenics tie mill and is not currently active in the operating program.

The spur is Quinn’s Spur which at the top of the grade west of Chinese. The spur was used to store cars when the westbound freight had to double the hill. The grade out of Chinese was the ruling grade for westbound trains.

Snyder Mill at Chinese. This is the first mill you arrive at as you run eastbound out of Oakdale. The mill went into production in the early 1950’s and the logs are brought in by truck. Today the mill is owed by SPI and is still in operation. As the mainline proceeds east it runs through blue backdrop and behind the hot water tank and heater.

Chinese looking back to the west. The wood chip loader is in the center of the picture. Below Chinese is the SP track at Meinke Junction. The two track siding is part of the AT&SF staging tracks at Riverbank.

This short siding is at Hatler’s Rock. The siding is located just west of the crossing of Woods Creek where there is a small quarry. This siding is where the current Jamestown train excursions run around their train before heading back to Jamestown. The tracks coming off the structure will eventually lead to a quarry.

The entrance to Jamestown. The track curving off to the right is the mainline that will wrap around the back of Jamestown as it heads up to Lime Kiln. The track to the left is the lead into Jamestown Depot, Freight Shed and the engine facility. The water tank will eventually be replaced with a model of the Jamestown tank.

The Jamestown turntable and roundhouse. The track closest to the fascia is the mainline heading towards the Depot. The mainline to Lime Kiln runs behind the roundhouse. Starting with the first locomotive on the left and working clockwise the first loco is the #34, then #24, followed by the #18, then the #28. The small vehicle is a Thomas Flyer from Precision Scale, it ran under DC but currently there is no decoder in it for DCC operations. The last loco is the #10 which is really the Sierra #8 (the #8 was used for the WSLCo shay). Just to the right of the photo is the Sierra #38. At some point the roundhouse will be scratched built and will be full size. The backside will be truncated so that eastbound mainline can run behind the building.

Looking eastward into Jamestown. The two tank cars are sitting on the lead to the Freight Shed. This track is used as a overflow track for Jamestown Yard track. The Blackjack Hopper is the first car on the Yard track. The mainline running up to Lime Kiln can be seen behind the Freight Shed and Depot.

Looking westbound in Jamestown back towards the roundhouse. The cut of cars are on the Jamestown Yard track. The pink attachment to the throttle is a mobile brake. It’s an eraser that is attached to the throttle by velcro. When needed it can be taken off the throttle and put on the track as a brake. One end is notched to fit around a coupler. We are always reminding the operators not to leave their rubbers on the track.

The east end of Jamestown. The track between the fascia and the building is the Angels Branch that runs to Melones. As it runs under the main to Lime Kiln the Melones Branch track will become hidden until it reaches Melones behind the staircase. In background you can see the building at Lime Kiln.

The track from Jamestown comes into Melones from the right behind the small building. Melones Rock uses mine tailings to provide rock for road maintenance and dam expansion at Hetch Hetchy. They also ship sand to Jamestown and Tuolumne for locomotive service.

The Melones Station is on the left. The Combine will be used as the caboose on the first freight into Jamestown. It will be dropped off at Jamestown so it can be added to the westbound Sierra Passenger heading for Oakdale.

The Melones Engine House and turntable. Just sticking out its nose out of the engine house is the Sierra #30. During the course of an operating session the #30 will make two round trips to Jamestown and back. Behind the engine house is the Melones Gold Mine. The discovery of a large gold deposit was what prompted the Sierra to relay their tracks back into Melones in the early 50’s.

Looking west back towards the Melones Station. The old Yosemite Valley water tank was bought second hand by the Sierra, dismantled at Bagby and reassembled at Melones.