The restoration of the Southern Pacific narrow gauge out of Independence CA seems to be gathering steam. This group is currently showing much promise, and may one day outshine Laws as far as progress in railroad restoration and operations. Still both organizations must be struggling to find volunteers in the sparsely populated eastern Sierras.
O. Anderson

http://www.carsoncolorado.com/pages/facility3.html

Did everyone read and understand the locomotive restoration story the way I did? In 2003, they put water in the boiler, lit a fire, and then blew the whistle at 45 psi. This was WITHOUT a boiler inspection, and without the requisite tear-down, flue replacement, etc. The injector, appliances, etc. were not working.

There are some very skilled, experienced steam folks among their volunteers. I can't speak to the legalities of the steam up you refer to, but can state, based on knowledge of the personnel involved that it was done in a rational safe manner...

Randy

As I understand nothing much has been done to the locomotive since that time back in 2003.

The group is working at obtaining a lease on a site where they can put up a building to actually do the necessary tear down and rebuild. They have identified a site on the south side of Independence and are working to have the county lease the land from Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and then sublease it to the organization. The building and other facilities (including about 1000 feet of track) will also display other railroad equipment the group has, etc.

There is a proposed road widening in front of the park where the locomotive is currently located. One way or another it will have to moved at least a few feet.

I will confirm what Randy says about the group having skilled steam people involved in the team.

In case a reader does not know it, the LADPW is a major land holder in the Owens Valley and diverts Owens River water to the City of Los Angeles. Just about every county or city park along highway 395 through the valley has a sign on it that the land is leased from the LADPW.

Brian,

I was looking at their web site yesterday and there is a note about getting a steel frame building donated.

Somebody is working on taking it down for movement to the C&C leased property.

That seems to be the only recent post on the site.

I wonder what other cars that they have collected?

There is a lot of SP and C&C equipment around.

On another matter; does OERM have any plans to find or built a pair of trucks for the SP 10 "Esmeralda"?

Ted Miles

Two cars on had at this time. One is an SPng box car (I'm not sure of the number) that was at a county part south of Lone Pine. It is up steel bolster trucks from an industrial operation in the Northwest.

The other car the group has is a D&RGW stock car once used by Knott's. This car had the side sill cut to put in a step for passengers.

Oh, and there is an SP baggage/express wagon. You know the kind used at depots.

All of these in a small compound at the rear of the County Museum property that is next to a public road.

The steel building noted on their web page is from the Pine Creek mine and is being stored on their lot where the 2 cars are located. The box car is numbered 6. They recently installed a "tin" roof and painted it.

Olin -

I had a chance to visit the Owens Valley on my recent trip out west. The group in Laws seem to be doing a pretty decent job on their museum, including the rail end of the operation. Going through Independence, I noted a "tent type structure" in the city park off of U.S. 395. The wife and I didn't have time to stop, but I wondered if this might have been a covering over 4-6-0 #18. Does anyone know the current status of this project?

Thanks.

Les

The C&C folks are rebuilding SP18 to full FRA compliance. The shelter is covering the stripped boiler and running gear. I believe that the UT survey has been done and they are at the point of planning out their next move. The tinder is off site--at their yard behind the Eastern California Museum.

They seem to be making good progress. The extra volunteers have been coming in from So. Cal. and as far away as Colorado.

BTW. The train related displays at the Laws Railroad Museum are taken care of by 6 regular volunteers. Occasionally, they get some additional help from the community for special projects. The rest of the museum is taken care of by other volunteers and 2 caretakers. In all, there are about 2 dozen volunteers that spend 1 or more days a week at the museum.

Max Cox
Laws Railroad Museum
http://www.lawsmuseum.org

That railroad through the wilderness was built "300 miles too long or 300 years too soon". How accurate is that arithmetic today? When will the connection with the Virginia & Truckee be restored?

Max -

You and I talked on my recent visit there. Thanks very much for the hospitality. I was impressed by what you guys have accomplished. Wish I had been there on one of the days that the Death Valley Railroad Brill railcar was running. BTW, my wife was VERY impressed with all of the items that the museum had on display in the non-railroad buildings.

Les

"That railroad through the wilderness was built "300 miles too long or 300 years too soon". How accurate is that arithmetic today? When will the connection with the Virginia & Truckee be restored?"

The Laws Railroad Museum has the only surviving piece of the original rail. For the most part the ROW in the Owens Valley is owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Given the long adversarial history between the residents of the Owens Valley and the LADWP, it is highly unlikely the any of the ROW will ever see more than a mile or two rails again. The museum has 3000' of active track that allows us to give brief demonstration rides with the Death Valley 5 motor car and the Pine Creek Mine #12 loco and 1st aid car.

The ownership of ROW north from Laws is not know to me, but it must be a conglomerate of Federal(BLM, USFS), private, and Indian Reservation lands. Parts are also used as highway alignments.

A county to the south of us did a study for a Rails-to-Trails project. Besides the land ownership issues, there were some engineering and environment issues that are probably too costly for the project to go forward.

Les,
It's great that you got out to Laws and Independence. Keeler has some interesting sights to see too but I am not sure of any formal organized restoration in that quiet backwater.
I helped the Owens Valley Railway Co some years back, get additional rail to finish the lead tracks to the barn. To my understanding, it really was they who built the barn and restored the motor car, with hopes of running it to Bishop over the ROW of a trolley line which was graded but never built.

Lots of work went into it, but also as I know happens in small towns, there were lots of different agendas. Having two preservation groups in town was kind of unusual (one longer lived but more broad in scope; the other new and aggressively promoting rail operations, while definitely supporting the goals of the other). The OVRR got federal grants awarded but I do not think they got around to being spent before expiring. The group probably does not exist anymore, but here are some interesting newsletters.
http://www.ttrr.org/dv_text/ovrco_p01.html

Laws is a great museum and I hope to see it again soon. Independence seems to be making more headway lately, what I see from afar. Information gets posted on NGDF from time to time in the last year or so.

Here is a recent posting:
http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,200947,200947#msg-200947
Olin