Hey all,

It has been a while. I was wondering about some tourist railroads that were once logging railroads. I already know about Cass and Mt Rainier, but I am curious about other preserved former logging railroads.

I'm doing a project, and I want a list of these railroads which will be appreciative.

Thanks.

Alec

Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine.

Roaring Camp & Big Tree.

Note that the Roaring Camp & Big Trees 'narrow gauge' railroad was never a logging railroad. The narrow gauge tracks were first laid starting in 1963 specifically to haul tourists. The redwoods that the narrow gauge tracks run through were never logged.
https://www.roaringcamp.com/historical-facts

However, the [currently] 'standard gauge' line that runs between Felton and Santa Cruz (and now operated by the Roaring Camp group) was built by a predecessor of the Southern Pacific circa 1875. The builders of this line were definitely motivated to build that line by the large area of redwoods that could be harvested. This line was not logs exclusively though. For instance, there was a lot of 'sand' shipped from the quarry at Olympia (near Felton).


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What is currently the West Virginia Central line south from Elkins was a Western Maryland coal branch going to Webster Springs, but WM purchased it from the Greenbrier, Cheat & Elk in 1927. If you have ever been over the line, welded rail nonwithstanding, it most certainly has the feel of a logging branch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenbrie ... k_Railroad

The Eureka-Samoa-Arcata (CA) lines were logging lines from the forest to the Humboldt Co. mills and Samoa peninsula long before ATSF/SP fought their way up the Eel River Canyon to get to Eureka as a real railroad in 1907. Much of the local track around Arcata to Samoa is originally logging lines still in place today, although it's very much in the brush and weeds except for the parts maintained by Timber Heritage for speeder trips.

The remaining 10 miles of the Simpson timber RR out of Shelton Washington is in process of being preserved and restarted as a heritage attraction and museum. Two of the original diesel locomotives, #900/#1200, remain on home rails having never left. More info at https://www.simpsonrailroad.org.

The Mount Rainier Scenic is only sort of a former logging railroad. The track was built by the Tacoma Eastern then sold to the Milwaukee. When the Milwaukee folded the track was sold to Weyerhaeuser but never used by them. Part of the Chelatchie Prairie RR from Yacolt to Chelatchie was built as a logging railroad. The California Western was also built as a logging road.

Laona & Northern Railroad in Wisconsin. When they started hauling tourist they just open up the doors of their engine house and brought out their stored Vulcan 2-6-2 . Of course it was a little more complex than just that but at least they had one of their original built for ,engines. When I first rode it decades ago they still hauled lumber products along with a coach to one of two interchanges, Soo line and CNW. Now strictly tourist only.

I may be wrong about the engine being built for this Railroad.
I stand corrected by J.D.Conrad. Originally built for Fairchild and Northeastern as number 12.

The Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine is constructed upon the grade of a former logging operation that was also 3' gauge.

Although it's mostly gone now, the old Reader Railroad in Arkansas made it into the tourist era and was originally a logging line.

And don't forget the Southern Heritage Forestry Museum in Long Leaf, LA.

Alan Maples

Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln, NH uses a part of a logging railroad ROW, along with logging locomotives native to the area.

The long defunct Camino, Cable & Northern was built on grade from the Michigan-
California Lbr. Co. However this part of the road hauled lumber, not logs.

As Alan mentions, the Southern Forest Heritage Museum in Long Leaf, LA preserves a portion of the Red River & Gulf RR of the Crowell & Spencer Lumber Co. They have three steam locomotives but none are serviceable, however I understand they offer rides with Fernwood, Columbia & Gulf motor car M4.

-Philip Marshall

Sumpter Valley Railroad

As posted above, most of the former WM GC&E Sub between Webster Springs and Elkins had been built as a part of the Cass logging operation.

In the 1920's it was clear that coal had better prospects than lumber for the long haul so the logging interest (WVP&P/GC&E RR) sold the line between Webster Springs and the Cheat Junction complex to WM. But first the RR had to be rebuilt to handle WM's rod engines. In the interim, GC&E moved the coal with its fleet of Shays. They had two ex-C&O 4-truckers and rebuilt their own 150 ton 3-truck 12 to a 202+ ton 4-trucker. The 4 trucks were for greater water capacity and increased range between water stops. Even a Shay is faster when it doesn't stop.

Phil Mulligan

Not quite a logging railroad. It was the common carrier that serviced the logging industry and transported rough-cut wood to finishing mills. There was overlapping ownership interests between the SV and the logging operations. At some locations, but not the rebuilt portion, I think that logs were hauled over the SV to the rough-cut mills.