I recently visited the remains of the old Westside Lumber Company mill yard at Tuolumne, CA for the first time and was greatly saddened to find what little is left is apparently being dismantled. A local Indian tribe has purchased the land and is dismantling the former Westside & Cherry Valley's "new" enginehouse and another building. The old WSL RR buildings and water tank remain, in derelict condition, with a few old cars and a little Brookville engine sitting nearby. Some of the track is still in place, including two road crossings of the highway to Tuolumne. Anyone have more details?

The sad demise of this historic property would make a good story for RyPN. Taco magnate Glen Bell is apparently still alive, but suffering from Parkinsons disease.

Glen Bell bio
ryarger@rypn.org

Looks like the Westside Narrow Gauge site is still on line and there may be some hope for saving the historic buildings. See link below.



http://www.wsrestoration.com/index.htm
ryarger@rypn.org

> I recently visited the remains of the old
> Westside Lumber Company mill yard at
> Tuolumne, CA for the first time and was
> greatly saddened to find what little is left
> is apparently being dismantled. A local
> Indian tribe has purchased the land and is
> dismantling the former Westside & Cherry
> Valley's "new" enginehouse and
> another building. The old WSL RR buildings
> and water tank remain, in derelict
> condition, with a few old cars and a little
> Brookville engine sitting nearby. Some of
> the track is still in place, including two
> road crossings of the highway to Tuolumne.
> Anyone have more details?

> The sad demise of this historic property
> would make a good story for RyPN. Taco
> magnate Glen Bell is apparently still alive,
> but suffering from Parkinsons disease.

Bob, for the most part the trackage still exists to the River Bridge, although there are several rock slides in the Tuolumne Canyon. The turntable that the last operation's railcar used in also there along with the foundation of the bridge tender's house.

Brad Milne had restored to some extent 5 miles of track and gave rides about a year or two ago with the 5 ton Rodgers and a flatcar. He has tried to start the California Narrow Gauge Museum but has had many tales of woe. The previous owners have allowed him to use the Bell enginehouse for use in storing his military equipment.

The MiWuk tribe are going to rebuild the property and keep the historic buildings and incorporate a new rail attraction on the site to my understanding. Others out there may correct me or update. The success of the casino they opened will no doubt funnel money into the place. The MiWuk's have a long history with the area and especially the West Side Lumber Co.

Besides the watertank, fueling facility and the car repair shops, the original Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Depot is still there, along with the mills sawdust burner, floating winch, browlog, and what is left of a burned out Turnback Creek trestle that connects to the Sierra R.R. I also counted 13 steam donkey's in various conditions.

And I surely hope you paid homage to the oldest existing Heisler at the local park. Thanks to a friend in the area (Norman) the smokebox cover is now on right!

It is really sad that Glen Bell sold out so early, and the place fell into such disrepair. The organization I work for had looked into the purchase with the intent of building a retreat center and summer camp.

nuff said for now...
Jeff

Recent info & pics

btflco@aol.com

> Besides the watertank, fueling facility and
> the car repair shops, the original Hetch
> Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Depot is still
> there, along with the mills sawdust burner,
> floating winch, browlog, and what is left of
> a burned out Turnback Creek trestle that
> connects to the Sierra R.R. I also counted
> 13 steam donkey's in various conditions.

Thank you very much for the link. Besides the equipment you mentioned, I noticed there is also a 1905 steam driven air compressor and a duplex steam pump from the original sawmill.

Do you have any more information on the donkeys or the steam pump? I would like to include the donkeys in "Surviving World Steam Vehicles"; and the steam pump in my "Steam Lizards" group site on Yahoo.

> And I surely hope you paid homage to the
> oldest existing Heisler at the local park.
> Thanks to a friend in the area (Norman) the
> smokebox cover is now on right!

I have a photograph of this Heisler in "Surviving World Steam Locomotives", and never noticed the smokebox door is on wrong!

> It is really sad that Glen Bell sold out so
> early, and the place fell into such
> disrepair. The organization I work for had
> looked into the purchase with the intent of
> building a retreat center and summer camp.

Glen Bell was certainly an example of a private individual stepping in where museums have not to preserve material for future public display. In addition, he also has a nice miniture steam railway at Bell Gardens, 30841 Cole Grade Road, Valley Center, CA. It includes three operational 15in gauge steam locomotives.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a


Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net