West Side Lumber Company railway
The West Side Lumber Company railway was the last of the narrow-gauge logging railroads operating in the American west.
History
West Side Flume & Lumber Company
The West Side Flume & Lumber Company was founded in May 1898 to log 55,000 acres of land outside of the town of Carter. A 10-mile long gauge railroad was laid into the woods east of the town.Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Railroad
In 1900, the lumber company incorporated their railroad as a common carrier called the Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite Valley Railroad. Although it never reached either Hetch Hetchy nor Yosemite valley, they company hoped to attract tourist traffic.Westside and Cherry Valley Railroad
In the late 1970s, Glen Bell, the founder of the Taco Bell restaurant chain opened a tourist railroad at Tuolumne. This gauge railroad used the lower section of the track and several steam locomotives of the West Side Lumber Company railway. The operation also offered boat rides on the old mill pond and RV parking. It closed in the early 1980s after failing to attract enough visitors.Locomotives
Narrow gauge
| Name | Number | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes | Image |
| Fido | H.K. Porter | Sold to the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company's Schoettgen Pass railroad | |||||
| Star | H.K. Porter | ex-Ferries and Cliff House Railroad, San Francisco | |||||
| 1 | Heisler | Two Truck | 1899 | 1038 | Sold to the Swayne Lumber Company; scrapped 1940 | ||
| 2 | Heisler | Two Truck | 1899 | 1040 | Placed in West Side Memorial Park, Tuolumne, Ca. in 1960 | ||
| 3 | Heisler | Two Truck | 1900 | 1041 | Converted to standard gauge in 1947. Converted back to circa 1962. Now Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad No. 2 | ||
| 4 | Heisler | Two Truck | 1901 | 1049 | Scrapped 1950 | ||
| 5 | Lima | Two Truck Shay | 1902 | 730 | Scrapped 1950 | ||
| 6 | Lima | Two Truck Shay | 1903 | 817 | Scrapped 1942 | ||
| 7 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1911 | 2465 | ex-Butte and Plumas Railway #4; now running on the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad | ||
| 8 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1922 | 3176 | Now displayed at Cañon City, Colorado at the Santa Fe Depot after service on the Georgetown Loop and static display at the Old Georgetown Station with C&S caboose #1012. Lettered for the Royal Gorge Route. | ||
| 9 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1923 | 3199 | Operable at Midwest Midwest Central Railroad, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Lettered for West Side Lumber Company. Trucked to Silver Plume, CO, arrived February 2, 2011. Colorado Historical Society will rebuild 9 to operate on Georgetown Loop Railroad - estimated completion 2012. The 12, a Baldwin 2-6-2, will go to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, after #9 enters service on the Georgetown Loop RR. | . | |
| 10 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1928 | 3315 | Now running on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. Reportedly the largest narrow-gauge shay locomotive ever built. | ||
| 12 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1927 | 3302 | ex-Swayne Lumber Company railway #6. Now at Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, CO after service on the Georgetown Loop. | ||
| 14 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1916 | 2835 | ex-Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company #10. Now at Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, CO after service on the Georgetown Loop. Lettered for Argentine Central. | ||
| 15 | Lima | Three Truck Shay | 1913 | 2645 | ex-Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company #9. Operable at Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. |
Standard gauge
| Name | Number | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes |
| Old Betsie | H.K. Porter | 1886 | 770 | for the Prescott and Arizona Central Railroad | ||
| 1 | Heisler | Two Truck | 1899 | 1036 | ex-Sierra Railway #9 | |
| 3 | Heisler | Two Truck | 1901 | 1049 | converted from gauge in 1947 | |
| 14 | Baldwin | 1882 | 5851 | ex-Sierra Railway #4 |
Various artifacts of the railroad and photographs are preserved at the Tuolumne City Memorial Museum in Tuolumne, CA. The museum also arranges annual field trips to West Side logging camps in the woods.