Thursday January 20, 1949
Oakland Tribune |
SIX YOSEMITE LOCOMOTIVES
DESTINED FOR SCRAP HEAP
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Six locomotive which for years served the historic Yosemite Valley Railroad, running from Merced to
Yosemite National Park, apparently having reached the end of the line at Pittsburg, Calif.
Present plans call for the scraping of the small and medium sized locomotive, although they're in running condition
.
One of their "sister" from the old Yosemite line's operations was sold to a railroad in Mexico about a year
ago. Those left in California have been offered for sale, but, according to the owners, the California Metals
Company of Oakland, San Francisco and Pittsburg, no "real" offers have been received.
It was shortly after the turn of the century that trains began carrying tourists up the Merced River Canyon to Yosemite. For years the line did a thriving tourist business, railroad historical groups recall, offering Pullman services for travelers from the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
ABANDONED IN 1945
In its latter years, its freight business kept it going. The line was abandoned in 1945. |
Ted Wurm, Oaklander who traces the history of old California rail lines, said today that the old road bed is gone - and two tunnels of the road now are used to grow mushrooms.
Standing as a monument to the line is the steel trestle over Exchequer Reservoir, Wurm said.
Oldest of the six engines which face the threat of the scrapping torch was built about 40 years ago. Others were constructed in the '20s.
RELICS SET ASIDE
A bell and the name plate from one of the old locomotives has bee set aside for the California-Nevada
Railroad Historical Society, to be added to the group's collection of railroad relics, according to Grahame Hardy, chairman of the group's board of directors.
The California Metals Company purchased the engines about six months ago, bringing them to Pittsburg from the line's old terminus at Merced. The locomotives are kept in a foundry yard next to the company's Pittsburg installation.
Scrapping of the engines will begin as soon as their metal is needed in operations at Pittsburg, a company spokesman said. That is expected to be this spring.
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Photo of the locomotives 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28
in a line at Pittsburg. California. |
| | These locomotives of the old Yosemite Valley Railroad are awaiting the scrapper's torch at Pittsburg, Calif. They pulled | passenger cars and freight between Merced and Yosemite National Park for many years. - Tribune photo.
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