West Side Lumber Co.

Very historic Footage of The West Side Lumber Company railway, the last of the 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge logging railroads operating in the American west.

The West Side Lumber Company railroad was a three-foot gauge line that ran east into the Sierra timber country from a mill at Tuolumne, California. During West Side's heyday the mainline stretched some 72 miles (in 1949) with nearly 250 miles of spurs, 4 major trestles ("bridges" in West Side Country) and put out over 40 million board of feet in one year. It operated with Shays and Heislers, and was steam powered until it closed in 1961. Its last operating season was 1960.

When the summer logging season ended in the Fall of 1960, the equipment was positioned in expectation of another season starting in the Spring. Empty log cars were left in the woods, and the engines received normal winter maintenance. Then rather suddenly the company announced that it would be cheaper to use contract trucks to haul the logs. On June 6 and 7, 1961 two trains was run into the woods to haul cars closer to town, and the railroad was put on standby, to see how well the trucks worked. The West Side Lumber Company railroad never ran again. Unless otherwise indicated these pictures were taken on various visits during 1959 and 1960.

Its primary purpose was to haul fresh-cut logs from the vast sugar pine forests of eastern Tuolumne County to the expansive West Side Lumber Mill in Tuolumne City. Here, the logs would be cut into dimensional lumber and transferred to the Sierra Railway of California for shipping.

This video features trains underway winding through the multiple canyons and creeks that fed the north fork of the Tuolumne River.
Railcars being loaded with logs. Workers on the yard, a log yarder, a camp, the water tower and trains taking in water, scenery, surrounding area, an engine house. Mill switchers, the locomotive yard with parked engines.

IDENTIFIED EQUIPMENT
steam locomotives
#4 -2 truck Heisler, Shay locomotive (scrapped in 1950)
#8 -3 truck Lima
#10 -3 truck Lima
#14 -3 truck Lima
#15 -3 truck Lima
Caboose #2
Note: Shay #10 is the largest narrow gauge Shay ever built

Years of operation: 1900-1961.

DETAILS
The first 19 Miles, or half way, 0 to 5 mostly favorable and the remaining 19 Miles level.
The road bed is all dirt, no ballast used. Construction started in the year 1898, all work on the first twelve Miles was done by Chinese hand labor, supplies being hauled by pack animals.
Bridges: 1 - Camps: 4 - Locomotives: 8 - Train speed: 7-8 Miles p.h.
Operating season: May 15th to November 15th.
Crew:
-train, 15 men
-road maintenance, 40 men
-engine repair, 2 during the season, 8 during the winter months
-car repair, 4 men
-supervision, 2 men
Passing tracks (11), capacity, 17- to 48 cars spaced about 3.5 Miles apart;
Water stations (9), 10.000 Gallon tanks, at about every 4 Miles;
Oil stations (2), one at Tuolumne and one at Camp 24;
Cars: 170 logging cars, 40' long -load 4800 board feet average,
75 misc. equipment, like maintenance, water, caboose etc.
Loads: train capacity for the first 19 Miles was 19 cars hauling about 90.000 board feet of logs. The remainder of the distance (19 Miles) had a capacity of 38 cars, hauling about 180.000 board ft.
Elevations: Tuolumne 2650, Camp 8 3400, Camp 24 & Clavey 5020.
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Time stamp
Since locomotive #4 was scrapped in 1950, it seems to be logical to think that this is pre-1950.

West Side Lumber Co. model railroading:    • West Side Lumber Company Model Railway  

Logging railroad between Tuolumne and Stanislaus National Forest, California.