Yesterday my good friend Bill mentioned that there was going to be some kind of celebration in Sierra Foothills this weekend to commemorate a new locomotive acquisition by California’s Department of State Parks. Given my long-standing interest in trains, as well as the fact that the spring weather has been glorious this year, it sounded like a worthy day trip. I consulted my calendar, which, given my state of retirement, is as empty as a bird’s nest in December. So it was that Bill and I met this morning in the historic township of Jamestown.

Jamestown (pop: 3,100) was founded just as the Gold Rush was beginning, in 1848. It remains a small, unincorporated town of Tuolumne County, about 100 miles southeast of Sacramento. The important thing about Jamestown, for our purposes today, is the railroad. The Sierra Railway Company was established in Jamestown in 1897, hauling ore from mining operations and timber from logging operations around the area.

The narrow-gauge railroad operated into the 1960s. In addition to freight and passenger hauling, the Sierra Railway developed a niche as a “movie railroad,” whose trains and structures appeared in numerous Hollywood films (including High Noon (1952), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and for you young ‘uns, Back To the Future Part III (1990). Oh, and it was featured in the opening credits of “Petticoat Junction” each week.

In 1971, after most of the commercial transportation purposes of the railroad had dried up, the Sierra Railroad’s Jamestown facilities (including a station, roundhouse, and shops) were opened to the public as “Rail Town 1897.” A decade later (i.e., 50 years ago this year), the facilities, along with locomotives and cars, were purchased by the California Department of Parks and Recreation for $750,000. Railtown 1897 was designated a State Historic Park. It remains a popular tourist destination, offering tours of the shops and steam train rides pulled by the original engines on the original tracks.

I can’t emphasize enough how unique and impressive this place is. The roundhouse is largely unchanged from how it looked over 100 years ago. Most of the same tools and equipment are still in place, and are used regularly to repair and restore locomotives and cars. They have vintage locomotives and rail cars that offer excursion rides every weekend. This place is an authentic time capsule.

But let’s get back to the purpose of this trip. The whole reason we came was because Railtown 1897 had put out a press release that they had acquired a new locomotive. And by “new,” they meant “old.” The locomotive (Sierra Railway’s No. 34) was built almost a century ago. Sierra purchased it new in 1925 from the venerable Baldwin Locomotive Works and it remained on Sierra’s roster until the company closed in the late 1960s. The locomotive was eventually sold to a collector (someone who evidently didn’t think model trains were sufficiently authentic), but this collector never got around to moving the engine away from its stomping grounds. It just sat there in the roundhouse in Jamestown. Recently that owner/collector died, and the locomotive went up for sale. Money was provided by two generous donors–Chris Baldo and Marion Hatch–and Railtown was able to acquire the “pink slip” for the engine that’s been on their property for a century. Hence the big celebration today.

The engine in question is the Sierra Railway’s No. 34, seen here in its heyday:

The engine hasn’t run since 1980, but, using words familiar to everyone who’s purchased a classic automobile, “it was running when we last shut her down.” The plan is to restore the locomotive to operational condition.

They plan to do the restoration work right here, in the venerable old shops at Railtown. Bill and I hope to provide a little volunteer muscle on that project.

Meanwhile, Railtown does have other steam locomotives. These include the No. 28, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year. The engine hauled cement and rock for the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy in the 1920s, and then turned to regular freight and passenger service. It has appeared in various movies and television shows, including “Little House on the Prairie” and Bound for Glory.

Today this same engine is still running strong. In fact, it pulled our excursion train this afternoon as we enjoyed an hour’s journey along the Sierra Railway’s old, historic tracks.

Railtown also has another operational steam engine–the No. 3, which was built in 1891(!). This locomotive has appeared in more movies than any other locomotive, and is regarded as an archetypal example of late 19th-century American trains. It’s been involved in a few mishaps over the years…

…but it’s been repaired each time, and remains in service to pull excursion trains.

So, overall, the Sierra Railway’s facilities in Jamestown (i.e., “Railtown 1897”) is a remarkable, virtually unspoiled, authentic example of California’s railroading past. It’s well worth a trip. (Admission is $5. I’ll send you a fin if you’re strapped for cash.)

Postscript

Stick with me here; this is going to connect back to Railtown 1897.

On the way home along Highway 49, I stopped in the town of Jackson (pop: 4,800) to check out this obelisk that I saw from the road:

The obelisk was erected in 1938 to honor favorite son Anthony Caminetti (1854-1923), who racked up an impressive resume. Allow me to quote the marker: “District Attorney, State Senator, United States Congressman, United States Commissioner, General of Immigration, the first native Californian to be elected to Congress, author of bills creating California Debris Commission, Preston School of Industry at Ione, California Junior Colleges, Father of Alpine State Highway, a loyal American and a faithful public official.”

Some of these posts sound impressive (Congressman, Senator…). Others are a bit less so. I mean, being one (of many) authors of certain pieces of legislation isn’t exactly herculean. It does, however, raise a critical question: What exactly is the “California Debris Commission,” anyway? Answer: it was an agency created in 1893 to clean up the damage that had been done to California’s waterways by the extensive use of hydraulic mining in the Sierras. The Commission was dismantled in 1986.

And here’s were we link back to Railtown 1897. For it turns out that the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider (1985) focuses on hydraulic mining and how it did extensive environmental damage to the rivers. And scenes from that movie were filmed at Railtown.

I do recommend the movie, by the way. Check it out here.