Author: Chris Hauf

On the weekend of October 26th and 27th, a crew of six volunteers from our Niles Canyon Railway Steam Department headed north to the shop of our contractor, Stockton Locomotive Works, to do some more work on the boiler for our Southern Pacific steam locomotive #1744. Two other crews of volunteers had already gone up at different times between late 2023 and late 2024 to supplement our contractor’s resources since the boiler is seeing significant rebuilding.

For this work session, the concentration was the reaming, tapping and insertion of all of the rigid staybolts in the backhead of the boiler. This work was necessary since all of the interior sheets of the firebox and the mud ring had been replaced with new materials. The two previous crews were able to get all of the rigid staybolts in the side sheets leaving only the throat sheet left to do rigid stays. There are still hundreds of flexible staybolts and sleeves still to be installed in all sections of the boiler along with peening over all of the rigid stays. One quickly learns just how incredibly labor intensive these boilers were to build, maintain and repair when doing this work.

Here is a gallery of images highlighting some of the work from the last work session along with a timelapse video showing the whole process for one small section of the backhead. Your ongoing support of this project is critical to keep the progress moving forward. Donations may be made via mail or online. All of the information is available on our website

Here is a YouTube video showing a timelapse of the reaming, tapping and insertion of the first set of bolts on Saturday AM.

Thanks again to all of our Steam Department volunteers for taking the time to travel to do this very challenging work. Thanks to Ed from the Roots of Motive Power for lending us a hand. Finally, thanks to the hospitality and cooperation from our contractor, Stockton Locomotive Works, for allowing us the ability to work with you on this project and continue to push the restoration of Southern Pacific #1744 forward.

Again your support is welcome, new hands are always welcome to help, and thanks for checking our update out.

Our Build East Track Construction Team was back out on the railroad on Saturday, November 2, 2024 and reached another milestone with track now extending to the east side of Castlewood Bridge.

Here is an album of some of the work performed on 11/2 taken all before lunch. This will be the last of the panel laying as we have now consumed all of our pre-made panels there we acquired several years back. From about four panels past the bridge, we will return to more traditional stick rail building of settting ties then the tie plates followed by stick rail with one rail spiked and then used to gauge the other rail.

If you are interested in helping us in this work, the team works the first Saturday of the month weather permitting. We typically have a Facebook event listing, but you can always Contact Us to get more information. You can also learn more about volunteering here.

Our next Student Brakeman Training Class will be held on Saturday and Sunday, August 24 & 25, 2024. The class will run from 9AM to 5PM both days.

Saturday will be an all day classroom session including a final qualifying exam. The classes will be held at the “Whitehouse” in the museum’s Brightside yard located at 5550 Niles Canyon Road. All training materials and lunch will be provided on Saturday.

Sunday will be a hands on session in Brightside yard where students will get practical training and experience by moving some of the museum’s equipment around Brightside yard. Proper PPE is required including work gloves and work boots with a defined heel.

Students must attend both days of the class.

Any interested student must become a member of the Niles Canyon Railway/Pacific Locomotive Association. You may join online here.

Questions? Please contact us here.

To sign up, please call our Crew Caller at 510-582-2648

As has been our yearly tradition for many years, the Niles Canyon Railway hosts a picnic and train ride on the 4th of July for its members and guests. This year was no exception with somewhere over 150 people in attendance. They enjoyed a great BBQ lunch in the Sunol Depot Gardens, and a train ride which took the train from Sunol all the way east to the new end of track at Happy Valley Bridge then all the way west to Niles only to then return to Sunol.

We want to thank our Commissary Department and Operating Department for offering their services to make our 4th of July event a success. We also want to thank everyone that came out in support of another one of our unique volunteer events. Interested in being able to participate in events like this? Please consider joining us today.

Here are some photos of the days activities thanks to NCRy volunteers Mike Pechner, Matt Petach, and Jim Evans. All images used with permission.

As we write this on April 23, 2024, we ironically find that it is World Book Day, and a book is something we are searching for. For over a year, our NCRy/PLA President, Henry Baum, has been meticulously working his way through the restoration of the kitchen in our Great Northern Railway Ranch Car ‘Hidden Lake’. From countless hours cleaning the stainless to repairing items around the kitchen, Henry’s work is now getting down to some of the smaller details.

We recently found him hanging the kitchen’s recipe book holder back up after being cleaned as shown in the lead photo above. The only problem, we do not have a recipe book to put into it. So… Our quest is underway to see if we can find an original Great Northern Railway recipe book for the Ranch Cars of which there were five built in 1951 by American Car & Foundry.

In the meantime, we wondered what recipes one may find in such a recipe book. Well, here is clue. Recently one of our volunteers, Chris Hauf, found an original GN Ranch Car Menu for sale on eBay and purchased as part of our growing collection of historical info on the car. Here it is!

So what can we order? A Plate Meal of Meat or Fish with potatoes and another vegetable along with a cup of soup, bread & butter and pie or ice cream for dessert with a drink of coffee, tea or milk included all for $1.60! Various sandwiches are available all for less than $1.00 each along with Chuck Wagon Beef Stew for $1.35. Various salads and desserts are also offered including Pie Ala Mode where the type of pie is unknown. It appears this menu was introduced in May of 1954 based on the form code. Our Steward for this day on this particular car was Mr. Ken McCausland.

This at least gives us some idea of some of the items which may have been prepared or at least finished in the kitchen of the Hidden Lake early in its service life where undoubtedly the offerings changed over time in the combination lunch counter and seated lounge car.

So our quest for the recipe book continues. Have information or something to share, please Contact Us. We would love to hear from you whether it is another version of the menu to share, experiences on a Ranch car either as an employee or a passenger or maybe the small chance that you have a recipe book we could have or could duplicate.

Thanks for coming along on our quest for a book on this World Book Day! We hope someday to again be able to serve some of these dishes along with a cup of coffee stirred with a replica GN Ranch Car stir stick (anyone able to help us make repros?) to you as you ride the Hidden Lake on our Niles Canyon Railway. Donations to keep the work moving forward are also always welcome.

On Saturday, April 6, 2024 after a several month hiatus, our Build East Construction Crew gathered back to start laying track east of Happy Valley Bridge. Along with a side trip to and from Brightside yard to the work site for a thank you lunch, the crew was able to get 6 track panels put into place adding nearly 200 feet of new track.

Here are some photos of the work that day in chronological order you can watch at the length of track grows. If you are interested in helping, Build East takes place the first Saturday of each month and more details can be found on our Volunteer page. You can also always Contact Us with any questions as well.

On October 8th, 2023, one of our trains departed Sunol with a load of Boy Scouts on board to carry out an Eagle Scout project to help bring more blooms to our Niles Canyon. Here is the story from what became the Mudball Express as recounted by Niles Canyon Railway volunteer, Jason Pate.

Becoming an eagle scout is no small feat. After many years of climbing the ranks, a community service project must be completed by those desiring to become eagles. After completing the Railroading Merit Badge at Niles Canyon Railway, Alex Clayson (Troop 199, Warm Springs, Fremont) decided to do his project along the right of way. Alex has spread native seeds ,”in order to increase the robustness of our ecosystem”. Clayson started his research last spring when he boarded a train with 2 local biologists to survey the canyon. He did this to insure that the seeds being spread would be Bay Area native wildflower seeds. Alex then acquired 7lbs of native seeds!

Along with volunteers, they mixed a pinch of seeds with Sunol clay and compost to form small seed balls. There were many seed balling sessions with nearly 6000 seed balls being produced.

On October 8, the train left Sunol loaded with all 300lbs of seed balls. Troop 199 tossed out many seed balls along 84 in Sunol. When we got near Vallejo Mills, other volunteers of all ages tossed seedballs into the flatter areas which got good sunlight.

The train did a runaround in Niles and returned to Sunol. By the time we were back, all the balls had been spread containing 13 different species of native flowers like
Lupines and Clarkias. In this project, about 413 service hours were worked. Now, Clayson will complete his paperwork and do a Board of Review to obtain his Eagle, which only 6.5% of scouts have ever done (Long Beach BSA).

The Pacific Locomotive Association and our Niles Canyon Railway would like to thank Alex, Troop 199, and all volunteers involved for their efforts in this amazing ecological restoration project. Also, thanks to Bob Pratt for coordinating the event for NCRY.

The canyon is continuing to come into bloom, and we hope you will join us for one of our April and May second and third weekend rides. More information and links to purchase your tickets at the button below.

Our recent collaboration with the Knight Foundry to have them cast some new brake shoes for our steam locomotive, Clover Valley Lumber Co. #4, along with some other parts for the restoration of Southern Pacific steam locomotive was recently featured on a piece by Joe Rosato Jr of NBC Bay Area.

You can also find more information on our collaboration with images taken by our own volunteer, Christopher Hauf, during the casting event at Knight Foundry on our blog.

We are excited about this collaboration with the first parts already on hand in our steam shop where our crews can work on final machining the rough castings so they can be ultimately installed on the #4 which turned 100 years old this March.

Thanks again to the Knight Foundry and to Joe Rosato Jr. of NBC Bay Area for the great story!

A birthday party for Clover Valley Lumber Co. #4

The Niles Canyon Railway (NCRy) will host a special birthday celebration to commemorate 100 years of service of its restored and operating steam locomotive, Clover Valley Lumber Co. #4 on Saturday March 2, 2024 starting at 10:30AM. The locomotive has served most of its life working in the state of California and has been part of the museum’s collection since 1973; just over one half of its life after being built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA in March of 1924.  

A ceremony will be held at 10:30 AM at the railroad’s restored Sunol railroad station and will include photo/video opportunities of operations of the locomotive and speeches commemorating the history and significance of the locomotive. 

Starting around noon, the museum will host a series of short, open to the public rides on its passenger train from Sunol to the museum’s Brightside yard and return.  These rides will allow the media and public to experience the #4 in operation.  We hope riders will purchase a ticket and return to ride one of the museum’s regularly scheduled weekend train rides between Sunol, CA and Niles (City of Fremont), CA, held typically on the second and third weekend of each month from February through October. We have also added an extra Sunday ride day behind the #4 of March 3rd!

The Niles Canyon Railway is the only museum and tourist railroad that runs on the original and best-preserved alignment of the Transcontinental Railroad now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The NCRy is operated solely by a group of dedicated volunteers.   

The event is open to the public.

Saturday, March 2, 2024
Ceremony 10:30-11:30 AM   Free for all to attend
Rides starting around noon and ending at 3:30PM

The short rides for this special day are free on a first come/first served basis, but a donation toward the Niles Canyon Railway’s Steam Department’s ongoing maintenance and restoration efforts is encouraged.   The museum is currently restoring the 1901-built Southern Pacific Railroad steam locomotive #1744 to operation via an extensive multi-year restoration effort.

The event will be held at our Sunol Station located at 6 Kilkare Road.
Our Sunol station has parking in our lot with additional parking across the street from the station.  The event will take place rain or shine.  

Interested media may view our press release available in our Media Center.

Can’t make it on the 2nd, we have plenty of Sundays across March, April and May to ride behind steam and Saturdays with diesel power. Please visit our 2024 Rides Page for more info and to buy your tickets to come ride with us.

Operating historical railroad equipment comes with many complications; one being the availability or lack thereof of spare and consumable parts like cast iron brake shoes for steam engines. With members that volunteer at both museums, a wonderful collaboration between our Niles Canyon Railway and the Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek, CA, came to being.

The Knight Foundry is a preserved late 1800s foundry and machine shop. It is the last of its kind to be fully water powered. The foundry remains active in casting and offered to help cast new brakes shoes for our steam locomotive. This process took place on January 20, 2024 with members of our NCRy on site to watch and document the process from start to finish.

A great collaboration, and a place to put on your places to visit in CA. The Knight Foundry offer tours twice a month of this historical gem, and more info can be found on their website. Thanks to the members of the Knight Foundry for their collaboration!

Here is a gallery of images of the cast iron pouring event on January 24, 2024.

All images by Christopher R. Hauf. Used with permission.

Update 3/26/2024

Learn even more about this collaboration in the great piece from Joe Rosato Jr. of NBC Bay Area.

Historic foundry helps Bay Area railway staying on track