Category: Blog

The Pacific Locomotive Association, Inc. the operators of the Niles Canyon Railway in conjunction with the American Cancer Society are hosting the 11th Annual Niles Canyon Railway Team Event Fundraiser on Sunday, April 24th, 2022. The train and crew are being donated by the Niles Canyon Railway once again for this event where all proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the American Cancer Society. Come ride our rails in support of the Relay for Life for this one day special set of diesel powered excursions.

NOTE: Highway 84 (Niles Canyon Road) through Niles Canyon will be closed to vehicle traffic the weekend of these rides. Ticketed passengers should enter Sunol from the east/I-680 side of the canyon. Once on Highway 84, please turn right on Main Street in Sunol to access our depot and parking lot. Our Sunol depot location can be found here. Please make sure to leave yourself enough extra time to reach our depot in time depending on where you are coming from. Thanks!

Free wine and beer tasting on the train! Snacks and beverages are also available for purchase on the train. Bring a picnic lunch to eat on the train or in the Sunol Depot Gardens.

A wheel chair lift is available for those needing it or for those where the steps entering and existing our historic cars are challenging.

The train will run in any weather and includes open cars, covered open cars, and enclosed coaches. Our train is equipped with two full bathrooms onboard including one with a baby changing table. Porta-potties are available at our Sunol depot.

Trains depart only from Sunol at 10:30am, 12:30pm, and 2:30pm for this one day event.

It is a 1 hr. & 20 minute round-trip excursion.

No one will be able to to get on or off the train in Niles/Fremont.

Ticket prices Adult: $25 (13+ years old) Child: $15 (Ages 3-12)
Children 2 years of age and under do not need a ticket, but must sit in a lap.

Our Sunol gift shop will be open. We also welcome people to shop our online store before or after your trip.

We love pets, but only trained service animals are permitted to accompany their handler while riding our trains. We appreciate your understanding.

Please read over our COVID-19 Health and Safety policy before booking your tickets and before you arrive on our property.

One of the many items we have to restore, rehabilitate or replace are the driver tires for our Southern Pacific Railroad steam locomotive #1744. After removing the driving wheel sets from the locomotive’s frame over the past few months, we have now started and completed the process of removing the steel tires to allow for work on the driver centers and the eventual replacement of the tires.

Driver tires are designed to be replaced given they wear over time. Tires are interference fit on the driving centers which means the steel tire rings are actually smaller in diameter than the wheel centers. When heated, the expand enough to fit over the driver center and then when they cool, they shrink causing the interference fit. Occasionally shims are used to get a proper fit.

In our case, we need to first take off the old tires to allow for the driving centers and axles to be reworked before we install new tires. To do this, a propane gas “ring of fire” was constructed by our Steam Department volunteers to allow for even heating on just the outside of the tire during the process.

Our second challenge is that #1744 uses Stephenson valve gear. This type of steam locomotive valve control uses inner eccentrics attached to the center of one of the drivers. This makes it harder to deal with such a driver set since usually the plain axle center itself can be set on a stand to allow free access to the driving wheels themselves. With the eccentrics attached to the center of the axle, the alternative here was to stand the axle on end and allow gravity to aid in the removal of the tire.

Once in place, the ring of fire was lit and the removal process started; first allowing the tire to expand and be ‘helped’ off the driving center from some volunteer driven sledge hammers.

Here is a gallery of images that steps through the removal.

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After what amounted to about 20 minutes of heating and persuasion from the sledge hammers, the tire dropped off. Mission accomplished! The other 5 have now been removed as well across the #1744’s three sets of drivers.

We want to take a moment to thank the Candelaria Fund for providing a $30,000 grant to us to purchase the new tires for the #1744. We still needs funds for the driving center and axle work. Would you please consider a donation today to help fund this critical work to ensure #1744 has solid running gear for many years to come?

Thanks and please look for more updates soon!

The California Trolley and Railroad Corporation (CTRC), based in San Jose, will be relocating the former Southern Pacific Railroad steam locomotive, number 2479, and the Lenzen Roundhouse structure and turntable to the Niles Canyon Railway, operated by the Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA).

Built in 1923, Locomotive 2479 finished its active career pulling commuter trains between San Jose and San Francisco for the Southern Pacific Railroad. 2479 retired from service in 1956 and was donated Santa Clara County in 1958.

Since 1989, the volunteers of the Santa Clara Valley Railroad Association (Now named CTRC) have averaged over 5,000 hours per year on the restoration of SP 2479. This amounts to approximately twenty-five person years expended. To date it is estimated that 80% of the restoration effort has been completed to the locomotive.

The San Jose roundhouse, constructed in 1899 at Lenzen Avenue in San Jose, was used to house and maintain steam locomotives. Included with the roundhouse structure is a large water tower and an 80’ turntable used to rotate locomotives. The roundhouse and adjoining structures were used to maintain Southern Pacific locomotives and trains up until the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake when the roundhouse structure was deemed structurally unsound. The Lenzen Roundhouse was donated by Southern Pacific in 1994 for a proposed museum.

“Moving these important historical artifacts to the Niles Canyon Railway enables our organizations to better preserve the rail history of the Bay Area and to honor the thousands of hours donated by our volunteers. This partnership is an ideal opportunity to preserve these irreplaceable resources for future generations,” said Ken Middlebrook, CTRC president. “We greatly appreciate the vision of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for helping CTRC and PLA to realize a regional approach to the preservation of our shared history.”

“Our master plan has always included a roundhouse facility in Niles,” said Henry Baum, president of the Pacific Locomotive Association. “Both the roundhouse and locomotive are natural additions to our historic railroad collection. We will immediately begin to develop our Niles site focused around these incredible assets. A topological survey of our Niles site will be undertaken to allow design work to commence. PLA volunteer and Architect Randall Ruiz will be leading this design effort, assisted by Architect Marvin Bamburg who oversaw the deconstruction of the roundhouse when it was originally donated to Santa Clara County. The PLA will begin to aggressively search for the necessary grants and corporate sponsorships necessary to get this development project completed. We are also grateful to the CTRC Volunteers (most of whom are also PLA members) who will continue to work on returning this locomotive to being fully operational.”

To aid in these efforts, Steam Services of America, a national recognized steam locomotive contractor will manage the complexities of dismantling, moving, and reassembly of the 150-ton locomotive. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has funded the moving costs to occur over a three-year period. Once received, all of these Santa Clara County owned historical assets will be transferred to the Pacific Locomotive Association. Also included in this historic transfer of assets from CTRC are a 65-ton diesel locomotive acquired from Kaiser Permanente Cement, and necessary tools and equipment to complete the restoration and maintain the SP2479.

About the organizations

Pacific Locomotive Association
The Pacific Locomotive Association, an IRS 501(C )(3) community-benefit non-profit organization, is celebrating its 60th Anniversary in 2021. From a group of 6 friends who formed together to preserve the last aspects of steam railroading back in 1961, the PLA has grown to an organization that boasts almost 1000 members and many historic railroad artifacts that have been rescued and restored over the years. The PLA is an all-volunteer organization and has no paid staff. The PLA owns and operates the Niles Canyon Railway.

www.ncry.org

California Trolley and Railroad Corporation
Founded in 1982, the 501(C)3 non-profit California Trolley and Railroad Corporation is dedicated to preserving the historical railroad legacy of the Santa Clara Valley for the educational and recreational benefit of current and future generations. The CTRC currently operates vintage trolleys and a historic display of railroad equipment at History Park in San Jose.

www.ctrc.org

We have a lot of really unique preserved railroad equipment, and we also realize that we do not use some of this equipment very often. Thus it is hard for people to see all of the hard work our volunteers put into this equipment. So we are trying some new methods to share some of these great pieces virtually as ways to augment on online roster.

Recently we moved our restored California Western #200 motor car / doodlebug in Brightside yard; putting it in a great position to try this new 360 degree technology out.

So please hop aboard our M200 and take a look around by dragging the image with your mouse.

Inside the #M200

We hope you like what you see. We will be adding more to our online roster. We are also sharing some of our Niles Canyon Railway Facebook page which has great 360 image support.

You can also learn more about the M200 here.

Generous donors, the Farwell Family, have provided a matching gift opportunity to raise money to restore our GN ‘Hidden Lake’ Ranch Car #1242 to full service on our Niles Canyon Railway.

All donations through May 31, 2021 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $30,000.

 DONATE and DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT

Your donation will help fund the following work

Roof line steel replacement	Interior cement subflooring replacement	Electrical generator and trainline head-end power installation
New leather/cowhide seats	New historically correct patterned linoleum floor.	Exterior painting into the historic 1951 GN paint scheme
New rubber window seals	New interior paint	Running gear repairs

MAKE YOUR DONATION TODAY

To make your contribution online, please click here to donate.

We gladly accept donations by mail.                    

Please make checks payable to:
Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA)
P.O. Box 515
Sunol, CA 94586-0515

Add a note on the check where it says “Memo” in the bottom left corner “GN Ranch Car 1442”.

If you have questions or need any additional information, please contact us.

The Pacific Locomotive Association owns and operates the Niles Canyon Railway.

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We are incredibly grateful for your consideration-and for our wonderful benefactors, the Farwell Family, for this opportunity.
Thank you for being a part of our heritage railroad community.

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Progress to date of funds donated to be matched.
Update 5/23/2021

Recently there was a question by one of our members as to what was the first issue of our Pacific Locomotive Association member newsletter, ‘The Club Car”. Since we will be celebrating the PLA’s 60th anniversary (founded in 1961) this year, this seemed like a great question to research, and some of our crack members were on the answer quickly.

It appears the first issue to be called “Club Car” was actually the 10th Members’ Bulletin of the then fledgling Pacific Locomotive Association. It was a simple two page typed document published in December 1962. Of interest, it did highlight the PLA taking ownership of steam locomotive Howard Terminal #6 (Built as Sierra Railway #30). The issue is shown below as images for your interest.

We have an online archive of recent issues of the Club Car available at this link if you would like to see what is going on recently with the PLA and our Niles Canyon Railway. We do plan to add more of our historic archive soon so please stay tuned.

On Saturday, February 27, 2021, our Niles Canyon Steam Department teamed up with our Maintenance-of-Way Department to use a train powered by Robert Dollar Co. #3 in concert with our Burro Crane to help move some track panels that were stored just east of Verona Road to the end of track where they will be used to further extend our railroad into Pleasanton. With public steam rides upcoming starting in mid-March, this was a way for the Steam Department to check out the #3 while helping the MOW Department move their panels.

In the end, it was a great day out on the railroad for our volunteers and the #3 with lots of great teamwork. Here is a set of images from the operations across the day.

All photos by: Christopher R. Hauf – Used with permission.

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Recently on Facebook, we found a set of photos taken in 1984 by Mr. Jim Maurer of a visit to the Pacific Locomotive Association’s Castro Point Railway. Before the PLA came to Niles Canyon to start rebuilding a portion of the original Transcontinental Railroad in 1987 and formed the Niles Canyon Railway, the PLA operated a piece of railroad on US Navy property in Richmond, CA, and it was called the Castro Point Railway. Ultimately, that piece of railroad in Richmond was no longer available for the PLA to operate on, and all of the equipment was moved to storage and then to what is now our Niles Canyon Railway.

We hope you enjoy these photos from our past, and we thank Mr. Maurer for granting us permission to post his photos here on our blog.

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We were contacted by Mr. Tim Staten in 2020 who shared these great images with us. These are of his grandfather-in-law, Mr. Lacy Sparks, who was a Robert Dollar Co. locomotive engineer through the time he started with them until the time he retired. These are images of #3 and of Mr. Sparks.

We hope you enjoy these. We certainly do! Thank you Mr. Staten for sharing them with us!

You can learn about Robert Dollar Co. #3 via our online equipment roster here.

The Niles Canyon Railway winds through the canyon on a right-of-way first constructed in the late 1860s as part of the Transcontinental Railroad.   The volunteers, who operate and maintain the railroad, appreciate the scenic rural beauty and the freedom from high density living, just minutes away.  The railroad passes by very few homes and a lot of ranch land.  Because of its isolated nature, the railroad volunteers are the first to observe and report hazardous conditions on adjacent properties such as fallen trees, power lines, plugged stormwater culverts, and the occasional backyard brush fire.  They also encounter stray sheep, goats and cattle that have snuck through fences and wandered onto the right-of-way. 

On Sunday, January 17^th, 2021, two volunteers were working out in the canyon to clean up a very large oak tree that had broken in two, creating a fire hazard.  On their way, they spotted an adult cow that had slid down a hill, under a barbed wire fence and lodged itself between a couple of solid rocks at the base of the slope, 15 feet from our railroad tracks.  The animal was alive, alert, and laying on its side, but because of its position, was unable to get itself up.

Using a list of neighbors’ contact information maintained by our museum for such an emergency, the railroad volunteers were able to locate the correct cattle rancher and direct him to the site.  The ranch foreman arrived to assess the situation.  It was a cattleman’s worst nightmare; a downed (and possibly injured) animal weighing 500 to 600 pounds in a place inaccessible to trucks and trailers or horses and cowboys to deal with the scenario using the traditional methods.  Short of air-lifting the cow using a helicopter, there were no easy solutions to the problem.

Luckily, the railroad’s General Manager, and professional heavy equipment operator, Stephen Barkkarie, happened to be at home in nearby Sunol enjoying a well-deserved Sunday off.  He was contacted and arrived on scene with the railroad’s Caterpillar backhoe, which is specially equipped to be able to travel on railroad tracks.  Minutes later, the cattle owner and a crew of 4 cowboys arrived.  Two of them were wearing rowel spurs.  These guys were the real deal. 

In short order the ranch hands threaded a couple of nylon soft slings provided by the railroad under the cow, and attached them to the bucket of the backhoe.  The cow was hoisted onto a railroad maintenance “pushcar”, then transported on the tracks 1/4 mile to an access gate through an adjoining neighbor’s property where it was hoisted off onto an awaiting trailer.  It was very lucky that the neighbor happened to be working on the property at the time to permit access.  All indications are that the cow was not severely injured by the accident and will make a full recovery and will be suckling little calves of her own in the late Spring.

At a time when we are increasingly socially isolated from our neighbors, it is heartening to know that there are those who watch out for each other, and will take time out to lend a hand . . . or backhoe . . when the need arises.