In summer of 2020, the Lumber Camp expansion was completed. The project included a massive new steel Lumber Camp Bridge, Redwood Trestle, and long circular approach.
Caboose Route Expansion
A massive multi-year expansion was completed in 2024 with the construction of the new Caboose Route. This entire route added 3,650 feet of track that ends in a loop around a full size caboose, with spectacular views of the lake and main yards. Numerous trestles and bridges wind in and around the existing track, giving the railroad a certain kind of intrigue as trains will get a view of each other coming and going much more often as the center of the track becomes a spaghetti-bowl of route options.
The project had many sub-projects including—but not limited to: the Lumber Camp Bridge, Loop and North Spur; the Alpine Crossover bridges (a set of 5 bridges); the Silver Bridges, the Redwood Canyon Bridge and Tunnel, the Redwood Trestle; and the Caboose Loop.
Small Building Refurbishment
We continually refurbish our small buildings and towns along the right-of-way. This is done in our workshop or, at members’ homes.
Railroad Tie Replacement
We have a long term project to upgrade all track panel ties from wood to plastic. All newly installed track panels use longer lasting plastic ties. As we perform track maintenance we upgrade existing panels to use new ties. We also upgrade active weathered sections of track periodically as time and manpower allows.
The first 3 photos show our older process of joining prebuilt panels built in the shop, transported to the field and then joined together.
The last 3 photos show our latest/greatest process of upgrading existing rail in place without using prebuilt panels. This process has been refined with more reliable results. At the same time we are shifting the offset between joints on opposing rails from 8” to 5’.
North Yard Mountain Route Crossover
In June 2019 we completed a new crossover allowing trains from the steaming bays and the North Yard to exit out directly onto the mountain route. Before trains had to first go around the lake route before heading out to the mountain route.
