California's Narrow Gauge Railroads

Bodie & Benton Railway.

3' Gauge. Mining activity entered a boom in the Bodie area in the 1880s, the Bodie and Benton Railway was constructed in 1887 to meet the demand for timber by logging the forests South East of Mono Lake. The B&B's main line stretched from Bodie navigating steep grades and two switchbacks down to Mono Mills and the company sawmill.

Bodie to Mono Mills, Mono County. 1887 - 1918

Carson and Colorado Railroad.

3' Gauge.Constructed by the Virginia and Truckee Railroad as a narrow gauge feeder, the Carson and Colorado operated nearly 300 miles of main line through some of Nevada's harshest climate ultimately reaching the Owen's Valley in California. The C & C operated under V & T control until 1900 when it was sold to the Southern Pacific becoming the Nevada and California Railway and later the Southern Pacific's "Slim Princess".

Mound House Nevada to Keeler California, Inyo County. 1881 - 1959

Colusa and Lake Railroad.

3' Gauge. Begun in 1885 to prevent Colusa, which had recently been bypassed by the Central Pacific from losing county seat status. The 9.7 mile Colusa was reincorporated a year later as the Colusa & Lake and expanded 12.3 miles to serve local sandstone quaries. By 1913 the the quarries had been replaced by other sources and the Southern Pacific and Northern Electric had constructed branches to Colusa that had sapped the freight and passenger service. The line was abandoned in May 1915. Colusa to Sites, Colusa County. 1885 - 1915

Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad.

3' Gauge. California's first common carrier. Constructed by farmers disgrunted over the Southern Pacific's tariff rates to their own port in Monterey bay.
Salinas to Monterey, Santa Cruz County. 1874 - 1879

Nevada County Narrow Gauge.

3' Gauge. Constructed to connect the mining region around Grass Valley and Nevada City with the Central Pacific in Colfax, the Nevada County Narrow Gauge has the distinction of being the longest operating common carrier in California.
Colfax to Nevada City, Nevada County. 1875 - 1942

North Pacific Coast Railroad.

3' Gauge. Constructed between 1874 and 1876 the NPC was constructed to reach valuable Redwood holdings of its financiers. Stretching from their ferry terminal in Saucalito to the vast logging country around Duncan's Mills the NPC was an important lifeline to the region and to San Francisco.

Saucalito to Duncan Mills, Sonoma and Marin Counties. 1874 - 1908

Pacific Coast Railway.

3' Gauge.



San Luis Obispo to Santa Maria & Los Alamos, San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara Counties. 1882 - 1941

San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada Railroad.

3' Gauge.The San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada was incorporated in 1882 to connect the growing population of Calaveras County and its farmers with the deep water ports of San Francisco. The line was completed in 1885 from Brack's Landing in the Sacramento River Delta with Valley Springs in the foothills, sold to the Southern Pacific in 1888 parts of the line surved late into the 20th century as the Southern Pacific's "Kentucky House Branch".

Brack's Landing to Valley Springs, San Joaquin County. 1882 - 1904

San Luis Obispo & Santa Maria Valley

3' Gauge.



San Luis Obispo to Santa Maria & Los Alamos, San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara Counties. 1875 - 1882

Stockton & Ione

3' Gauge.



Stockton to Ione (Proposed), San Joaquin & Amador Counties. 1874 - 1875

Sonoma Valley Railroad.

3' Gauge. Constructed from the route of the Sonoma Valley Prismoidal, the Sonoma Valley Railroad was the answer to Sonoma's desire for a railroad. With extensions to Glen Ellen and later Ignacio, for several years the line was a subsidary of Peter Donahue's San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad. In 1889, the Sonoma Valley Railroad merged with the SF&NP and was standard gauged in 1890.

San Pablo Bay to Glen Ellen, Sonoma County. 1878 - 1890

South Pacific Coast Railroad.

3' Gauge. Incorporated March 5, 1876 from an original concept of providing transportation to sell real estate in Newark, California, it became one of the most successful narrow gauge railroads in California. In 1887 it was sold to the Southern Pacific which operated the narrow gauge railroad until 1909.

San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties. 1876-1909.

Yosemite Shortline Railway.

30" Gauge. Incorporated in 1905 the Yosemite Short Line was proposed to connect Jamestown on the standard gauge Sierra Railway with Yosemite National Park and the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Construction was disrupted by the April 18, 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Portions of the route would later be used in construction of the Hetch Hetchy Railroad.
Jamestown to Yosemite (Proposed), Tuolumne County. 1905 - 1906

Diamond and Caldor.

3' Gauge.
Diamond Springs to Caldor, Eldorado County. 1900 - 1953

Empire City Railway.

30" Gauge.
Stanislaus County. 1906 - 1913

Johnson & Pollock Lumber Company.

30" Gauge.
Mt Hebron Area, Shasta County. 1885 - 1900

Marsh Lumber Company.

3' Gauge.
Sierra County. 1906 - 1917

Michigan California Lumber Company.

3' Gauge.
El Dorado County. 1885 - 1940

Molino Lumber Company.

30" Gauge. The Molino Timber Company was incorporated in 1911 as a subcontracting company of the Loma Prieta Lumber Company. Operating an incline with an elevation of 657 ft and a maximum grade of 67 percent the line operated a few years before its equipment was sold to the Loma Prieta Lumber Company.
Molino Station to Camp #3, Santa Cruz County. 1911 - 1920

Sanger Lumber Co.

3' Gauge. In 1895 the creditors of the failed Kings River Lumber Co., reorganized the company as the the Sanger Lumber Company. Operations were moved 5 miles east of the former mill site at Millwood, to the Converse Basin. The company operated in the red over the next 10 years and was ultimately sold in 1905 to Thomas Hume and Ira Bennett, becoming the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company. Converse Basin. Tulare County. 1895 - 1905

Sierra Lumber Company.

Meter Gauge. Formed through the consolidation of 3 different logging interests, the Sierra Lumber Company constructed and operated several horsedrawn tramways. In 1880 a tramway near Lyonsville was converted to a strap iron railroad and by 1900 the operation was profitable enough to build a second line along Chico Creek. In 1907 the company became part of the Diamond Match Company.

Operations Near Lyonsville and Chico Creek. Butte, Tehama and Plumas Counties. 1881 - 1907

Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Co.

3' and Standard Gauge.
Nevada County. 1880 - 1936

Sloat Lumber Company.

30" Gauge.
Sloat, Plumas County. 1917 - 1936

Spanish Peak Lumber Company.

30" Gauge.
West of Quicy, Plumas County. 1920 - 1935

Towle Brothers Lumber Company.

3' Gauge. Constructed during the 1880s the Towle Brothers operated a vast narrow gauge system out of Towle station along the Central Pacific. By the late 1890s the lumber supply began to dwindle and the Towle Bros relocated their operation to Fulda. In 1902 shortly after George Towle's death the family sold the operation to the Reed Lumber Co. of Canada.
Towle to a point near Omega, Nevada County. 1885 - 1900

West Side Lumber Company.

3' Gauge.

Tuolumne to a point near Cherry Lake, Tuolumne County. 1899 - 1960

Bully Hill Railroad

30" gauge

Shasta County.

Dairy Farm Mining Company

3' gauge

Sheridan, Yuba County.

El Dorado Lime & Mineral Co.

Started as a narrow guage feeder line for the Central Pacific's Placerville branch, this was a very short line operated by two shay locomotives and connected at a place called Bullard. Later on, Southern Pacific standard guaged the line and operated it till the mid 1980's with the rail removed shortly thereafter.
Bullard's to Sprecklesville, El Dorado County. 1910 - 1918

Iron Mountain Railway

3' gauge

Shasta County.

Merced Gold Mining Company.

3' gauge

Coulterville, Mariposa County.

Old Mission Portland Cement

3' gauge

San Juan Bautista, Santa Cruz County.

Santa Cruz Portland Cement

3' gauge

Davenport, Santa Cruz County.

State Belt Railroad.

While not fully a narrow gauge, the State Belt did operate an expansive dual gauge trackage system along the waterfront in San Francisco serving the Central/Southern Pacifc, North Pacific Coast and South Pacific Coast Railroads.
San Francisco, San Francisco County. 1890 - 1915.

United States Gypsum

3' gauge

Plaster City, Imperial County.

Yellow Aster Mining Company

3' gauge

Randsburg, Kern County.

Epsom Salts Railroad

Monorail.

Near Trona, San Bernardino County.

Sonoma Valley Prismoidal.

Monorail. Considered to be the first monorail system in California, the Sonoma Valley Prismoidal operated a short 6 months before being converted to 3' gauge rails as part of the Sonoma Valley Railroad.
Norwalk to Schelleville, Sonoma County. 1876