Pacific Locomotive Association facts for kids
The Pacific Locomotive Association, Inc. (PLA) is a non-profit group. They work to save and show how trains and railroads looked and felt on the Pacific Coast between 1910 and 1960.
The PLA runs the Niles Canyon Railway. They also have old railroad items at the Niles Depot Museum in Fremont, California. The group owns many locomotives (train engines) and other railroad cars. Some of these are fully fixed up, and others are still being worked on.
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How the PLA Started
The PLA was started in 1961 by six people from the San Francisco area. They wanted to save parts of the old steam train era. They also wanted to run special train trips to interesting places using unique trains.
First Steps and Saved Trains
One of the PLA's first trips was in May 1961 to see the Howard Terminal Railway. They saw its last steam engine, No. 6, before it was retired. Three members bought this engine for $250. They promised it would "never be scrapped" (taken apart for scrap metal). This made No. 6 the first railroad item saved by the PLA.
The next month, they visited the Blake Brothers rail operation near San Francisco Bay. They even had to dig out the rails, which were covered in years of dust, to run a special train called a Heisler locomotive.
Official Start and Logo
The Pacific Locomotive Association officially formed in July 1961 in Burlingame, California. The first members were Charles Heimerdinger, Jr., Karl R. Koenig, Henry Luna, Thomas Eikrenkotter, Bart Gregg, and Robert Field. Henry Luna became the first president. Because there were six founding members and their first saved engine was No. 6, the PLA's logo looks like a train's number plate with a '6' in the middle.
Early Public Trips
In 1962, the PLA offered two public trips on the California Western Railroad. The first trip, from Ft. Bragg to Willits, sold out fast. So, they did it again a month later. The ticket, which included coffee and donuts, cost $6.35. The historic M200 "Skunk" train, built in 1926, was later bought by the PLA to save it from being scrapped. It now runs regularly on the Niles Canyon Railway.
In the mid-1990s, a group called "Project 2467 Inc." joined the PLA. This group was working to fix up and keep an old Southern Pacific steam locomotive, number 2467.
The Pacific News Magazine
The PLA used to send out a small news bulletin to its members. This grew into a full railroad news magazine called Pacific News. They sold copies and subscriptions to raise money. At first, one person wrote and printed it. But as more people wanted it, they started using a professional printer. The magazine eventually became its own company and was later renamed Pacific RailNews and then Rail News. It stopped being published in 1999.
More Trains Saved
In 1965, the PLA received two more steam locomotives as a gift from Connell Brothers Trucking. These were No. 5, a rare three-truck Heisler locomotive, and No. 12, which is the oldest known standard gauge three-truck Shay locomotive.
Moving to Castro Point
By 1967, the Blake Brothers quarry railroad, which the PLA had used, stopped its train operations. This railroad was then leased to the PLA for just one dollar a year. As the PLA got more old trains and cars, they moved them to this Castro Point Railway. In 1973, they made a deal to use tracks at the nearby Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot to store and fix their equipment.
Over the years, the PLA collected many historic trains: eleven steam locomotives, ten internal combustion locomotives, and over 35 passenger and freight cars. Many were fixed up and used on the Castro Point Railway. This train museum was open to the public from 1969 until December 1985. The U.S. Navy ended the agreement because they were worried about security.
The Niles Canyon Railway
As operations at Castro Point ended, the Southern Pacific Railroad was stopping service on its line through Niles Canyon. They gave the land to Alameda County. The County agreed to let the PLA use the Niles Canyon part of the land. This became the new home for the PLA's trains and operations.
PLA volunteers started laying new track using rails donated by the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad. The first part, between Sunol and Brightside, opened on May 21, 1988, using the California Western "Skunk" M200 train. By 1998, the tracks reached downtown Niles.
Today, the PLA runs the Niles Canyon Railway (NCRy). It's a seven-mile train ride through the beautiful Niles Canyon. Thousands of people visit the railway every year. Volunteers are still working to extend the tracks further east.
What the PLA Does Today
Today, the PLA has over 1000 members and supporters. Members can enjoy different railroad activities. Some like train trips to special places. Others enjoy meeting up at monthly meetings, special barbecues, and dinners. Many members help save railroad history by doing research, writing, taking photos, or working on the Niles Canyon Railway. People who don't live nearby also help by donating money to help the museum grow.
The PLA has continued to run public train trips on many California railroads, like the Sierra, Santa Fe, McCloud, and Union Pacific. Some trips have even taken members to Canada, Ecuador, Chile, Cuba, and China.
At Niles Canyon, all the work to fix up trains, expand the railway, and keep things running is done by PLA volunteers. This includes building and maintaining tracks, fixing locomotives and rail cars, and working on buildings. Tasks can be simple, or they can involve skilled work like being a mechanical technician, a train engineer, or part of the train crew.
