Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad facts for kids

Roaring Camp Railroads

The Dixiana steam engine at Roaring Camp in 2023
Overview
Headquarters	Felton, California
Reporting mark	RCBT
Locale	Santa Cruz County, California, US
Dates of operation	1963–present
Technical
Track gauge	3 ft (914 mm)

The Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad is a special tourist railroad in California. It uses old-fashioned trains on a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge track, which is narrower than a standard railroad track. The journey begins at the Roaring Camp station in Felton, California. From there, the train chugs up steep hills through a forest of giant redwood trees. The trip ends at the top of Bear Mountain, which is about 3.25 miles away.

Most of the trains are pulled by real steam locomotives, some of which were built in the 1890s. These are among the oldest narrow-gauge steam engines in the United States that still carry passengers every day.

Because these engines are so special, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers recognized three of them as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1988.

History

In 1867, a businessman named Joseph Warren Welch bought a large piece of land called the Big Trees Ranch. He wanted to protect the giant redwood trees from being cut down by loggers. This was the first time land in California was bought just to save trees. Later, in 1930, the Welch family sold some of the land to Santa Cruz County. This land is now part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

This trestle bridge was damaged in a fire in 1976.

The Roaring Camp Railroad started running in 1963. It was founded by F. Norman Clark, who loved steam trains and wanted to share their magic with others. In 1958, he found an old engine called the Dixiana near a coal mine. He said it looked like a "rusty pile of junk." But he fixed it up, and it became the first engine to run on the new railroad. The tracks were carefully placed to avoid cutting down the beautiful redwood trees.

The Corkscrew Trestles and the Switchback

The railroad used to have two big wooden bridges, called trestles, that made a "corkscrew" loop. But in 1976, a fire destroyed them. The smoke from the fire could be seen all the way from San Francisco.

To fix the route, the railroad built a switchback in just six months. A switchback is a part of the track that zig-zags up a steep hill. The train goes forward up one part of the "Z," then backward up the next part. This allows the train to climb very steep slopes. Because of the switchback's design, trains can only have six cars at a time.

More Recent Events

After F. Norman Clark passed away in 1985, his wife, Georgiana Clark, took over the railroad.

In 2003, Roaring Camp held its first "Day Out with Thomas" event, featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. It was a huge success, with about 25,000 people visiting over three days.

In 2015, a train had an accident when it hit a stopping block on the switchback. A few people were hurt. Investigators found the cause was a mix of a mistake by the driver and a problem with the engine's controls.

The Locomotives

Roaring Camp has several steam engines. The ones you'll most likely see pulling trains are the two Shay locomotives. Sometimes, the Heisler engine is used. The oldest engine, "Kahuku," is smaller and is only used for special events.

Number	Name	Image	Builder	Type	Works number	Built	Acquired	Notes
#1	Dixiana		Lima Locomotive Works	Class B Shay	#2593	1912	October 1962	Working and in regular service.
#2	Tuolumne		Heisler Locomotive Works	2-truck Heisler	#1041	1899	1963	Working. From the West Side Lumber Company.
#3	Kahuku		Baldwin Locomotive Works	0-4-2ST	#10756	1890	1966	Working, used on special occasions. From a plantation in Kahuku, Hawaii.
#4	Waipahu			0-6-2T	15321	1897	1977	Sold to a theme park in Nikkō, Japan, in 1988.
#5	Bloomsburg		Climax Locomotive Works	Class B Climax	#1692	1928	1975	Not working. The railroad plans to rebuild it someday.
#6	Daisy		Lima Locomotive Works	Class B Shay	#2519	1912	1988	Not working.
#7	Sonora			Class C Shay	#2465	1911	1986	Not working, currently being repaired. From the West Side Lumber Company.
#40			Plymouth Locomotive Works	14-ton Diesel				Working. A diesel engine from Kaiser Steel.
#50			Davenport Locomotive Works	Diesel	#			Sold to the Colorado Railroad Museum.
#50 (2nd)			General Electric	25-ton Diesel Electric	#15816			Sold to a railway in Kauai, Hawaii in 2010.
#60				56-ton Diesel Electric	#33250			Sold to the Georgetown Loop Railroad in Colorado in 2010.
#?? (30?)			Whitcomb Locomotive Works					Sold in 2013.
#10			Milwaukee Locomotive Manufacturing Company	Motorcar				Working. From the West Side Lumber Company.

Special Historic Engines

Locomotive #2, the Tuolumne, is a Heisler engine.

Three of Roaring Camp's engines are so important they were named a National Mechanical Engineering Historical Landmark. These are special types of geared locomotives, which were designed to pull heavy loads up steep hills.

• Locomotive #1, Dixiana (a Shay locomotive): Built in 1912, this engine has a unique, lopsided look. That's because its boiler was built off-center to balance the weight of its three-cylinder engine.

• Locomotive #2, Tuolumne (a Heisler locomotive): Built in 1899, this was one of the last steam engines used to haul logs in Tuolumne, California. It is the oldest working Heisler engine in the world.

• Locomotive #5, Bloomsburg (a Climax locomotive): Built in 1928, this engine once worked for a lumber company in West Virginia. It is believed to be the last engine of its kind made by the Climax company that was used for logging.

See also

• List of heritage railroads in the United States
• Logging railroad
• Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway
• Santa Cruz Railroad
• U.S. common-carrier narrow gauges in the twentieth century