McCloud River Railroad
Photos from the Heritage Junction Museum of McCloud, Inc. Collection
Panama-Pacific Exposition Display Train


In 1915 the nation celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal with the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Three northern California lumber companies- the McCloud River Lumber Company of McCloud, the Weed Lumber Company of Weed, and the Red River Lumber Company of Westwood- banded together to sponsor a display at the exposition. The centerpiece of the display was a house that the three companies built entirely out of the products of their sawmills, including a fireplace constructed of volcanic rocks from the region. The McCloud River Railroad Company contributed a display train consisting of newly-acquired Baldwin locomotive #18, two flatcars loaded with the finest examples of Ponderosa Pine the McCloud woods could produce, a boxcar loaded with lumber from the McCloud mill, and caboose #015. Here are a series of photographs taken of the display train assembled in McCloud.


The display train ready to go in the McCloud yard. The logs have been fitted with protective coverings to keep them from splitting or discoloring while en route to San Francisco.


Another shot of the display train ready to go.


The train on the way through the woods towards the outside interchange.


A drawing of the train on display at the exposition. Drawing from a 1923 yearbook published by the McCloud River Lumber Company