McCloud River Railroad Models

 Charlie Joslin's McCloud River Trucking Diorama

Charlie Joslin, who's layout is also featured on this page, completed in the late spring of 2023 a diorama of a moment in time of the railroad's existence. In 1962 Pacific Gas & Electric launched their massive Pit 6 and 7 hydroelectric projects, which included the Lake McCloud dam that diverted flow of the McCloud River south through a lengthy aqueduct and the intermediary Iron Canyon reservoir to a pair of new large powerhouses on the Pit River below Big Bend. The railroad received many carloads of supplies and equipment into both McCloud and Burney to support the project, and in 1962 the McCloud River Railroad incorporated the McCloud River Trucking Company to help with the delivery of supplies and materials to the project site. One of the first loads the new subsidiary hauled was a new dozer, and somewhere in the delivery process the railroad posed its new truck with its load for a photo.

Charlie started with an old Ulrich kit that he heavily modified and detailed. Charlie thanked his friends Justin Grim and Bruce Barney for help with other key parts of the project. The results are an incredible tribute to an interesting part of McCloud history and the people involved.

The photo that inspired the project, Sid Muma, Billy Pincin, and Jim Berryman posing with the dozer on the truck. Travis Berryman collection.

Charlie's replication of the photo in HO scale.

A larger view of the diorama, this one showing the photographer capturing the moment. Charlie has entered the diorama in several model railroad shows, and a photograph of the diorama made it into the pages of the August 2023 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.