McCloud River Railroad : Passenger Operations: Excursion Photos

Burney Excursion Train
1995/1996

In late 1994 a group of Burney residents came up with an idea for an excursion train as a community fundraising event. Several civic groups and organizations came together to make the event happen, including the Boy Scouts, Lions and Rotary clubs, and others. The groups built small shelter structures for use as ticket and souvenier stations and loading ramps so that people could get on and off the train. Several other volunteers helped the McCloud Railway shop crews convert two more work flats into passenger flats, including mounting seats salvaged from a local theatre and sound systems. The trips would be run from the field adjacent to the Burney depot, which other volunteers cleared of vegetation, graded, and watered so that it could be used for parking.

The 1995 trips happened over the Memorial Day and July 4th holiday weekends. McCloud Railway transported the passenger equipment to and from Burney as part of regualar freights in the days around the excursions and sold one-way tickets for those trips. The Burney Excursion Trains used the #39, the three passenger flats, and the VIP caboose. The trips operated in push-pull fashion, with the #39 pushing the train out to Lake Britton and then pulling it back to town. The success of the trips prompted a repeat of the event in 1996, but the event fizzled out after that year.

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The train at the Burney depot. Steven D. Moore photo.

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