|
McCloud River Railroad : Passenger Operations
Special Excursion Photos |
|
|
 |
The #25 passing one of the more popular photo spots for railfan photographers with a 1971 excursion. Lee F. Hower photo. |
|
|
The Nevada County Narrow Gauge hosted the first organized railfan excursion in the west on 16 May 1937. The trip sparked the creation of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, which started organizing railfan excursions on other roads. The growing number of railfans in the region formed several other organizations, which started chartering an increasing number of railfan trips around the west after the end of World War II. The combination of the spectacular scenery, friendly management and employees, and the #25 made the McCloud River one of the more popular steam excursion operations in the west between 1948 and 2009. Three railfan and rail preservation groups, the Northern California Railroad Club (NorCal), the Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA), and the California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society (Cal-Nev) became the principal organizers of railfan trips over the McCloud between 1948 and 1975. While many of these trips targeted the railfan community, an increasing number of them sold tickets to the general public as tourist railroads became increasingly popular in the 1960s. A number of mostly local groups and the Great Western Railroad Museum sponsored the excursion revival from 1982-1986. Trains Unlimited Tours became an important organizer of McCloud Railway excursions in the middle 1990s, and the McCloud Railway Company itself operated many of the excursions in the last years. Below are pages with photos and information of some of the McCloud excursions through the years. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all special excursions the railroads ever operated. |
|
|
|
|
|
|