Niles Canyon Railway

Soon the three shall meet... As for this past Saturday in our Brightside car shop, Southern Pacific #9010's newly rebuilt Maybach prime mover in its recently applied fresh paint sits on its maintenance stand with the locomotive behind it and photographed through the rear engine hood that has been temporarily removed for prime mover install. You can learn more about the 9010 by starting on our NCRy website: https://www.ncry.org//collec/diesel/southern-pacific-9010/

An extremely rare event happened just by chance on May 11, 2005 - three restored Western Pacific Geeps met out on the mainline 23 years after Western Pacific was purchased and absorbed into the Union Pacific Railroad. Pacific Locomotive Association/Niles Canyon Railway’s WP #713 was on lease to the Richmond Pacific Railroad when Feather River Rail Society #707 and 2001 made a trip from Portola to San Francisco to assist with the move of Golden Gate Railroad Museum equipment from Hunters Point. Richmond Pacific brought the 713 out alongside the Southern Pacific Cal-P mainline in Richmond to stage this rare onetime meet.

Another milestone and one of the final ones before the Maybach is reunited with our Southern Pacific 9010...

Want to read up on the latest in our newsletter, The Club Car? The latest edition and the previous editions from 2019 and 2020 are available on our website to read: https://www.ncry.org/about/newsletter/

Please do not let this chance roll by... Ride the #7 for the #1744 photo specials are coming on December 5&6. Do not miss your chance to ride behind and photograph the #7 pulling a period freight train through Niles Canyon while following along on a period diesel powered train. $150 per ticket for one of the two days. Tickets limited to 40 photographers each day. Box lunch and tour of the Niles Canyon Raiilway steam shops and our new SP #1744 included. All proceeds go to supporting the #1744's restoration. Full details and links to the online ticket sales are available on our website here: https://www.ncry.org/ride/ride-the-7-for-the-1744/ Thanks for your support.

Did you miss the chance to ride with us in September or October since our remaining October trains are sold out? Have no fear! We have added two weekends of diesel powered daytime special trains for November. Two trains per day Saturdays and Sundays. Presale tickets only with all of the information available and ticket sale inks on our website here: https://www.ncry.org/ride/specials2020/ We hope you will come out for a ride this November!

This August 1989 Brian Wise photograph of Brightside show a lot of volunteer activities happening. A track crew backhoe is busy excavating roadbed in preparation for a new siding. On the track next door, the mechanical department is replacing a Caterpillar engine in AT&SF General Electric 44 tonner. Closer to the photographer, one of the old Adam’s open cars is having brake work completed by the car department. A lot of volunteer work documented in one picture.

Come ride behind steam at dusk or during the day with our upcoming steam rides over the next two weekends (10/10, 10/11, 10/117 & 10/18) followed by a weekend of diesel powered trains (10/24 & 10/25). Online tickets only. All the details and links to purchase tickets available on our website at: https://www.ncry.org/ride/specials2020/

Operating historic equipment means maintenance sometimes requires relearning methods and techniques that have been long lost with the retirement of this 100 year old equipment. In the winter of 1998, NCRy volunteers are rolling a truck back under our Western Pacific Coach #315 after many months of repairs to the truck including box work, new pedestal guides and wheels. In addition to the work, months of research were required to find the best repair techniques to make these repairs. Just another day on the NCRy.

Ride with us in October and experience steam railroading up close! With open cars on both ends of the our train and one in the middle, there is plenty of space to look and listen to #7 as its pulls your train through Niles Canyon. Two weekends of steam followed by a Halloween themed weekend pulled by our historic diesels. Online tickets only so visit here for all of the info and links to purchase. https://www.ncry.org/ride/specials2020/

Early Brightside photograph of the track crew tamping a switch just west of the tipple before it was sheeted over as a building to become the shop. Where the crew, Jeff, Ken and Jeff are working is now where the car shop is located. Photograph by Brian T Wise, August 1989.

After a successful first set of steam powered rides in September which were the first since the COVID-19 pandemic and its shelter-in-place orders went into effect, the Niles Canyon Railway is pleased to be able to offer a second set of planned special train rides in the month of October. We are thrilled to be able to welcome you back for these two weekends of special steam trips behind Columbia River Belt Line Railway #7, the Skookum, and a third weekend behind the museum's historic diesel locomotives where families are welcome to join us in family friendly Halloween costumes if they wish. Costumes are NOT required to enjoy the ride, however. More details and links to ticket purchasing is available on our website. All tickets must be purchased online in advance. https://www.ncry.org/ride/specials2020/

Our all volunteer crews are looking forward to getting back on our trains today and tomorrow for the second weekend of our September steam train rides. All of our rides this weekend are sold out. We will hopefully be announcing some more opportunities to ride in the near future. We looking forward to hosting our riders today and tomorrow and hope everyone has a good weekend.

It is 9/18 so we thought we would celebrate again this year with a view of our ex-Western Pacific Railroad EMD F-7 #918-D. We thought we would give you a different perspective this year looking out of the 918's unique bulldog nose cab at our Niles yard along with the Union Pacific Railroad mainline as the 918 was awaiting departure east a few years back. You can learn more about the 918 on our website here: https://www.ncry.org//collect/diesel/western-pacific-918d/

Let's go way back for Throwback Thursday! This great Yosemite Valley Railroad photo from October of 1943 was shared today in another group. The first car behind the engine we believe is our Yosemite Valley Railroad Railway Post Office/Baggage car #107 complete with its Baker Heater expansion tank mounted to the roof. The #107 is currently safe in our Brightside Yard waiting restoration. You can learn more about the #107 here: https://www.ncry.org//colle/passenger/yosemite-valley-107/ Thanks to Mr. Schwoerer for sharing this great photograph.

We want to thank our friends TSG Multimedia for this great interview video they did recently with our Niles Canyon Railway/PLA President, Henry Baum, as they walked around our Brightside yard to highlight some of the history of our equipment and talk about how you can come help us on our Niles Canyon Railway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HuHQKXQtOo