Since I was a kid camping and hiking in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California I would always survey the terrain as we drove and hiked. Each curve and grade an enticing challenge for steel wheels on steel rails. I'd imagined a route a railroad might have used to open up the vast interior of the high Sierra. Without a map, it's hard to imagine just how much open space there really is up there: Alpine meadows that are miles long and miles wide, saddles, valleys, canyons and of course snow-capped peaks.
Many years later I learned of the SP/Carson and Colorado narrow gauge that ran in the desert below the mountains. And then some years later still I learned of the Bodie and Benton RR that aimed to connect the California towns of Benton down in the Owens valley at about 5,300 feet with the gold rush town of Bodie a mere 3,300 feet higher. Through a series of switchbacks the railroad sidestepped down a near vertical mountain range to reach timber at lower altitudes in the Mono basin at around 6,300 feet. When the gold rush in Bodie dried up around the turn of the century, so did the plan to finish the line and connect with the C&C in Benton.
There is a stark beauty to the landscape of the Bodie and Benton, but it's not particularly compelling for me as my mostly desert modern UP line gives me this type of scenery in spades.
The end of the line on the B&B: Bodie, CA - now a ghost town.
But it does provide an operational framework for my idea that I will present here, for a freelance railroad of similar scope to the B&B, that I've dubbed the Horseshoe & Cottonwood. Named for the fictional towns it connects, places that are rooted very much in the real world, one hundred or so miles south of where the B&B ran. And like the B&B, the H&C aims to connect with the SP/C&C near Lone Pine, California to provide more operational interest depending on what era I finally choose for the layout. I've narrowed it down to the late 1890's or 1911. More on that later. And of course climbing the eastern face of the Sierra Nevada will hopefully provide some operational interest with the required switchbacks, gaining altitude from Owenyo at about 3,800 feet to the highest point on the line, Cottonwood Lakes at about 11,200 feet. Now that's a climb worthy of any Colorado narrow gauge!
The Space:
Every model railroader first has to contend with a few unfortunate laws of the universe, the principal being where do I build this thing? In my case the garage will always be reserved for my modern UP layout. There will be a certain synergy that the modern operations essentially model the same geographic area, just 100 or so years later! But lessons learned from scenery work, backdrops, colors, and ground cover will all be useful for the narrow gauge layout.
With the garage taken, that left a spare 15X15 room, plus a 10X10 office, and some space in the work room for the H&C. The multiple rooms work well for what essentially is a mainline with 2-3 branches at its ends. However holes in the walls will have to be kept to a minimum.
The Premise:
Like the B&B, the H&C exists because gold was discovered in a rather inhospitable place, high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In this case, in the Cottonwood Lakes basin springing forth the fictional town of Cottonwood Lakes. The lakes and the basin do exist in the real world at the nosebleed altitude of about 11,200 feet, right about at the tree line.
Site of the town of Cottonwood Lakes at Cottonwood Lake #1 looking west.
Topography view of the lake shown above with the line switch backing east down into the canyon.
Gold was discovered in the lakes basin in the 1890's, but the winters were brutal. Unlike Bodie, here heavy Sierra snow can stack up 10 feet without pause. A supply line was needed to keep the miners going year round and that means lots of plowing, shoveling, and plenty of wood fuel and other goods. Conditions are slightly less harsh down at Horseshoe Meadows, and there is plenty of flat land for a lumber mill and ample nearby timber.
Site of the town of Horseshoe Meadows along Horseshoe Creek.
What follows is a brief route guide from Cottonwood Lakes down to Cottonwood Junction and over to Horseshoe Meadows. After switch backing down into Cottonwood Canyon, the line passes a small wooded hollow named after John Muir. Muir Glen is the site of a few gold mines and mining cabins, but not much else.
From Muir Glen the canyon widens into a lush meadow where the Golden Trout Lumber camp is located. Its logs help keep the mill in Horseshoe Meadows busy. Today it's the site of the Golden Trout Fish Camp.
The canyon empties into a larger canyon at Cottonwood Junction where there is a wye and a small yard. Other industries here to be determined, but possibly another logging camp or mining enterprise. Trains can be broken up or put together here to be sent up or down the switchbacks in smaller chunks. Due east is the mainline down to Lone Pine and the C&C connection in Owenyo. The line heading southwest continues to Horseshoe Meadows.
From Cottonwood Junction the line crests Horseshoe Summit, ambles past the logging village of Last Chance Meadow before either continuing to the end of the line in the broad flatlands of Horseshoe Meadows, or taking the short branch line to the silver mining town of Round Valley.
The mainline's spectacular 5,000 foot drop into the Owens Valley will be explored in a future post. Essentially you have a gold mining town being supported by the larger town of Horseshoe Meadows, which will contain a mill, engine facilities, and about every other creature comfort you'd expect in the Wild West. The railroad is the lifeline for these towns with the rest of the world through the C&C down in the valley.
Thoughts welcome on the premise, any historical inaccuracies, or anything else that springs forth.
Next: The Layout Plans
