CASTRO POINT TO THE CANYON: A HISTORY OF THE
PACIFIC LOCOMOTIVE ASSOCIATION

by Ed Kelley

ex-Clover Valley Lumber Co. 2-6-6-2T #4, Pickering 3-truck Heisler #5, and Quincy 2-6-2T #2 pose for the cameras during a foggy Bay Area day in 1979. Photo-Gary Jones

Mainline steam in the San Francisco Bay Area had been retired for some time by 1960, and the majority of steam left in service was relegated to industrial switching and terminal operations. The end of steam was near, but a group of Bay Area railroad enthusiasts sought to prevent it from fading into the past. In a basement, six young men founded an organization which would give birth to an operating railroad museum dependent entirely on volunteers, and in whose possession is one of the most diverse collections of historic railroad equipment in the country; a group which would operate a successful tourist railroad for more than a decade, return an SP Pacific to full operation, and reconstruct more than ten miles of the original transcontinental route through Niles Canyon. This one-of-a-kind group is the Pacific Locomotive Association.

The humble beginnings of the PLA involved the sponsorship of numerous fan trips on the remaining steam-operating railways in Northern California. Such trips included the last runs of the Feather River Railway’s 90-ton Shays before the canyon was flooded in the Oroville Dam project, the first winter steam special on the McCloud River Railroad, and the opening ceremonies of Norman Clark’s narrow-gauge Roaring Camp & Big Trees in Felton. Despite all the amazing trips taken in the early days of the PLA, it was two that would lead the group’s direction and change their future plans.

Former Howard Terminal 2-6-2T #6, originally a tender engine as-built for the Sierra Railway, was the PLA's first acquisition. Here, #6 poses for a formal portrait on the Castro Point Railway in 1970 (left-postcard view). Steptoe Valley #3, a Porter 0-4-0T, during an early steam-up. The tipple, left behind by the Blake Bros. quarry operation, was converted into a small enginehouse for the CPRy (middle-Brian Wise photo). Ex-Pickering 3-truck Heisler #5 was the second locomotive put into service on the Castro Point (right-Brian Wise photo)

The Howard Terminal Company of Oakland still rostered their 1922 Baldwin 2-6-2T, #6, originally built as a tender engine for the Sierra Railway. The Sierra was started in 1897 to serve California’s “Mother Lode”; the rich, gold-producing region which drew “forty niners” from around the world in the 1850s. The railway began with an 1891 Rogers-built 4-6-0 acquired second-hand from the Prescott & Arizona Central Railroad, run by one of the railway’s key financiers. (that original locomotive, #3, was made famous in numerous motion picture and television productions and still survives today). In 1922, the Sierra ordered a light logging Prairie to replace geared power on the squirrelly “Angel’s Branch” between Jamestown and Angel’s Camp, the #30. The Sierra even had diminutive wooden “shorty” passenger coaches built for the line, which have been seen by millions behind “Movie Queen” #3 as part of the typical film consist. The Howard Terminal purchased #30 from the Sierra after the 1937 abandonment of the Angel’s Branch, where it replaced a smaller 0-6-0T. The locomotive initially ran as a tender engine, but it was later fitted with saddle tanks and its tender scrapped. In addition, the firing manifold was moved to the right side of the cab to allow for operation by a single engineman. PLA members visited the Howard Terminal a handful of times, and after #6’s retirement in 1962, enough money had been pooled between the six founders and friends to purchase the locomotive for $750. It was trucked to Crow Canyon Park in Castro Valley, where a volunteer restoration effort began.

Another PLA fan trip was a visit to the Blake Brothers quarry operation at Castro Point, north of Oakland in Contra Costa County. Originally chartered as the Castro Point Railway & Terminal Company, the line ran for about three miles along San Francisco Bay from the interchange with the Santa Fe via the Richmond Belt Railway. In the shadow of the Richmond-San Rafael bridge sat a small two-truck Heisler, which was still maintained in the event that the company’s early Whitcomb gas-mechanical should cause trouble. The Heisler was steamed up during the PLA’s visit and run light along the scenic route, and even offered for sale to the organization. While the Heisler would move on elsewhere, the PLA later sought after and was granted trackage rights from Quarry Products (Blake Bros’ parent company) to establish their “operating museum”. Equipment began to arrive at the new “Castro Point Railway” in 1967, and in May of 1967, a restored #6 pulled the first train over the PLA’s new railroad. The locomotive would continue operations at Castro Point for three more seasons until its mechanical state brought it to be pulled from service. Work began in the later days at Castro Point to return it to its original appearance on the Sierra as a tender engine, and it is hoped it will someday run again on the PLA’s Niles Canyon Railway.

Former Pickering Lumber #5 in service at Castro Point (left-Brian Wise photo). ex-Howard Terminal #6, as a 2-6-2T (middle-Brian Wise photo) and as a tender engine on the Sierra (right-PLA collection).

By the time a site had been established at Castro Point, the PLA had already added even more historic locomotives to their collection. In 1964, a PLA member had purchased an “ugly duckling”; a Porter 0-4-0T built for the Steptoe Valley Mining & Smelting Company of McGill, Nevada, not far from Ely. Its smokebox-length saddle tank and low cab gave it a flat profile, well suited for industrial tunneling operations but not to please tourists on a public railroad. Sent to be cut up, little #301 was spared from the scrapper’s torch when the junker went out of business before getting the job done. The engine and the remains of an ore car were sent to the Western Railroad Museum in Rio Vista Junction, where the PLA at one time toyed with the idea of making a joint museum with the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association. The Porter arrived at Castro Point in 1967, where work began to return it to operation. A ‘tender’ was later built to haul extra wood fuel, a taller cab and balloon stack were added, and the saddle tank was cut back from the smokebox. The locomotive was operable by 1970, but the restoration would not be completed until 1980, at which point its owner donated it outright to the PLA.

Former Pickering Lumber Company #5, a three-truck Heisler, arrived at Castro Point in 1967 and became the second locomotive to operate there in 1970. Arriving at the same time was former Pickering Shay #12, built in 1903 for the Sierra Railway and used on their “Angel’s Branch” until being displaced by the PLA’s own #30 (6). The 12 holds the title as the oldest three-truck Shay in existence, and for a time, also the oldest operating Shay in the world. Numbers 5 and 12 had been sold by the Pickering to a Stockton trucker who planned to sell the locomotives to Cuba, though the cold war nailed the lid onto his idea. It was from the party in Stockton from which the PLA acquired the locomotives. The lengthy restoration of #12 was completed with much celebration in 1984, which including a fresh coat of burgundy paint after a patch of the original paint tone had been found beneath the cab toolbox. The Pickering painted their locomotives this unusual color for a time to prevent their engines from being blamed for starting fires!

A PLA favorite arrived in 1971 in the form of a 1924 ALCO ( Schenectady) 2-6-2T. The #2 was built to serve the Quincy Railroad Company, a shortline serving the timber industries of the Feather River region with a connection to the Western Pacific. Retained by the QRR as backup power and for occasional excursions, it was purchased by a PLA member in 1970, and put into service at Castro Point in 1973.

Quincy Railroad Co. #2 poses beside Jim Boynton's ex-Hobart Southern #8 at the depot in Quincy, CA in 1958 (left-Dave Loyola collection) #2 at Castro Point (middle-Brian Wise photo) Since 1993, the #2 has been the sole operable steam locomotive at Niles Canyon, although that will soon change (right-Dave Loyola photo)

The only articulated locomotive in the PLA’s collection, 2-6-6-2T #4, arrived at Castro Point in 1973. A 1924 Baldwin product, this compound Malley was built for the Clover Valley Lumber Company of Loyalton, CA and later under the Feather River Lumber Company. When that company switched to trucks in 1957, #4 was purchased by the Tahoe Timber Company near Reno for use as a stationary boiler. Negotiations by a PLA member lead to the locomotive’s donation to the PLA in 1973. Two truckloads from Reno transported #4 to Richmond; the front, low-pressure running gear on one truck and the rest of the locomotive on the other. Years in stationary service did severe damage to the superheater units, which were soon repaired by volunteer labor. The locomotive was put into service in 1978.

That same year, Heisler #5 picked up a special arrival at the end of the line; former Southern Pacific 0-6-0 #1269. Built at the company’s Sacramento Shops in 1921, the locomotive had sat on display at a Richmond park since its 1957 retirement. A restoration effort started soon after was completed in just two years, when the 1269 returned to service on the Castro Point Railway. One year later, it was brought to Sacramento to participate in the California State Railroad Museum’s inaugural Railfair ’81, and remained in service on the Sacramento Southern for another decade. It was returned to the PLA in sorry shape in 1995.

ex-Santa Catalina Co. Plymouth #103, "the Dinky", coupled to ex-Clover Valley Lumber #4 and train to prove a point (lots of sand, but it pulled the whole train!) (left-Brian Wise photo). ex-Clover Valley #4 leads a passenger train on the Castro Point in 1982 (middle-Dan Furtado photo). #4 brings a train back to army base at Point Molate on the Castro Point Railway. The railroad's yard was first established at the base of the Richmond-San Rafael bridge in the background of this photo (right-Dan Furtado photo)

Often forgotten are two other notable pieces which are or were in the PLA’s collection. The first, former Central Pacific #233, was a 2-6-2T “Suburban” tank engine built by master mechanic A.J. Stevens at the company’s Sacramento Shops for Oakland commute service. The sole survivor of its type, it was donated to the PLA by the City of Oakland after years on display. The locomotive’s lap-seam boiler made it a poor candidate for a return to operation, but it was cosmetically restored at Castro Point. It was stored at Brightside Yard on the Niles Canyon Railway until traded to the California State Railroad Museum for ex-SP commute coaches. The second piece, former Pickering Heisler #1 was acquired in 1985 after being stored on Monterey’s Cannery Row and is one of three pieces in the PLA collection still not yet at Niles Canyon. Its previous owner moved it to Monterey’s Cannery Row with intentions of using it to haul a tourist train along the old SP right-of-way through Pacific Grove, Asilomar, and Lake Majella. Needless to say, the operation never came to be, and the locomotive’s presence in Monterey brought only years of corrosion from the saturated salt air. In deplorable shape, its main purpose will be as a parts donor for #5 when returned to service.

In addition to the historic steam locomotives of the PLA collection, the group also owns several historic diesels as well as two gas-mechanical locomotives, including a Plymouth JLA (affectionately called “The Dinky”), a Baldwin S-12, 1925 Blake Bros. Whitcomb, ex-AT&SF 44-ton #462, Southern Pacific SD-9 #5472 and and GP-9 #5623 (privately owned by Howard Wise and CMO Errol Ohman), Western Pacific F7 #918 and GP-7 #713, and California Western “Skunk” railbus M-200. SP numbers 5623 and 5472, along with WP #918 were rebuilt by PLA volunteers and stored for several years at the PLA's storage site at the Oakland Army Base until arriving during the “Big Move” of January, 2005.

Former Central Pacific 2-6-2T #233, built by A.J. Stevens at the Sacramento Shops for Oakland commute service, cosmetically restored at Castro Point. 50+ years since last steamed, it has since been traded to the California State Railroad Museum (left-Brian Wise photo) Former Southern Pacific #1269 was pulled from static display at a Richmond park and brought to Castro Point for restoration (middle-being towed from the interchange, Gary Jones photo). After a brief stay at Castro Point (right-PLA view), the operable 1269 was transferred to the Sacramento Southern Railroad. It remains in PLA ownership and is stored at Brightside Yard, inoperable.

Over the course of sixteen years, the PLA was able to build and operate their impressive collection. Volunteers ran their “operating museum” on the first Sunday of each month, offering the chance for all to experience a working steam locomotive. In 1971, PLA members were involved in the brief revival of the Pickering’s logging railroad as the “Sugar Pine Railway”, returning Shay #7 to service over Labor Day Weekend of that year with the possible prospects of establishing a tourist operation there. (the 7's owner later stored it at Castro Point and Shinn Street) The PLA later was contracted as concessionaires by the State of California to operate the steam locomotives of the Sierra Railway out of Railtown 1897 State Park in Jamestown, and the Sacramento Southern at the new state railroad museum at Old Sacramento, using their own #1269.

In 1985, the PLA took the biggest blow in its 40+ year history; eviction from the government at its Castro Point site. Engines 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 12, as well as the Blake Brothers engine, were stored on county property beside the UP at Peralta Blvd. and Shinn Street in Fremont. In 1986, numbers 2 and 12 were invited to participate in “SteamExpo” at Vancouver’s Expo ’86, where visitors from around the world viewed them over the course of the event before they returned to storage. Steptoe Valley #3 and “Skunk” M-200 were stored in scenic Niles Canyon, with the #3 participating as an ambassador to the organization at a few events such as the Railfair held on San Francisco’s Embarcadero in 1987.

ex-Steptoe Valley #3 crossing the road at Molate Beach (left-Dan Furtado photo). During its brief tenure of operation at Castro Point in 1983-84, former Pickering/Sierra Shay #12 was the oldest operating Shay in the world (middle-by Nils Huxtable, courtesy PLA). #12 and #3 pass at the interchange above San Francisco Bay (right-Ken Rattenne photo)

Of course, the organization immediately began seeking a new site to operate their collection…and one that interested the group most was the recently-abandoned Southern Pacific route through Niles Canyon. Started in the 1860s to connect the Bay Area to what would be the newly-completed transcontinental railroad at Sacramento, the route was originally begun by a company called the Western Pacific (no relation to the more recent WP), who went bankrupt in the process. The Central Pacific purchased and completed the route between Niles and Tracy, finally linking the Bay Area with the rest of the nation. The Southern Pacific acquired the narrow-gauge South Pacific Coast before the turn of the century, and converted the entire line from Alameda to Santa Cruz to standard gauge, giving them another route to Oakland along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. Trackage rights of the Western Pacific (later Union Pacific) alignment on the other side of the canyon lead to the abandonment of the line in the early 1980s. The last rails were taken up by 1986, and the land donated to Alameda County.

From the county, the PLA was able to get a hold of the now-barren right-of-way. In 1987, volunteers arrived at a point of the line known as Brightside to begin the process of relaying approximately 1.5 miles of trackage to the town of Sunol, the first phase of the PLA’s Niles Canyon Railway. An abandoned Kailite tipple, remaining from the former Kaiser quarry at Brightside, was converted into a spacious two-stall enginehouse on the bottom floor and a machine shop on the top. In 1988, the M-200 was moved onto the new railroad from private storage near GE’s Vallecitos Nuclear Center in Pleasanton. Steam returned to Niles Canyon in 1989 in the form of little Steptoe #3, pulling a single car (the ex-Mt. Tamalpais gravity car which often accompanied it in service on both the CPRy and NCRy). After the typically wood-burning #3 was fired on coal for a day, the local EPA quickly took action after black smoke wafted through the canyon, resulting in the conversion to oil firing in 1991.

No longer Howard Terminal #6 with the removal and scrapping of its saddle tanks, ex-Sierra Railway #30 is seen under restoration at Castro Point in 1983 (left-John Goldie photo). Quincy #2 passes ex-California Western "Skunk" railbus M-200 at the NCRy's Brightside Yard (middle-author's photo). The PLA's ex-Southern Pacific #2467 under steam at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyards in San Francisco, former home of the Golden Gate Railroad Museum (right-Dave Loyola photo). It is now displayed at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

In 1990, Quincy Railroad #2 was loaded up at the county storage yard on Shinn Street and brought to the new shop at Brightside. Over the course of two years, the locomotive was rebuilt for service at Niles Canyon, running for the first time in the Canyon in 1992. With the exception of a two-year period (2000-2002) where another significant rebuild was performed, the locomotive has been in service every season since at Niles Canyon and remains operable today. After the #2’s arrival, the tired #3 was displaced from the roster. It operated on a loop of track at the Oakland Railfair of 1993 before being returned to Brightside and disassembled, a state in which it currently remains. A ‘new’ boiler was acquired from a similar Porter teakettle for use if the locomotive is returned to service.

Meanwhile, the majority of the PLA’s collection still sat in storage off property. Every year since the PLA arrived at Niles Canyon, the trackage continued to expand, finally reaching the western end of the line at downtown Niles. A connection to “live” rail was essential to connect the NCRy to the transcontinental network, the vital key in bringing the remaining equipment to Brightside Yard. After years of outdoor storage across the street, engines 4, 5, and 12 were moved into a warehouse adjacent to the “live” spur serving U.S. Gypsum. The rusty Pickering #1 and Blake Brothers engine remained at the county storage yard, and are still there today.

ex-Pickering #s 5 and 12, as well as ex-Clover Valley Lumber #4, were relocated from indoor storage at a U.S. Gypsum warehouse on Shinn Street (left-author's photo). #2467 displayed at the California State Railroad Museum in March, 2006 (middle-author's photo). Work was progressing well on ex-Robert Dollar Co. #3 over the winter of 2004-5 (right-Johnathon Kruger)

The PLA arranged the return of the original Sunol depot to the downtown landscape, which was relocated back to the site and restored once again by an all-volunteer effort. The railroad’s gift shop, for many years housed in a boxcar, was moved into the building…ending the practice of having to bring the boxcar down to the loading area every run day. In 1999, the PLA added to its steam collection for the first time in more than a decade when it accepted donation of former Robert Dollar Co. #3 (1927 ALCO 2-6-2T) from the Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista Junction. Still seeking a live rail connection, rails were extended across Kilkare Road towards the proposed interchange site at Hearst. Finally, in 2004, the connection at Hearst was finally complete…and the Niles Canyon Railway connected to the mainline. Three Budd coaches (converted from RDCs) leased from CalTrain became the first pieces of equipment to use the interchange when they were picked up by little Quincy #2 and taken back to Brightside.

After much coordination and planning, a move which began in 1985 was nearly two decades later on January 8, 2005, when all remaining PLA equipment at Oakland was made up into a hospital train and run to Niles Canyon. Headed by the PLA’s own #5472 with volunteer/UP engineer Lou Bradas in the cab, the train crossed over the interchange at Hearst and dropped off the majority of the equipment before heading to Shinn Street to pick up engines 4, 5, and 12 from U.S. Gypsum. By the time the tired crew tied up and headed home, all had safely arrived at Brightside Yard.

ex-Quincy Railroad Co. #2 passes through the semaphores Eastbound towards Sunol on the last steam run of the 2005 season, October, 2005 (left-Mark Franz photo) The PLA's diverse diesel collection showcases some of the best diesel restorations around (middle-Dave Loyola photo) The PLA relocated the original Sunol depot, absent from trackside for decades, and painstakingly restored the structure (right-Author's photo)

Beginning in the 1980s, an effort began to return former Southern Pacific P8 Pacific #2467 to operation. The PLA became caretakers of the locomotive in 1990, at which time a nine-year restoration began. The first-class job was completed just in time for the locomotive to participate in Railfair ’99 in Sacramento, where it was sent under its own power with GP-9 #5623 for all to see the results of volunteers’ hard work. Unfortunately, the FRA’s new rules regarding a Form 4 (15 year/1472 day inspection) came into effect about the time the locomotive returned to service, and its time to be legally operated under steam with these new rules limited. The locomotive, kept at the PLA’s Oakland storage site, was invited to attend the Sierra’s “Iron Horse Round-Up” in 2001, though the attempt to reach Oakdale was scrubbed at Stockton after mechanical issues developed. Rather than return to Oakland, the locomotive was towed to the Golden Gate Railroad Museum in San Francisco, where it was steamed up beside sister #2472 and ran “double headers” on a few hundred feet of trackage at Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyards in January of 2002 and 2003. Following the final steam-up, the 2467 sat cold while its future was decided. As funding a Form 4 on a locomotive which would be extremely expensive to operate regularly was deemed unfeasible by the PLA, the decision was made to pursue covered storage for one of the group's crown jewels. An offer to display the locomotive at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento was accepted, and not long after news broke of the Golden Gate Railroad Museum's imminent eviction from their Hunter's Point site, the 2467 was retrieved by CSRM in September, 2005 and placed on display in the museum's "roundhouse" section. The 10-year lease will allow both safe storage and allow the public to view this magnificent locomotive, while allowing the PLA's crews to concentrate on other projects.

The Niles Canyon Railway now has nearly ten miles of trackage between Niles and Verona (East of Sunol), a restored and functional depot, and offers rides in vintage rolling stock behind both steam and diesel locomotives. It may be the single most accomplished all-volunteer railroad preservation group in the nation, and continues to interpret railroading past to the people of today. The railroad operates on select dates year-round, and also operates various specials throughout the year. Membership is open, and anyone interested is welcome to join and volunteer to help keep this impressive railway operating. To the founders of the PLA, a job well done.

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