Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad
at Felton, CA

Our trip began when we left the RC&BTNGRR train station. One of the railroad's conductors divides his time between waving to us and continuing an animated conversation with a man waiting at the station.

As we pull away from the station we passed by the water tower. Each trip the train makes consumes about 600 gallons of water.

Rounding the first turn out of the station we get a good view of the Dixiana Shay steam locomotive which will lead the way on our trip. One of the famous Shay type locomotives designed in 1872 for service on logging and mining railroads, it came off the Lima Locomotive Works assembly line on October 12, 1912. "Dixiana" served on six short line roairoads before coming to California, including the famous Smoky Mountain Railroad in Tennessee. However, her name came from a small narrow-gauge mining railroad operating out of Dixiana, VA.

Shortly down the tracks we came to a stop so that another of the RC&BTNGRR trains could go by. As our conductor said, two trains going in opposite directions on the same track at the same time could ruin our whole day!

A short way into our trip the train rounds a corner upon a trestle which at one point stands 42 feet above the ground. Here we got another nice shot of our locomotive as it pulls us across.

The railroad passes through a virgin grove of coastal redwood trees. Very hardy plants, they live hundreds, even thousands of years, and they die from one of four things: disease, lightning, old age, and foresting. The land on which the railroad was built is privately owned and has never been logged. We passed by a redwood tree that had fallen for some reason, but was "caught" by some other redwoods. It resprouted leaves and remains alive.

Not only did we enjoy the scenery and the train ride, we enjoyed some of our fellow passengers as well. Directly across from us was a grandpa, mom, and in the middle was one of the prettiest smiles we've ever seen!

When a redwood tree dies, other redwoods will sprout from its root system, often in a circle around the dead tree. This phenomenon has come to be known as a "cathedral group" or "fairy ring" and we stopped at one at the half-way point in our trip. That's Yvonne in the purple pants walking toward the ring.

Looking up from the center of the cathedral group presents an awesome sight! These tall giant trees encircling our location can seem almost overwhelming.

Our conductor stood on a large tree stump in the center of the ring which he explained was the "grandma" of the ring of trees where we stood. The first generation of trees did not survive, but the second did. A popular spot for weddings (one had already been performed here that day), it shimmers with colors in the early morning from the fog.

All that remains of "Grandma" is a semi-circular stump. We think she could be proud of what she produced.

Near the top of the railroad sits the Bear Mountain picnic area. Some folks will take an early train up, get off here, enjoy a nice picnic, maybe do some hiking, then board a later train returning to the station.

Up until 1982 the railroad took a continuous trip, corkscrewing around a mountain and passing across another trestle. Unfortunately, some arsonists (never apprehended) destroyed it, forcing the trains to do some backing and switching to complete the trip.

Near the end of our trip we saw three redwood trees standing at an angle compared to the others. They were leaning our direction, but not far enough to fall on us. Our conductor said they have been standing like that for many years and will probably still be like that many more years down the road.

Originally the locomotives coal or wood to boil the water into steam to power the engine, but these have been converted to burn used automotive oil. As we near the station at the end of the trip, the locomotive "let off steam" and spread a heavy mist of water across the pond. Our conductor told us they have some of the cleanest ducks anywhere!

This "wagon top boiler" was part of Dixiana's original equipment and was "retired" in 1976. Its name came from the fact that this commonly-used boiler has a flat bottom and was mounted on a wagon. Its high dome, mounted over a rectangular firebox, provided the "driest" steam possible, therefore washing away a minimal amount of lubricants.

This was such a warm and sunny day, even the ducks in the pond needed a siesta. Here are a pair of Mallards floating and snoozing.