Re: 2019 Madera Sugar Pine Explorations

I guess no takers on guessing. The first item is a locomotive brake shoe. Here's one that was more exposed:


The other mystery item:

is a broken pin for a link & pin coupler. I've never found a broken one of these. It must have been hit with quite a bit of force...

Leaving summit Camp we will head down the grade to Sugar Pine. From Summit Camp to Sugar Pine is about 15 miles. About a mile down from Summit Camp the grade crosses old Highway 41 (Chowchilla Mountain Road). Here's a view looking back upgrade:


And here's a view looking downgrade towards Sugar Pine:

You can get a sense of how steep old Highway 41 is when you realize that the railroad grade is on about a 1-2% downhill grade. Amazingly, this was the old southern road to Yosemite. You can still drive it into the park (where it comes out directly across from the Wawona Lodge), but chances are good that the gate will be locked.

On towards Sugar Pine. About 1/4 mile downgrade from old Highway 41, I came around a curve and was met by this:

This blockage is way beyond my set of tools...
Looks like I'll have to drive the old mainline another day.
I backtracked to the old Highway 41 and followed it to Wawona Lodge and lucked out when I found the gate open.

I'm planning another trip in mid-July and will report on what I find....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2019 05:43PM by Dave Peterson.