Chris,
During the summer there is almost always at least one person around the railroad, most likely it will be Jerry Huck. If he is there, I'm sure he'll open up the engine sheds for you, and you'll be able to see just about everything without walking very far. All the EBT hoppers are stored at Hawley Spur which is a about a half mile down the track towards McEwen from the Highway 7 crossing. These cars can be seen from the road, and the walk is pretty easy. Make sure you check the truck sets in the yard as well, I think a few are EBT, and there is a pair from 1915, under the side-dump car closest to the Heisler shed. The property is tourist friendly, have no fear of being run off by shotgun toting moutain men. The grade is very obvious in several places, and worth checking out. The origional Prairie City depot is now a very cool museum that I believe is open during the week, you may get lucky and get to meet Babs. At Dixie Pass there is an interpretive site that has part of the switchbacks reconstructed, and lots of historical facts and stuff. Continue on, and after you climb out of Whitney, at the mile 17 marker, you can turn to the right and will be exactly where the origional grade crossed the highway. There is a fairly good dirt road that runs right beside the origional line and falls back into Whitney, making a loop. Further on, at the top of Larch grade you can look to your left and will notice an unusually straight line on the side of the hill. This is the origional grade, you can actually drive on it for a good distance, and then you can walk miles of it, it's a great hike. You drive onto the grade where it meets the Highway just before a large cut. The road is gravel and has a snowmobile sign at the entrance. Then you fall into the Sumpter Valley, and there is little of the right of way intact except for what has been restored. The grade is still there right after our McEwen depot, it's a couple miles long, and is an easy but interesting walk. After that, the line is pretty much destroyed into Baker, but the origional car shops and depot are still standing. All of these sites are in order if you start in Prairie City and head to Baker. There are no maps of the grades online, or actually really existing. There is a real nice campground called Union Creek at Phillips Reservoir. It is only a couple miles North of McEwen on Highway 7, you can't miss it.
Hope this Helps, Taylor
BTW, If you turn left about a mile past Austin Jct. you can follow a nice paved road a few miles next to a small river and you'll see two tender tanks being used as a dam off to the left. One is from the C&C Candellarea, and the other is from Tonopah #4.
