Another day on the Madera Sugar Pine Grades

On Wednesday, I spent the day up on the MSP grades for the first time this summer. Last year's fires closed down the forest for most of late summer and fall. My original plan was to drive to the Crow's Foot on Chowchilla Mountain and cycle out to the end of the Granite Gap line. Multiple road construction delays ended up costing me over an hour of travel time so by the time I got to the railroad grades I decided to change plans and cycle part of the mainline from Summit Camp back down towards Sugar Pine.

Here's part of Don DeVere's map showing the mainline from Summit Camp (identified as 1931 Camp) down towards Sugar Pine:


It was about 15 rails miles to Summit Camp where the road engine traded empty cars for loads. Three truck Shay #5 originally had the duty of pulling 22 empty cars from Sugar Pine and then returning with 22 loads. Later Shay #6 spent time on this section of the railroad. After Summit Camp, Shays 2, 3, & 4 handled woods trains between Summit Camp and the logging sites. Summit Camp had three long sidings allowing loads and empties to be swapped. From there the woods lines extended up to 15 more miles into the woods with three main branches emanating out of the Crow's Foot.

I started off on my cycling adventure at the point where the the ROW crossed Chowchilla Mountain road. Here's a view about 1/4 mile downgrade looking towards Sugar Pine:

The mainline hugged the western slopes of Hogan Montain.

Here's a view looking back upgrade towards Summit Camp:


A little further downgrade was a nice cut:


To be continued...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2021 09:34AM by Dave Peterson.