Re: Another Narrow Gauge Mystery Location...

Evan gets it right. It's the Death Valley Railroad about 4 miles from Ryan. The 20 mile, 3 foot gauge line was built in 1914 to serve the Borax mines at Ryan. It was abandoned in 1931. The first 10 miles from Death Valley Junction towards Ryan were through easily graded desert. After than the line became a mountain railroad and required extensive cuts, trestles, and fills. The two photos below show the location of the first of the large trestles on the line:

We are looking downgrade to the east. The concrete abutments of this trestle are visible in the canyon. There were just a couple of pieces of wood in the canyon to indicate it was a wood trestle.


Here we are looking to the southeast from the uphill trestle approach. My wife, Naomi and our friends Kevin and Sandra Ryan give scale to the picture. Notice all of the careful rock work that supported the approach.

Here's a photo from the NPS collection taken in 1914 from the opposite side of the trestle:


Here's the Google Earth Image of this location:
Death Valley Railroad Trestle location

More later...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2021 01:37PM by Dave Peterson.