Re: Dunsmuir . . . and S.P. Steam

Dennis Tebo Wrote:
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> I picked up 'Steam days in Dunsmuir' to round out
> my collection of SP books from Signature Press.


Great Minds think {Almost} Alike, Dennis -

I picked up 'S.P. 10-Coupled Engines' to round out my collection of Bob Church's SP locomotive books (4000-4294, 4300s & 4400s).  I have had a copy of 'Steam Days in Dunsmuir' since it first came out, as my dad took the family to Dunsmuir for two or three weeks every summer in the early 1950s so he could fish the upper Sacramento River.  I often tagged along with him, but was always more interested in what was passing on the adjacent railroad than what was swimming in the river.  We always stayed in the two-story end cabin at the Lookout Point Motel on the north side of town, as they had a playground for my three younger siblings and a fabulous view of the S.P. with Mt. Shasta behind that provided this young foamer with many hours of entertainment as Cab-Forwards and 2-10-2s fought up the grade or drifted back south in twos and threes after helping long freights up to the summit at Grass Lake on the northwest shoulder of The Mountain.  It's still THE 24 / 7 mainline between L.A & S.F and Portland & Seattle, and that old cabin shook and shuddered when the three-engine freights went north several times a night.

Here's what it looked like 20 years later, long after the cabins and namesake lookout platform had been torn down:


IIRC there's a small city park at that location now, with a trail down to the river and to a small waterfall on one of the creeks that flow into it.

- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGr&uumnDampfKesselMantelLiebHabenderl;

p.s.  Please don't tell the City of Dunsmuir, but I chopped down a small tree to get a clear shot for the main photo, above . . .    



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2022 01:28PM by Russo Loco.