Roaring Camp & Big Trees - Felton, California, USA

One of the nice things about being assigned to work in California USA is that I get to visit the many small railroads in the state, most of which are less than half a days drive from my home in Oakland, even when taking the infamous "worlds longest six lane car park" highway I-880 we made good time to Felton where we visited the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad. The RC&BTR is a recreation of an 1800's logging town and railroad into the forest. In this case the 600 acre redwood forest was purchased privately in the 1800s for the purposes of logging. The wife of the gentleman purchaser persuaded him that it should not be logged as it was simply too beautiful. We are lucky enough today that we can visit a virgin redwood forest, which is aptly described by my friend Brice Adams "Big Trees is my cathedral". The railroad is purely a tourist railroad that is operated as an original logging railroad. It was built in 1960 as a private enterprise. Both the forest and the railroad are still owned by the original families.

We were very lucky on the day as it took a little longer than expected to get there and we arrived about a minute after the train left the station. Fortunately the engineer/driver saw us running for the train and stopped it allowing us to get on. This magnificent hospitality set the scene for the rest of the day. I really cannot thank these people enough. Our fare was US$15 for the adults and US$10 for the kids.

Our conductor on the day spent most of the trip pointing out and explaining various points and sights to the passengers in an interesting manner. This guy made trees seem exciting! He had a great manner with the kids, walking up and down the cars paying attention to all of them, making each one think they are the most special one there. From center to right in the photo are: Amanda (a friend of ours); my eldest Alexander (6) and Matthew (4) and my wife Christina.

The railroad has several small diesels, a 1912 Lima 2-Truck Shay formerly of Coal Processing Corp, a 1899 2-Truck Heisler formerly of West Side Lumber and a 1:2 scale type C Shay which used to run on a sugar cane railroad in Hawaii. On the day we visited the railroad, the Heisler was in operation, despite this old lady being built in 1899 she is in magnificent condition today. The various dings and scrapes caused by working on a logging railroad add character that most tourist only ventures simply don't have. The Heisler consumes 70 gallons of used motor oil every trip up the mountain and about 600 gallons of water. This picture shows the Heisler at the top of the railroad at Bear Mountain. There is a loop of track here surrounding a picnic ground. According to the conductor it is common to ride an early train and stay here for a picnic rejoining the railroad on a later train.

The town of Roaring Camp is touted as being an authentic reproduction of an 1800s logging town. It certainly has the look and feel, all except for the fibre optic cables running into the souvenir store and the modern computer equipment in the railway office! This minor gaffe does not detract from the experience of the day. I cannot advise you more strongly to visit this little railroad if you are in the area. It is staffed by some of the friendliest people I've ever encountered in this sort of operation. The whole place is operated with an air of confidence and professionalism.

The ride is over 6.5 miles of track which runs from the plain where the town is situated up to Bear Creek picnic ground on top of the mountain. The run is mostly about 4%, but on the way up the hill there is a long 6% section, and the two sections of the switch back are 8% and 9% respectively. 9% is incredible and really demonstrates the power of the Heisler, on a 9% grade for every 100 feet traveled, the train climbs 9 feet higher up the mountain. The switch back is a fairly recent addition to replace the pair of massive trestles which used to take the train around the mountain until they were attacked during a deliberate arson designed to close the railroad. While there was not much detail forthcoming on this event it was obvious that the bad feeling is still very much present. The railway is unable to rebuild the trestle as they cannot finance the necessary 1 million dollars and are also unable to find an insurance company who will cover it unless it has a 24 hour guard.

The cathedral of the mind, the canopy of the trees some 150 feet above your head are very cathedral like, the quiet is amazing, the forest even swallows the sounds of the steam engine for the most part.

For much of the journey we travel through the tunnel-like trees with only the immediate vicinity of the train in view.

The train still crosses the one surviving trestle which is about 40 feet high and built in a curve. Apparently it is one of the biggest surviving wood trestles in California. The trestles on the Puffing Billy Railway in Belgrave (Melbourne) Victoria Australia are of similar design but considerably larger.

From time to time during the journey the engineer/driver deliberately blows down the boiler to accomplish one of several purposes: dumping scale from the boiler; removing "foaming" water and replacing it with better water; or just dumping water. When the locomotive is going up or down a steep grade the water level has to be brought up or down to ensure the crown sheet is not exposed, after we leave the grade the excess water is dumped to help keep steam pressure up.

The last part of the trip is around a couple of ponds into the station yard where the train will come to its final stop for the trip. Time to go hit the souvenir shop :)

At the end of each journey the train is watered at the tank in preparation for the next journey. The engineer/driver on our trip demonstrated his control of the engine by stopping exactly under the pipe.

Just before departing the station for the engine shed, the engineer/driver dumped most of his steam generating this eerie sight as the engine slowly crept away to be put away for the night.

The only things to watch out for on the railroad are the evil ducks and geese. We found out the hard way that you should not go near them if you do not have any food with you. They chase you down and bite you instead. Carnivorous geese! One of them met the foot when it tried to bite me (I guess you can imagine where).

Right now I'm building a model Climax, well so are these guys, their kit is just a little bigger than mine :)

Roaring Camp is also the "top end" of the line which runs to the board walk at Santa Cruz. This line is operated by diesel power and is only run in the summer. The line runs through the Henry Cowell Redwood State Park and through the San Lorenzo River Canyon down to the beach.

You will find the railway at the corner of Graham Hill Road and Roaring Camp Road in Felton California. From Oakland we took I-880 south through San Jose where it became state highway 17, this took us right down to Felton where we exited onto Mt Hermon road and followed this to Graham Hill Road. You can reach the railway at +1 831 335 3509 or visit them on the Internet at www.roaringcamprr.com. They handle most credit cards and have good food available with several large picnic areas.

The railroad runs theme days/nights such as Great Train Robberies, Easter Egg Hunt, Fathers and Mothers day celebration, Jumpin' Frog Contest, Civil War Re-enactments, Steam Festival, Musical Saw Playing Festival, Halloween Ghost Train, Mountain Man Gathering, Pioneer Christmas, Harvest Faire and Moonlight Steam Train Parties. They also have weddings and the like. The conductor told a story of what they thought would be a normal wedding on the train, but the bride had set them up. She arranged that the train would be stopped by period costumed robbers who stole her from the train and carried her off. When the train started again and got around the mountain they found all the robbers tied to trees and the bride awaiting "rescue" from her groom who had stayed with the train stunned.

Another fun day out offered by the railroad is their "Engineer for a day" program, where to quote their brochure "...He or she simply shows up at the engine house at about 9:00am and checks in with the Supervisor-on-Duty for the official engineer cap and bandana, polishes brass to a fare-thee-well, assists in oiling the engine and receives a verbal briefing on the internal workings of steam locomotive, rides in the cab for the day's scheduled trips and boast thereafter, to all envious friends and relatives...". The cost is US$95 and the applicant must be over 18 years of age. This is a really good deal considering that similar programs on other railroads usually run to thousands. I plan on enrolling in this program some time over the next couple of months, as the train engineer said "get in it and get up here" as he was standing in the cab.

Also present at Roaring Camp is a fully operational Steam powered Sawmill, while it was not running on the day it is fired up during the steam festivals and on some other occasions.