Feather River Railway Explained

Railroad Name:Feather River Railway
Locale:Butte County, California
Start Year:1922
End Year:1966
Hq City:Feather Falls, California

The Feather River Railway was built in 1922 for the Hutchinson Lumber Company to bring logs from Feather Falls, California, to a connection with the Western Pacific Railroad (WP) at Bidwell, California. The WP would then transport the logs to the Hutchinson sawmill in Oroville, California. The sawmill burned in 1927; and the railway was unused through the Great Depression until reorganized as a common carrier in 1938 to serve a new sawmill built at Feather Falls. Georgia-Pacific purchased the sawmill and railway in 1955. The railway ceased operation after portions of the grade were flooded by Oroville Dam during the Christmas flood of 1964.[1]

Locomotives

NumberBuilderTypeDateWorks numberNotes[2]
1Lima Locomotive Works3-truck Shay locomotive19213169purchased new; placed on display at Oroville in 1961
2Lima Locomotive Works3-truck Shay locomotive19223177purchased new. Sold to Sierra Railway.
3Lima Locomotive Works3-truck Shay locomotive19233221purchased new, operational as Cass Scenic Railroad #11, Cass, West Virginia
4H.K. Porter, Inc.0-6-0 Tank locomotive19073951built as Mammoth Copper Mining Company #4; scrapped in 1957
5Willamette Iron and Steel Works3-truck Willamette locomotive19239purchased new; scrapped in 1957
8GE TransportationGE 44-ton switcher195130791[3] built as C.D. Johnson Lumber Company #8; purchased in 1963
91Lima Locomotive Works3-truck Shay locomotive19283322built as Polson Logging Company #91; purchased for parts in 1958; scrapped
102Electro-Motive DieselEMD SW900195925504built as Hammond Redwood Company #102; purchased in 1961
APlymouth Locomotive Worksgas-mechanical locomotive19303476built for Garfield & Company

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Feather River Railway . Barnhill Web Design . TrainWeb . 9 December 2017 .
  2. Stephens . Kent . 1965 . The Feather River Railway in 1965 . The Western Railroader . 28 . 306 . 12 . Francis A. Guido .
  3. Web site: Feather River Railway . Barnhill Web Design . TrainWeb . 9 December 2017 .