No. 1 “Dixiana”

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Big Trees Trestles: Spring Canyon

In the previous post I highlighted the tightest turning trestle in the United States, the Indian Creek Trestle on the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad. While this is impressive, the Spring Canyon Trestles are even more impressive.

The trestles includes a lower trestle and an upper trestle. The uphill tracks passed under the upper trestle on the lower trestle, corkscrewed around and then crossing over the lower on the upper. The upper trestle railbed was 80 feet off the ground.

The two trestles were built in 1966 and the first train of passengers crossed the trestles in the same year.

50 years ago, on June 27, 1976, at approximately 6:30 PM, the trestles went up in flames. The work of ten years before was a total loss.

Locals reported hearing a loud explosion shortly before the fire started. It was suspected that the cause was arson, either from an environmentalist destroying the trestles to prevent logging (the railroad was a tourist attraction and never a logging operation) or a disgruntled employee. Neither theory has been proven and fire of 1976 is shrouded in mystery.

The ghosts of the past still remain at Roaring Camp in the charred black beams of the Spring Valley Trestles.

And I was here to see them and sketch the standing remains of the Spring Canyon Trestles.

The remains of the high or upper trestle. 50 years later and the redwood forest is slowly reclaiming the trestle.
The rusted rails leading to the lower trestle. This is where trains coming from Roaring Camp entered the trestle complex.
A young redwood stands in the middle of the railbed at the other end of the lower trestle as it passes under the upper trestle.

The Roaring Camp’s founder and owner Norman Clark wanted to rebuild the trestle but the insurance company would not allow another wooden trestle to be built, instead they preferred steel but this did not fit in with Clark’s vision for historical accuracy for a logging railroad.

My field sketch of the upper and end of the lower trestle.

Instead of rebuilding the two trestles (which would also be expensive) a fix was planned and engineered to take the railroad up and out of Spring Canyon without the trestles.

The first section of the switchback heading up the hill (left track) at the steepest grade in any narrow gauge railroad (9.5%). The train comes up the hill on the center track and after passing the switch, backs up the steep grade. On the far right the rusted track the led to the lower trestle can be seen.

A series of switchbacks was constructed in the space of just four months and these switchbacks are still in use 50 years later.

No. 1 pulls past the switch and waits for the conductor to flip the switch so the train can back up the 9.5% grade on the first leg of the switchback. This is the most work the Dixiana will encounter on the way to Bear Mountain.
No. 1 heading out of the switchbacks on her way to Bear Mountain. The engineer lays on the whistle to blow the grade crossing at the fire road.
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Shay Locomotive: Dixiana

To really understand something, more than just taking a photograph in a fraction of a second, you should take the time to draw the object you hope to understand.

I wanted to understand the design and engineering of a Shay geared locomotive. I knew that at the end of the drawing, I would know a Shay so much better. My subject was the Westside Lumber Company three truck Shay No. 15 (this is a sister to the new Roaring Camp No. 14).

I was copying a picture from one of my favorite books when I was a kid: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Locomotives by Brian Hollingsworth.

This was not a sketch but a drawing and it was very much more involved, meaning I was taking lots of measurements and applying them to my sketchbook, focusing on proportions and details. The drawing was done over a series of evenings. This was the opposite of a loose continuous-line sketch. I liked the process but it was taxing. I was wearing the hat of a draftsman not a sketcher.

My finished drawing.

After drawing a Shay in great detail, I wanted to sketch a real live Shay under steam, in a continuous-line way.

That’s easily done from my Santa Cruz digs by driving 15 minutes up Highway 9 to Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroads.

I originally wanted to sketch the Shay and Heisler lined up next to each other at the engine shed. At the front gate I learned the difference of asking for permission and asking for forgiveness.

Now it was time for Plan B: sketching the Dixiana at the depot. I had sketched the locomotive from the same perspective before, but this time I wanted to render the scene in a continuous-line sketch. I knew that I would only have about 10 minutes to sketch the scene before the train departed for Bear Mountain.

The builder’s plate on No. 1’s boiler.

Before the train arrived, I sketched the old rusted wagon top boiler on display in the grounds. It was built by Lima in 1912 and used on the No. 1 until it was retired in 1976.

No. 1 passing by on its way to the depot. Here you can see why a Shay is called a geared locomotive.

The two truck Shay backed into the depot from the engine house with her six car consist. Now it was time to sketch. The looser the better (featured sketch).

No. 1 Dixiana pulls out from the depot on the way up to Bear Mountain.
A sketch of Dixiana on the first page of my new panoramic journal with the real deal in the background.

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Roaring Camp’s New No. 14

From my redwood cabin deck I love to hear the steam whistle from the No. 1 Shay “Dixiana” echoing down the San Lorenzo Valley from Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad in Felton.

I will be hearing a new whistle coming down the valley in the near (or not so near) future.

On August 9, 2026, Westside Lumber Co. No. 14 was delivered to Felton.

No. 14 is a three tuck Shay built by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio in 1916. Shays are geared locomotives designed to tackle steep grades (up to 9%) on lumber railroads. What they lack in speed they have in power and torque in spades. Between 1880 and 1944, Lima built 2,770 Shays.

No. 14 was originally built for the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company. In 1937 the company went bankrupt and the Shay made its way to the Westside Lumber Company in 1939. The locomotive was in service there until the mill shut down in 1961.

No. 14 moved around to other museums and railroads before finally making her way to Roaring Camp.

No. 14’s builder’s plate.

On Saturday morning I headed up to Felton to see the 110 year old new kid on the block.

Roaring Camp and Big Trees was founded by Norman Clark in 1962 as a narrow gauge (36 inches) steam tourist railroad.

The railroad has such a historic collection of geared steam logging locomotives that the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated three of the railroad’s locomotives as Historic Mechanical Landmark #134 in 1988.

The historic landmark marker on the depot.
Two of Roaring Camp’s Mechanical Landmarks: Shay No. 1 “Dixiana” and Heisler No. 2 “Tuolumne” steamed up and getting ready for the day at the locomotive shed.

I walked around the shops and No. 14 was on a track leading into the locomotive shed. I pulled out my sketchbook and started a continuous-line sketch of the newly acquired three truck Shay (featured sketch).

On the right is the No. 2 Heisler under steam waiting to pull out and connect with her five car consist. On the left, No. 14 can be seen through the shed. The locomotive had arrived just six days before.
The star of the show and the real workhorse of the railroad. The first Shay of Roaring Camp, No. 1 “Dixiana” coupled with her six car consist.
The two railroads in one shot. In the foreground is the steam narrow gauge railroad and in the background is the standard gauge Big Trees & Pacific which runs down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, as well as passing right above my cabin.