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alico

 
Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Railroad

carson n colorado

Lone Pine
Owenyo
Mt. Whitney
(Formerly Lone Pine)

water tower





All material courtesy of Rich McCutchan unless otherwise noted.
See USE NOTICE on Home Page.
train and tower


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new 09/21
SPNG Photos from the University of Nevada Digital Archives
(Photographer: Hugh Lee)
tracks
The tracks of the Southern Pacific narrow gauge at a road crossing between Lone Pine and Owenyo - 1950

SPNG
SPNG Locomotive No. 8 switching at Owenyo - 1950

SPNG

Straddling the SPNG main line in the yard at Owenyo (1950)

SPNG

SPNG Locomotive No. 18 at Owenyo - 1950

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new 05/21
Aerial photos courtesy UCSB Library Map & Imagery
owenyo
Aerial view of Owenyo - October 1944
owenyo
Aerial view Owenyo - October 1944

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new 03/22
dennis burke
Here is an image of SP 16 on the turntable at Owenyo in 1946. This car was constructed in 1883 by the Carter Brothers Builders in Newark Ca for the San Joaquin and Sierra Nevada RR. It then spent some time on the Northern Railway and was then transferred to the South Pacific Coast Railroad in 1904. In 1906 she was sent to the Nevada & California RR (SPNG) as #8. During her stent on the SPNG she carried a few different numbers and served both as a MOW car and caboose. For some time she served on the work train as car 1B.
She now sports a freight car style roof and is on display at the Laws RR Museum as #401 which she was given in 1947.
As for the Owenyo turntable. There are stories that this turntable came from Keeler but this is hard to believe. Owenyo was not a location on the railroad until 1910 and we have images of the C&C/SPNG at Keeler from the early 1880's to 1910 and there is no turntable showing in any of these. Plus, Keeler had a wye in the early 1880's. Still under investigation!.
But there was a 24 inch gauge turntable at Keeler on the Inyo Development Company RR. (IDCo had both a 24 inch gauge and 3 foot gauge railroads).
Back to the Owenyo turntable. The other story as to where this turntable came from was after the Jawbone branch was completed to Owenyo it was brought up the SG line from another railroad.


(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

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owenyo turntable
A string of rolling stock shoved over the Owenyo turntable spur in 1946.

new
martin hansen
In the 1950's when the Southern Pacific needed to shop one of its 3 remaining narrow gauge steam locomotives on the Keeler Branch, they had to load them onto a flatcar and ship the locomotive to the SP shops at Bakersfield, CA. On this day, Stan Snook caught a very tired looking SP #9 loaded and ready to be refreshed at the Bakersfield shops.
(Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen)

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owenyo transfer station
Ore carts waiting to be unloaded at the Owenyo Narrow Gauge / Standard Gauge junction.

owenyo hotel
Owenyo Hotel and depot - 1939

cargo transfer
Livestock transfer station at Owenyo.

slim princess
Slim Princess No. 18 at Owenyo

slim princess
Engine No. 18 prepares for a desert run - 1953
getting ready to head to laws
Engine No. 9 getting ready to head out to Laws.

heading home to keeler

Engine No. 9 heading home to Keeler in a night time run.

heading north out of Owenyo

Engine No. 9 heading north out of Owenyo Station.

north of owenyo

No. 18 north of Owenyo - 1951

owenyo depot

Owenyo Depot - 1954

burke

Narrow Gauge "Slim Princess" atop a standard gauge flat car.

Here's an interesting image. In the last years of the railroad the narrow gauge locomotives were loaded onto standard gauge flat cars and transported to the SP Bakersfield shops for major work. There was a time the equipment would have work completed in the open air shops at Keeler and then towards the end at Owenyo. Could you imagine working on these locomotives in the hot desert sun of the Owens Valley? How hot would the metal get in the sun?...This photo was taken at Owenyo looking south/west. You are looking at the standard gauge tracks. The narrow gauge tracks were out of the photo to the left. Laws would be behind the photographer down the track, Keeler south past Owenyo. This is also locomotive #9 going in for repairs and paint.

(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

ebay auction

Southern Pacific Engine No. 2758 at Owenyo
(E-Bay auction item)

ebay

Engine No. 9 pausing near the Mt. Whitney siding in Owens Valley - 1958
(ebay offering from Clark Frazier)

boxcar hotel

"The Boxcar Hotel" (?) somewhere along the Owens Valley SPNG.

owenyo

SPNG water tower at Owenyo, CA - 1955
The Story of the Boxcar Hotel
Popular Science - July 1917
1, 2


carson & colorado

Tall stack a-smoking, a "hook-up" jointed steam pipe to the steam dome beside the ready-track, crude fuel-oil supplying the tender tank (and being heated by the "fireboy" you can bet) - what a picture of narrow-gauge steam on its last legs in the desert of California.

You wouldn't think it was February 21, 1954, at Owenyo - and with that old time string of cars behind, would you! Look at the glorious open-ender behind the little engine. Hard to believe that in just a mite over half a year more the little old ten-wheeler will run no more. In October a slim-gauge diesel, dubbed "Little Giant", took over, with big ceremonies - big bags of memory too.

Originally rails of the Carson & Colorado, which began farther north in Virginia & Truckee country in the 1880s, this three-foot venture stretched hundreds of miles south into Owens Valley. Mining of precious metals had been the promise up north; down here there was some ore too - but also soda and potash deposits. There was a future for the C&C - the builders thought. But, like most mining ventures, it worked out differently. Different too was the reason Southern Pacific bought the southern portion of the Carson & Colorado in 1900. They were going to standard-gauge it and run through from Southern California to their mid-continent Overland Route - and so to Salt Lake and the East. But, at this time, the Harriman Interests took over S.P. And the Harriman-run Union Pacific was taking over the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake - to provide the much more direct route from the Southland north and east.

So the little three-footer out in the desert remained just that, relying mostly on soda and potash for survival. Survive it did, for many a year, connecting with Southern Pacific's standard gauge rails at Owenyo - running, in the beginning, from Benton in the north, to Keeler in the south. But the SPNG was eventually cut-back from Benton to Laws as its northern terminus.

The original eight Carson & Colorado wood-burning Baldwins, all 4-4-0s, were long-gone before #18 came to Southern Pacific from the narrow gauge Nevada-California-Oregon R.R. - in 1927. She had been #12 on the N-C-O.

But those early American types of the C&C were something in their day, all "gussied-up" with pretty names derived from the towns they served: "Candelaria", "Bodie", "Churchill", "Bellville", "Hawthorne", "Benton", and "Darwin". These were the only locomotives the Carson & Colorado ever owned, which also boasted six wooden coaches and one-hundred-eighty freight cars, half of them open-platform for haulage of ore and mine timber.

At one time the Panamint district, high in the Panamint Range, was a big shipping potential for ore, - and famed Cerro Gordo Mine, on the steeps above Keeler, was still around in the late 1870s. However, it was soda and potash deposits in Owens Valley that made up the backbone of traffice in the declining years of the C&C and later on for the same slim-gauge rails under Southern Pacific

(Photo and text courtesy of Rob Sarberenyi archives - 1954 postcard)

burke

Owenyo Station transfer trestle - 1958.

Before Hwy 395 was put into place the Carson & Colorado Railroad carried many of the people and much of the supplies and mining material up and down the Owens Valley. The Carson & Colorado was purchased by the Southern Pacific in 1900 and continued on with the train movements until 1960......This photo was taken in 1958 and shows the narrow gauge train on the transfer trestle at Owenyo. The NG gondolas are dropping their load, looks like soapstone in this case, into the standard gauge cars down below. The SG cars in turn would be transported south down the Jawbone Branch to Mohave where they would be made into different trains to head out to different locations. There is so much to see out in the Owens Valley of the railroad if you take the time to look. The locomotive in this photo is #9 which is at the Laws Railroad Museum.

(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)
transfer trestle
Owenyo Station transfer trestle - 2016.
(Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea)

owenyo
Working on the transfer trestle at Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

loading trestle

When it was necessary to send a car or locomotive to the shops in Bakersfield, the narrow gauge equipment was loaded aboard a standard gauge flat. A special loading trestle facilitated such movements.

ready for haul

When locomotives needed repair they were sent by standard gauge flat car to the repair facility in Bakersfield. This is a photo of Engine No. 9 in February of 1951
jawbone branch
Narrow gauge Engine No. 9 adjacent to a standard gauge steam engine in 1951.

new 09/21
mt whitney
SPNG Engine #9 steaming along past the Mt. Whitney siding.

new 04/23
transfer trestle
The Owenyo transfer "trestle", March, 1954. Standard gauge tracks in the foreground. Notice the tell-tale above the black Rio Grande gondola. Photo from an old railroad calendar.
(Photo and text courtesy of Ronald Grau)

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owenyo
Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad Depot - 1948
owenyo
Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad Depot - 1940

owenyo
Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Railroad at Owenyo - 1951

owenyo
Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad - 1940

owenyo
Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad - 1940

owenyo
Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1940

owenyo
Engine atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad

owenyo
Engine atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad

owenyo
Fan excursion train at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad

owenyo
Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1954

owenyo
Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1950

owenyo
Engine #9 at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1955

ebay
Standard gauge and narrow gauge boxcars at Owenyo - 1954

ebay
SPNG boxcar repair area at Owenyo - 1950
engine number 18
Engine No. 18 steaming through the Owens Valley

#18

Engine #18 heading north out of Owenyo on the run to Laws.

owenyo turntable

Owenyo Turntable

new 11/21
owenyo
Southern Pacific Standard Gauge Engine #3209 meets the
Narrow Gauge Engine #18 at Owenyo

new 06/22
dennis burke
Here is a close up image of the transfer track at Owenyo. This is where the narrow gauge equipment was loaded up onto standard gauge flat cars to be shipped out for the larger repairs needed that could not be completed in the Valley.
(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

new 03/22
owenyo
This image was taken at Owenyo and also shows the size difference between the standard and narrow gauge box cars. It looks like the SPNG box would fit in the SG box. The official SP car registry book shows that SPNG box car #387 became car #137 during the 1946/47 renumbering. Other published rosters have confusing information regarding this car. Two sources do state that the car was first constructed as a 28 ft car and later rebuilt to 30 ft car. This would mean a complete rebuild including new sills.
(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

new 03/22
owenyo
The Slim Princess atop the Owenyo transfer trestle unloading something.
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

new 03/22
owenyo
Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)


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 "An Historic Day at Owenyo"
by Joe Dale Morris


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Owenyo - Where the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge (SPNG) and Jawbone Branch of the Southern Pacific Standard Gauge Met

owenyo
Owenyo, CA - 1954

owenyo
Owenyo SPNG yard

owenyo hotel
The Owenyo Hotel as seen in 1956
(photo courtesy Dennis Burke archives)

owenyo
Owenyo SPNG rail yard

owenyo
Owenyo SPNG-to-Standard Gauge transfer trestle

owenyo
Owenyo, CA - 1954

owenyo
Owenyo depot on the Owens Valley SPNG.

owenyo
SPNG's #9 and #18 in Owenyo, CA

owenyo
SPNG Derrick Car #1 that came from the standard gauge Central Pacific RR. If you look close it is much wider than the car it is coupled to. This is the wrecking/construction train you are looking at taken at Mina. The car the Derrick is coupled to is Wheel Car A-1. It was used to carry extra wheels and trucks when there was a wreck. The interesting fact is this derrick car never made it into Owens Valley. It was too wide to fit through the Mongomery Pass tunne between Mina and Laws.
(text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

owenyo
SPNG's #18 in Owenyo, CA - 1950
owenyo
SPNG's #18 in Owenyo, CA

owenyo hotel
Owenyo Hotel at Owenyo, CA

owenyo

Owenyo Hotel and Post Office at Owenyo, CA

owenyo
SPNG yard at Owenyo, CA

owenyo
SPNG yard at Owenyo, CA - 1960

owenyo
SPNG #18 leaving Owenyo, CA - 1955

new 01/23
owenyo
SP2758 at Owenyo, CA - 1946. By design or chance, the photographer accomplished two unusual things in this shot:
1. The standard gauge steam loco #2758, appears to be coupled to the narrow gauge gondola. There were no dual gauge tracks in Owenyo.
2. The smokestack on engine #2758, points straight up at Mt. Whitney. At 14,495 feet elevation, this is the high point of California, and the lower 48 states.
(Photo and text courtesy of Ronald Grau)


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water tower

sagebrush and sand
Sagebrush and Sand
transferring cargo
Transferring freight on the Narrow Gauge.

engine #18

Engine #18 - now completely restored
at the Eastern California Museum.


engine no 18

Engine No. 18 on a run in Owens Valley



transfer dock
Narrow Gauge Engine overhaul Transfer Dock at Owenyo.




hauling wood to the carson and colorado railroad
On the early runs of the Slim Princess a lot of pinon wood was heaved into the firebox of the engines for producing the needed steam. This picture, taken in 1902, shows the Charley Rose crew and team making a delivery of wood.






 "Narrow Gauge to Nowhere"
by Mallory Hope Ferrell




The Slim Princess vs the Little Giant
When the "Little Giant" diesel came on line in 1954 it began to mark the end of an era of steam powered locomotives in the Owens Valley. Nostalgia was heavily in favor of the steam engine, but water towers at very prescribed intervals and the high cost of maintenance of the boilers and steam lines spelled doom to the steam giants.


concensed princess

A "condensed Princess" switches at Owenyo in 1938

 band a playing
The local band played while Engine No. 18 and the new diesel engine were displayed.

 little giant
Engine No. 18 and the new diesel engine on displayed.

 
little giant

The "Little Giant" General Electric diesel takes over in the fall of 1954. Formerly called the X-1, the Little Giant was christened with a bottle of talc!
little giant 
The "Little Giant" diesel engine passing Monola Siding (midway between Laws and Keeler) in 1959. A typical consist for runs in those days.

new 01/23
little giant at Owenyo
The Little Giant was ordered in Oct. of 1953 and was shipped by General Electric to the Owens Valley on Sept. 23, 1954. She arrived on Oct. 12th, 1954 and was unloaded and set up for service at Owenyo.
The unit was built around a Caterpillar D-397, V-12 engine rated at 450 horsepower (turbocharged). The engine drove 4 GE 747 traction motors through a GT-581 generator. She was 31 feet long, 9 feet wide, 12 feet wide, and carried 250 gallons of diesel fuel. She weighed fifty tons.
During her short time on the Keeler Branch she wore 3 paint schemes. The first was Black with orange tiger stripes and aluminum ends. The second was Black with solid orange stripes on her frame and solid orange ends, the halloween paint. The third was lark grey and scarlet, the bloody nose paint.
On April 30th, 1960, the Little Giant pulled her final train on the Keeler Branch. She was leased to the L.B. Foster Co., the firm that was contracted to tear up the line. April 1961 she was sold to the Compania Minera de Cananea in Mexico.
(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke).
new 01/23
little giant
The Little Giant at Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

little giant

SP 1 (Narrow Gauge GE 50-ton, b/n 32266, built 9/54) has arrived back from Bakersfield where it was sent for service work and received a new paint job - the unit was originally delivered in black with orange frame stripes and silver ends. Photo taken on the SPNG at Owenyo, CA on 08/25/59 by John West.
(Photo and text courtesy of Rob Sarberenyi archives - 1954 postcard)

new 11/22
little giant
The Little Giant (SP No. 1) at Owenyo, CA on 08/25/59
(Photo courtesy Martin Hansen Collection)

new 01/23
little giant
The "Little Giant" and SPNG Slim Princess #9 at Owenyo
(Photo courtesy J. Patrick Bray)
little giant
Little Giant sets out cars at Zurich in a Hugh Tolford photograph. On April 25, 1960 the diesel hauled Baldwin No. 9 on her final trip to Laws

little giant

Little Giant was christened with a bottle of talc!

little giant hauls baldwin number nine
On April 25, 1960 the Little Giant diesel hauled Baldwin No. 9 on her final trip to Laws as the Carson & Colorado Narrow Gauge Railroad prepared to end operations.

little giant

The "Little Giant" heading a long string of cars north of Lone Pine.

little giant in action

The "Little Giant" switching at Owenyo.

slim rails
View of the Owenyo Yard


diesel
SPNG Diesel #1- "The Little Giant"
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

diesel

SPNG Diesel #1- "The Little Giant"
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

little giant
The "Little Giant" in Cananea, Mexico.
(Photo courtesy Duane Allen Ericson)

little giant
The "Little Giant" switching at Cananea, Mexico.
(Photo courtesy Duane Allen Ericson)

"A while back there was a post about the Little Giant, and I wanted to share the story of this pic, and why I am relatively certain that it has been scrapped. The picture was taken around 2010, and if it is accurate that the locomotive was scrapped, this may be the last known picture (I hope I am wrong.).

I was writing a book on the narrow gauge railroads of Sonora, Mexico, and knew I needed current pics of the locomotive as it was such an important part of the story, and was well known. I had written the mining corporation several letters in English and Spanish, asking permission to photograph the diesel, but no response. At one point I even tried to bribe the watchman to take a few pics for me.

Around 2010, the mine was closed due a strike. Strikes in Mexico are very different than in the states: In Mexico the strikers physically take possession of the property and management flees as there is often violence. An old friend of mine in Arizona had an uncle who was one of the strikers, and through him it was arranged for me to visit the locomotive. Long story short, that’s how I was able to get permission to get onto the locked mining property and photograph the locomotive. I also got tangled up in a cartel gunfight on that trip, but that’s another story.


When I returned home I was disappointed to find that only four pics of the locomotive survived as the SD card in the camera failed after this photograph."
Duane Allen Ericson - April 2020

new 03/22
little giant
The "Little Giant" at Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Ronald Grau)

new 03/22
little giant
Celebrating the arrival of the "Little Giant" at Owenyo
#18 and the Band were there to greet the "Little Giant" at her reception in Owenyo.
(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)
new 03/22
little giant
Celebrating the arrival of the "Little Giant" at Owenyo
She had just been christened with a bottle of talc and given her new name during the celebrations.
(Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

new 01/23
jarod black
The Little Giant Owenyo.
(Photo courtesy Pacific Southwest Railway Museum
Association Collection)
(Jarod Black )

new 10/23
little giant

The Little Giant in Mexico - May 3, 1965
(Photo courtesy Martin Hansen)



 
owenyo yard

Owenyo Railroad Yard




tibbets
owenyo
Owenyo Railroad Yards looking north from the Narrow Gauge Transfer Trestle
monola
beneme
elna
aberdeen
kearsarge
manzanar
owenyo
mt whitney
alico
dolomite
mock
swansea
saline
cerro gordo
Keeler
 

dennis burke
Atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo
(Dennis Burke Collection, courtesy of Dennis Burke)

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(Items in this section courtesy of Ray DeLea)
slim princess
(No. 4 at the Candelaria Station in the 1880's by E.S. Hammack)


slim princess
Matron or Spinster?

slim princess
Desert caboose hop.
slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)

slim princess
Keeping No 9 in good running condition at Owenyo.
slim princess
Engineer W.C. Ferguson in the cab of No. 9.
slim princess
Diesel No. 1.

slim princess
No 18 steaming along in a barren land. Thanks Los Angeles!
slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)

slim princess
No. 22 in its Owens Valley Days.

slim princess
Cattle crossing and no automobiles.

slim princess
No 18 steaming along in Owens Valley.

slim princess
No. 18 with Lone Pine Peak in the background.
slim princess
No. 9 taking on water.

slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)

slim princess
Owenyo Station.

slim princess
The Slim Princess on a busy day.
slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)
slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)
slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)

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 "Farewell to the Slim Princess"
by John B. Hungerford
farewell

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slim princess
Steaming into the morning with caboose 401.
slim princess
No. 8 with consist crossing the Owens River
slim princess
Crossing buck at Mt. Whitney Siding.

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 "Author's Footnotes to 4th Edition of The Slim Princess"
by John B. Hungerford


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slim princess
(Drawing by Carl Fallberg)

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Offerings Gleened off of Ebay

slim princess
SPNG #9 with a string of ore cars.

slim princess
"Little Giant" - Diesel #1 with Slim Princess Engine #9 steaming along between Keeler and Owenyo, CA

slim princess
SPNG Slim Princess #9 returning from Keeler to Owenyo - 1958

slim princess
SPNG Slim Princess #9 switching at Owenyo

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transfer gantry
Hand-Powered transfer gantry at Owenyo Station
engine number 9
The "Slim Princess" in Owens Valley
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

inverted siding

Inverted crossbuck at the Mt. Whitney siding.

owenyo gantry

Transferring power poles from the standard gauge to the narrow gauge railroad cars at Owenyo using a hand powered gantry crane.
(Photo courtesy Eastern California Virtual Transportation Museum)

owenyo railroad families
Families of railroad employees at Owenyo posing for a photo in front of homes made of boxcars.
(Photo courtesy Eastern California Virtual Transportation Museum)

owenyo fan train
October 1954 - The last official run of the Slim Princess at Owenyo.
(Photo courtesy Eastern California Virtual Transportation Museum)

daton
Engine No. 8 at Owenyo

owenyo hotel
The Owenyo Hotel

owenyo

Owenyo and the Owenyo Hotel

daton

Engine No. 18 at Owenyo near the bucket bulk elevator.

dennis burke

Going through a disc of pics I have not looked at in a long time and finding some interesting views. This one taken atop a NG box car at Owenyo. Check out the little crane type thing on the right in the SG box car. You can also clearly see the difference between the narrow and standard gauge tracks in this view.....3 foot gauge on left and 4 foot 8 inches on the right.

(Text and Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

slim princess

What a wonderful shot of the Narrow Gauge in the Owens Valley. Just says it all. Running from Owenyo to Keeler backwards. Caboose at the head, auxiliary water tender tank #350, and 5 boxes being pulled. Inyo Mountains in the background.
(Text and Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

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Owenyo - Where the S&P Narrow Gauge and Standard Gauge Met

owenyo transfer trestle
Engine Number 9 discharges her cargo into the S&P standard gauge cars in the "basement."

owenyo
Owenyo railroad yard
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

 
owenyo station

Owenyo Station during busier days

 
owenyo

Owenyo Station

 
approaching owenyo

A northbound train approaches Owenyo Station in 1954.

 
owenyo transfer station

View of the Owenyo yards looking north from the narrow gauge transfer trestle/

Dennis Burke PHOTO of same scene.
Looking north down the Owenyo Transfer Trestle. Owenyo in the background. Rolling stock, including baggage car #12, are sitting on the turntable spur. Turntable since removed. Just to the right of the turntable spur you can see the county road which you can drive on to this date. Standard gauge left hand side.
(Text courtesy of Dennis Burke)

 owenyo siding
Owenyo Station at milepost 559.8, was the junction point between the narrow gauge and the standard gauge "Jawbone Branch" from Mojave. The yard above did not contain any dual gauge trackage.

 
owenyo

Combine-caboose 401 stands by the Owenyo depot, while her crew switches the yard. The word Owenyo is a contraction of the words "Owens" Valley and "Inyo" County.

owenyo
Owenyo railroad depot

owenyo
Owenyo railroad yard

owenyo
Owenyo railroad depot

owenyo station

Engine No. 18 passes the Owenyo Station transfer trestle on a run from Keeler in 1946.

 
office

While Owenyo was the transfer point between the three foot and standard gauge branches, there was no dual gauge trackage. The operations were directed from the small office, complete with old crank telephone, ancient Remington, waybills and rock collection on window sill.

 owenyo transfer
Owenyo Station transfer trestle.

transfer trestle
1930's view shows the layout from the transfer trestle.

owenyo 
Engine No. 9 switches a string of "A" frame hoppers, loaded with soapstone on the narrow-gauge-to-standard-gauge transfer trestle in 1959.

 
owenyo transfer

Owenyo Station transfer trestle, 1939.
When the standard gauge "Jawbone Branch" was completed to Owenyo in 1910, interchange facilities were constructed at the new junction, as well as a depot and hotel. At the south end of the yard a transfer trestle was built to allow minerals to be dumped from the narrow gauge cars into broad gauge equipment.

new 04/23
transfer trestle
SP Owenyo High Line Trestle
(Photo courtesy of Jason Hill)
 


owenyo transfer
 
Engine No. 18 on the Owenyo Station transfer trestle.

 
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Owenyo Station transfer trestle.

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Owenyo Offerings from Ebay

owenyo
SP Engine #9 doing some switching at Owenyo - 1958

owenyo
The "Little Giant" Engine #1 on the transfer trestle at Owenyo.

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SP "boxcar yard" at Owenyo.


owenyo
Looking south along the SP narrow gauge tracks to the transfer trestle with the SP standard gauge.

owenyo
SPNG engines #8 and 2853 at Owenyo

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SPNG "fan train" at Owenyo

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SPNG "fan train" at Owenyo

fan train
SPNG "fan train" at Owenyo

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SP narrow gauge and standard gauge cars at Owenyo

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Owenyo, Engine #18 steaming along.

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Looking north along the SP Owenyo rail yard showing the transfer gantry in the center of the photo.

diesel #1
SPNG diesel locomotive #1- Owenyo, CA.

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Owenyo, Engine #9 steaming along.

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Spike puller in opertion somewhere near Owenyo, CA
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Graveyard of passenger cars at Owenyo, CA

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Railcar converted to a home at Owenyo?

owenyo
Owenyo, CA.

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vrendenburgh

Boxcar Hotel
(Photo courtesy Larry Vredenburgh)

boxcar hotel

Boxcar Hotel
(Photo courtesy eBay)

owenyo gantry

Hand powered gantry crane at the Owenyo yard use to transfer bulk soda ash and other heavy items between the narrow gauge and standard gauge lines. 1937

vredenburgh

Owenyo
(Photo courtesy Larry Vredenburgh)

owenyo
SP #8 at Owenyo, June 21, 1954.
(Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)

owenyo
Owenyo Standard gauge on the left - September 19, 1950.
Perlite loader in the foreground between the two cars unloading material from the narrow gauge on the right and loading into the standard gauge on the left.
(Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)

owenyo
SPNG-X-1 at Owenyo, May 30, 1956
(Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)

vredenburgh
Owenyo
(Photo courtesy Larry Vredenburgh)

owenyo hotel
The Owenyo Hotel
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

john norman
Perlite loader/unloader at Owenyo, CA
(Photo courtesy of John Norman Friend)

mt whitney depot

Mt. Whitney depot - constructed circa 1884.
The depot was closed when the Lone Pine depot
on the SP standard guage line was constructed.

new 03/21
side dump gondola
SPNG side dump gondola
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

new 06/21
owenyo
Ho for Owenyo!
Before the L.A. Aqueduct, Owenyo was a Quaker Colony that is sometimes described as Socialist. It was the second major purchase in 1905 after the massive Rickey Ranch !
(Photo & text courtesy of Hal Eaton)
new 09/21
owenyo yard
SPNG Owenyo rail yard

new 01/23
owenyo
The cabs of steam locomotives came in nearly as many sizes as the locomotives themselves. Thus the crews assigned to each different engine had to grow accustom to the working space provided as best they could.
Here we see Walter "Fergie" Ferguson making adjustments in the cab of his favorite charge, Southern Pacific's narrow gauge 4-6-0 #9 at Owenyo, California in August 7, 1959. As we see, the little narrow gauge 4-6-0 does not give her crew much extra space to work. Couple this with the heat coming off the boiler during operation together with the desert heat that the Keeler Branch was known for, and you have the makings for a long day in the cab!
Despite these working conditions, and the fact that SP's 50-ton GE diesel had arrived on the property in 1954 to replace these old steam pots, Fergie loved any chance he got to run #9 when the diesel had to go back to Bakersfield for servicing. Can you blame him?
(Photo & text courtesy of Martin Hansen)

new 09/22
jarod black

Slim Princess #9 in Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Southwest Railway Museum Association Collection)
(Jarod Black)

Paul Gomez writes: My families first house was near the high tower building underneath the tall trees. I lived in Owenyo from 2nd grade until the railroad line was abandoned by Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1960.

new 02/22
owenyo blueprint
Blueprint of Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Rick Olson)

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number nine
Martin Hansen: "In this present age of modern mainline railroads with thousands of miles of track in operations, the thought of one of them keeping in service a rickety narrow gauge steam rail line located in a desolate and isolated area is hard to imagine. However, roll the clock back some 60 years, and this is exactly what was happening in the dry Owens Valley of Eastern California.

It was there in the late 1950's that the mighty Southern Pacific hung onto the former Carson & Colorado narrow gauge railroad operating then as the Keeler Branch. Not only was this the only narrow gauge part of the SP at the time, it was also the last portion of the SP to see steam as motive power in regular operation. Even though SP had fully dieselized and retired all steam power by the fall of 1958, the Keeler Branch hung on with narrow gauge 4-6-0 #9 operating as active back-up power for the 50-ton GE diesel that AP had put into service in 1954.

So remote was the Keeler branch, that SP had to load up the last of the operating steam power onto standard gauge flatcars for the trip to the SP shops at Bakersfield, California whenever they were in need of service. We see SP #9 returning from a servicing at Bakersfield in this photo taken in the mid-1950's. This ritual would continue until August 25, 1959 when #9 would make the very last revenue steam run of any SP steam locomotive.

Now that steam has been gone from the SP for some 60 years and the SP as a seperate railroad is no more, it is nice to remember when even a big mainline railroad could still think on a small scale."


(Photo courtesy of Dillon Trinh)

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new 06/21
carson n colorado
The "Slim Princess" in the vacinity of Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)

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new 09/21
owenyo
Looking North atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo
owenyo
SPNG #14 at Owenyo yard

owenyo
The Little Giant with a load of dolomite or tac
ANOTHER VIEW

owenyo
Owenyo Depot

owenyo
Transfer gantry at Owenyo

owenyo
Owenyo Depot
owenyo
Transfer gantry at Owenyo

owenyo
Owenyo Depot

owenyo
SPNG Engine #8 at Owenyo

owenyo
SPNG Engine #? at Owenyo

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new 12/21
mt whitney
Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG
(Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library)
mt whitney
House at Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG
(Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library)

new 03/22
mt whitney
Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG
(Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library)
mt whitney
Hedge at Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG
(Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library)

new 08/22
owenyo
Slim Princess Engine #9 arriving at Owenyo from NSP Keeler - October 11, 1946
(Photo courtesy of the Dennis Burke)

new 01/23
owenyo
SPNG #9 at Owenyo - 1959
(Photo courtesy of the Greg Maxwell)


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new 01/23
grau
(On the standard gauge, switching the north end of Owenyo yard, February,1951. View is looking NW.
The two tracks on the right are narrow gauge. I believe, the diagonal track under the locomotive tender is the track leading to the standard gauge / narrow gauge transfer dock.
(Photo and text courtesy of Ronald Grau)

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A photo, at the unloading dock at Owenyo
(Photo courtesy of Ronald Grau)

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Owenyo Rail Yard
(Photo courtesy of Ronald Grau)
transfer trestle
Owenyo Rail Yard. You can see the start of the SG ramp track at the far left of the photo, which went above the NG fuel transfer pit, where various cars were stored in later years.
(Photo courtesy of Jason Hill)


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new 01/23
Photos courtesy Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association Collection
(Jarod Black )
owenyo
SPNG #9 in Owenyo Rail Yard
owenyo
SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo


owenyo
SPNG #9 in Owenyo Rail Yard


owenyo
SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo

cockpit view
View from the cockpit of SPNG #9

spng 9
SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo

spng 9 at dolomite crossing
SPNG #9 crossing the road near Dolomite

spng 9
SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo

spng 9
SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo

owenyo hotel
Owenyo Hotel

approaching owenyo
Approaching Owenyo

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This page was last updated on 01 October 2023