Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Railroad |
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Owenyo Mt. Whitney (Formerly Lone Pine) |
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All material courtesy of Rich McCutchan unless otherwise noted. See USE NOTICE on Home Page.  |
SPNG Photos from the University of Nevada Digital Archives (Photographer: Hugh Lee) |
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 The tracks of the Southern Pacific narrow gauge at a road crossing between Lone Pine and Owenyo - 1950 |
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 SPNG Locomotive No. 8 switching at Owenyo - 1950 |
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 Straddling the SPNG main line in the yard at Owenyo (1950) |
 SPNG Locomotive No. 18 at Owenyo - 1950 |
08/241920 SPNG photos & text courtesy of Jody Jackson - unless otherwise noted |
 SPNG passenger train about to leave Owenyo for points unknown. |
 The post (above) the other day by Raymond DeLea of the passenger (mixed) train at Owenyo reminded me of a similar view. This one is in the collection of the California State Railroad Museum. The notation on the backside of the original print at CSRM names a doctor out of New York and a date in the 1920s. Coach #9 was built in 1886 for the South Pacific Coast #69 by Harlan & Hollingsworth (Wilmington, Delaware). Rebuilt to combine #8 in 1931. After going through three owners after being sold in 1939 it is now in the collection of Nevada State Railroad Museum (Carson City). (Photo and text courtesy of Brian Norden) |
 SPNG passenger train about to leave Owenyo - Passenger Station, Telegraph Station and General Store. Note - some of the passengers are taking in a view of "the city" while waiting for the train. |
 SPNG Engine No. 17 at Owenyo |
 The Boxcar Hotel at Owenyo |
 Passenger & Telegraph Station and General Store at Owenyo Train board to left of door entrance and electric light to the right of the door entrance Sign over the door reads: OFFICE |
 View of the Sierra Nevada and Alabama Hills from Owenyo |
Aerial photos courtesy UCSB Library Map & Imagery |
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 Aerial view of Owenyo - October 1944 |
 Aerial view Owenyo - October 1944 |
03/22  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) |
 A string of rolling stock shoved over the Owenyo turntable spur in 1946. |
 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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10/24 |
After thew Southern Pacific shops at Mina were closed and the line over Montgomery Pass was abandoned, the only shop that was linbked by rail to the Southern Pacific narrow gauge was Bakersfield. The connection was at Owenyo. When any of the remaining SPNG locomotives needed shopping they were loaded up on a standard gauge flat car and tied down for the trip to the Bakersfield shops. Here we see SPNG #18 loaded on a flatcar for her trip to Bakersfield. Notice how her drivers wer blocked for the trip. . (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen Collection) |
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 Ore carts waiting to be unloaded at the Owenyo Narrow Gauge / Standard Gauge junction. |
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 Owenyo Hotel and depot - 1939 |
 Livestock transfer station at Owenyo. |
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 Slim Princess No. 18 at Owenyo |
 Engine No. 18 prepares for a desert run - 1953 |
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 Engine No. 9 getting ready to head out to Laws. |
 Engine No. 9 heading home to Keeler in a night time run. |
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 Engine No. 9 heading north out of Owenyo Station. |
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 No. 18 north of Owenyo - 1951 |
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 Owenyo Depot - 1954 |
 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) |
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 Southern Pacific Engine No. 2758 at Owenyo (E-Bay auction item) |
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 Engine No. 9 pausing near the Mt. Whitney siding in Owens Valley - 1958 (ebay offering from Clark Frazier) |
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 "The Boxcar Hotel" (?) somewhere along the Owens Valley SPNG. |
 SPNG water tower at Owenyo, CA - 1955 |
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The Story of the Boxcar Hotel |
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 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) |
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 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) |
 Owenyo Station transfer trestle - 2016. (Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea) |
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 Working on the transfer trestle at Owenyo (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
 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. |
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 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 |
 Narrow gauge Engine No. 9 adjacent to a standard gauge steam engine in 1951. |
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 SPNG Engine #9 steaming along past the Mt. Whitney siding. |
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04/23 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 Southern Pacific Railroad Depot - 1948 |
 Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad Depot - 1940 |
 Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Railroad at Owenyo - 1951 |
 Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad - 1940 |
 Owenyo Southern Pacific Railroad - 1940 |
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 Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1940 |
 Engine atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad |
 Engine atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad |
 Fan excursion train at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad |
 Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1954 |
 Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1950 |
 Engine #9 at Owenyo on the Southern Pacific Railroad - 1955 |
 Standard gauge and narrow gauge boxcars at Owenyo - 1954 |
 SPNG boxcar repair area at Owenyo - 1950 |
 Engine No. 18 steaming through the Owens Valley |
 Engine #18 heading north out of Owenyo on the run to Laws. |
 Owenyo Turntable |
 Southern Pacific Standard Gauge Engine #3209 meets the Narrow Gauge Engine #18 at Owenyo |
06/22 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) |
03/22 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) |
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03/22 The Slim Princess atop the Owenyo transfer trestle unloading something. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
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03/22  Owenyo (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
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"An Historic Day at Owenyo"
by Joe Dale Morris
Owenyo - Where the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge (SPNG) and Jawbone Branch of the Southern Pacific Standard Gauge Met |
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 Owenyo, CA - 1954 |
 Owenyo SPNG yard |
 The Owenyo Hotel as seen in 1956 (photo courtesy Dennis Burke archives) |
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 Owenyo SPNG rail yard |
 Owenyo SPNG-to-Standard Gauge transfer trestle |
 Owenyo, CA - 1954 |
 Owenyo depot on the Owens Valley SPNG. |
 SPNG's #9 and #18 in Owenyo, CA |
 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) |
 SPNG's #18 in Owenyo, CA - 1950 |
 SPNG's #18 in Owenyo, CA |
 Owenyo Hotel at Owenyo, CA |
 Owenyo Hotel and Post Office at Owenyo, CA |
 SPNG yard at Owenyo, CA |
 SPNG yard at Owenyo, CA - 1960 |
 SPNG #18 leaving Owenyo, CA - 1955 |
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01/23 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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 Sagebrush and Sand |
 Transferring freight on the Narrow Gauge. |
 Engine #18 - now completely restored at the Eastern California Museum. |
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 Narrow Gauge Engine overhaul Transfer Dock at Owenyo. |
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 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
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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. |
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 A "condensed Princess" switches at Owenyo in 1938 |
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 The local band played while Engine No. 18 and the new diesel engine were displayed. |
 Engine No. 18 and the new diesel engine on displayed. |
 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! |
 The "Little Giant" diesel engine passing Monola Siding (midway between Laws and Keeler) in 1959. A typical consist for runs in those days. |
01/23 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). |
01/23 The Little Giant at Owenyo (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
 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) |
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12/24 SPNG #1, "Little Giant", at Owenyo, California on October 16, 1954. She was christened with a cardboard box of talc which explains the white dust on the front of the locomotive. Talc was the main commodity that the narrow gauge railroad hauled during most of its operational life. (Photo and text courtesy of Steve Crise) |
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11/22 The Little Giant (SP No. 1) at Owenyo, CA on 08/25/59 (Photo courtesy Martin Hansen Collection) |
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01/23 The "Little Giant" and SPNG Slim Princess #9 at Owenyo (Photo courtesy J. Patrick Bray) |
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 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 was christened with a bottle of talc! |
 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. |
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 The "Little Giant" heading a long string of cars north of Lone Pine. |
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 The "Little Giant" switching at Owenyo. |
 View of the Owenyo Yard |
 SPNG Diesel #1- "The Little Giant" (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
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 SPNG Diesel #1- "The Little Giant" (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
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 The "Little Giant" in Cananea, Mexico. (Photo courtesy Duane Allen Ericson) |
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 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 |
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03/22  The "Little Giant" at Owenyo (Photo courtesy of Ronald Grau) |
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03/22  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) |
03/22 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) |
01/23  The Little Giant Owenyo. (Photo courtesy Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association Collection) (Jarod Black ) |
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03/25 In August of 1958 long time Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Historical Society member Harry Heck visited the Owens Valley and captured on film many of the structures and pieces of equipment along the narrow gauge line. Harry has allowed our Society to publish for the first time many of his photographs which we will do beginning in the upcoming Issue #91 of the Journal. Here is an image of SP second Number 1, the "Little Giant" at Owenyo on August 2, 1958. (Photo and text courtesy of the Journal of the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Historical Society) |
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 Owenyo Railroad Yard |
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 Owenyo Railroad Yards looking north from the Narrow Gauge Transfer Trestle |
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 Atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo (Dennis Burke Collection, courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
(Items in this section courtesy of Ray DeLea)  (No. 4 at the Candelaria Station in the 1880's by E.S. Hammack) |
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 Matron or Spinster? |
 Desert caboose hop. |
 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
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 Keeping No 9 in good running condition at Owenyo. |
 Engineer W.C. Ferguson in the cab of No. 9. |
 Diesel No. 1. |
 No 18 steaming along in a barren land. Thanks Los Angeles! |
 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
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 No. 22 in its Owens Valley Days. |
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 Cattle crossing and no automobiles. |
 No 18 steaming along in Owens Valley. |
 No. 18 with Lone Pine Peak in the background. |
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 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
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 Owenyo Station. |
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 The Slim Princess on a busy day. |
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 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
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 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
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 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
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"Farewell to the Slim Princess"
by John B. Hungerford
 Steaming into the morning with caboose 401. |
 No. 8 with consist crossing the Owens River |
 Crossing buck at Mt. Whitney Siding. |
"Author's Footnotes to 4th Edition of The Slim Princess"
by John B. Hungerford
 (Drawing by Carl Fallberg) |
Offerings Gleened off of Ebay |
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 SPNG #9 with a string of ore cars. |
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 "Little Giant" - Diesel #1 with Slim Princess Engine #9 steaming along between Keeler and Owenyo, CA |
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 SPNG Slim Princess #9 returning from Keeler to Owenyo - 1958 |
 SPNG Slim Princess #9 switching at Owenyo |
 Hand-Powered transfer gantry at Owenyo Station |
 The "Slim Princess" in Owens Valley (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
 Inverted crossbuck at the Mt. Whitney siding. |
 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) |
 Families of railroad employees at Owenyo posing for a photo in front of homes made of boxcars. (Photo courtesy Eastern California Virtual Transportation Museum) |
 October 1954 - The last official run of the Slim Princess at Owenyo. (Photo courtesy Eastern California Virtual Transportation Museum) |
 Engine No. 8 at Owenyo |
 The Owenyo Hotel |
 Owenyo and the Owenyo Hotel |
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 Engine No. 18 at Owenyo near the bucket bulk elevator. |
 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) |
 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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 Engine Number 9 discharges her cargo into the S&P standard gauge cars in the "basement." |
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 Owenyo railroad yard (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
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 Owenyo Station during busier days |
 Owenyo Station |
 A northbound train approaches Owenyo Station in 1954. |
 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 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. |
 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 railroad depot |
 Owenyo railroad yard |
 Owenyo railroad depot |
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 Engine No. 18 passes the Owenyo Station transfer trestle on a run from Keeler in 1946. |
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 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 Station transfer trestle. |
 1930's view shows the layout from the transfer trestle. |
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 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 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. |
04/23  SP Owenyo High Line Trestle (Photo courtesy of Jason Hill) |
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 Engine No. 18 on the Owenyo Station transfer trestle. |
 Owenyo Station transfer trestle. |
03/25  The servicing facilities at Owenyo, California for the Southern Pacific narrow gauge Keeler Branch and the standard gauge Jawbone Branch we separate for obvious reasons. However, they were in close proximity to each other as we see in this photo of SPNG #8 taking on oil while SP standard gauge #2853 stand at the nearby standard gauge serving facility. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
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03/25 This photo shows an interesting perspective. At first we think that Southern Pacific narrow gauge 4-6-0 #8 is sitting on top of that gondola car. We look closer and see that #8 is actually on the transfer trestle at Owenyo, California. The date is October 9, 1942. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
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03/25 A cold November day in 1942 finds snow hitting the Sierra Mountains in the background while Southern Pacific narrow gauge 4-6-0 #22 works the transfer ramp in Owenyo, California. Engine #22 was built for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad in Colorado and then went to the Nevada-California-Oregon Ry before becoming SP #22 as we see here.. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
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Owenyo Offerings from Ebay |
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 SP Engine #9 doing some switching at Owenyo - 1958 |
 The "Little Giant" Engine #1 on the transfer trestle at Owenyo. |
 SP "boxcar yard" at Owenyo. |
 Looking south along the SP narrow gauge tracks to the transfer trestle with the SP standard gauge. |
 SPNG engines #8 and 2853 at Owenyo |
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 SPNG "fan train" at Owenyo |
 SPNG "fan train" at Owenyo |
 SPNG "fan train" at Owenyo |
 SP narrow gauge and standard gauge cars at Owenyo |
 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. |
 SPNG diesel locomotive #1- Owenyo, CA. |
 Owenyo, Engine #9 steaming along. |
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 Spike puller in opertion somewhere near Owenyo, CA |
 Graveyard of passenger cars at Owenyo, CA |
 Railcar converted to a home at Owenyo? |
 Owenyo, CA. |
 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) |
 The "Slim Princess" in the vacinity of Owenyo (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke) |
 Looking North atop the transfer trestle at Owenyo |
SPNG #14 at Owenyo yard |
Owenyo Depot |
 Transfer gantry at Owenyo |
 Owenyo Depot |
 Transfer gantry at Owenyo |
 Owenyo Depot |
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 SPNG Engine #8 at Owenyo |
 SPNG Engine #? at Owenyo |
 Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG (Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library) |
 House at Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG (Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library) |
03/22 Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG (Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library) |
 Hedge at Mt. Whitney Station on the SPNG (Photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library) |
08/22  Slim Princess Engine #9 arriving at Owenyo from NSP Keeler - October 11, 1946 (Photo courtesy of the Dennis Burke) |
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01/23 SPNG #9 at Owenyo - 1959 (Photo courtesy of the Greg Maxwell) |
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01/23 (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) |
 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) |
01/23 Photos courtesy Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association Collection (Jarod Black ) |
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 SPNG #9 in Owenyo Rail Yard |
 SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo |
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 SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo |
 View from the cockpit of SPNG #9 |
 SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo |
 SPNG #9 crossing the road near Dolomite |
 SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo |
 SPNG #9 somewhere between Keeler and Owenyo |
 Owenyo Hotel |
 Approaching Owenyo |
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05/25  Southern Pacific narrow gauge #9 ran one excursion while she was wearing her horribly gaudy paint and backdated stack and headlight. Here is that excursion at Independence, California on May 30, 1957. The backdrop of the snow covered Sierra Mountain Range helped to soften the look of #9 on this day. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
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05/25 I am still amazed at how many folks her did not know about the failed attempt by the Southern Pacific shop crew at Bakersfield to "back date" SP narrow gauge 4-6-0 #9. In September, 1956 #9 was sent to the SP shops in Bakersfield for it annual shopping. It was at that time that shop foreman, E. A. McCutcheon decided to add this treatment to #9. Here is a full view of the locomotive in 1957 after the gaudy pant, fake stack and headlight were applied. Note that there was no attempt to do any backdating on the tender. That made the engine look even more bizarre to railfans and SP crews. Also, many of the small communities that were served by the Keeler Branch complained directly to SP and caused all of this to be removed in her next shopping in late 1957. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
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05/25 May 30, 1957 finds a contrast in motive power on the Southern Pacific at Owenyo, California. In the foreground we see SPng 4-6-0 #9 after her return from a shopping at Bakersfield that saw her given some quite hideous "backdating" that was not well received by either railfans of the SP crews on the Keeler Branch. In the background is a much newer first generation diesel in the form of SP #5501 decked out in her Black Widow paint scheme. Ironically, it was the much older SPng #9 that survives today. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
05/25 My cover photo of Southern Pacific narrow gauge #9 has caused more of a stir than I would have thought. Many people have commented that this garish paint job with fake stack and headlight "must have been for a movie". That is NOT correct. This was NOT done for ANY movie. The shop forces at Bakersfield knew that #9 had drawn many railfans to the Keeler Branch in recent years to photograph what would become the very last SP steam locomotive in service. The shop forces decided to do this "back dating" for the benefit of the railfans. This work was met with uniform criticism from both ralfans and the crews on the Keeler Branch. The back dating only lasted until the #9 was returned to Bakersfield for her next shopping. Here we see #9 loaded on a standard gauge flatcar at the Bakersfield roundhouse for the trip to Owenyo after the back dating had been applied. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen) |
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This page was last updated on
05 May 2025