Niles Canyon Railway Transcontinental Celebration 2019-09-06

The Niles Canyon Railway runs on the original and best preserved alignment of the Transcontinental Railroad, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For the 150th Anniversary Celebration of the Transcontinental Railroad through Niles Canyon from Sacramento to Oakland on September 6, 1869, Niles Canyon Railway ran a special excursion train. This special train proceeded Eastward into Niles Canyon. We stopped at the point where, in September of 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad, heading west from Stockton, joined to the rails previously laid by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1866, thus completing the Transcontinental Railroad from East Coast to the Pacific. There is a golden spike ceremony at this location, which is only accessible by train. Engines featured: Deep River Logging “Skookum” #7 2-4-4-2 Mallet, Baldwin, built 1909 (from Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad) Clover Valley Lumber #4 2-6-6-2T Mallet, Baldwin, built 1924 These Compound Mallet steam engines have a very special designs: they have two trucks, each with their own pistons and rods. The rear one receives the high pressure steam engine directly from the boiler, and then the exhaust steam powers the front piston. This double usage of the steam is more fuel efficient. This also gives them a very high tractive force for their size. They were typically used in logging operations where the articulated trucks are ideal for the tight curves and the high adhesion/tractive force is ideal for the hilly terrain at low speed (typically up to 30 mph... for comparison NCRy runs its excursion trains at 10-20 mph). Details on excursions and other events on the Niles Canyon Railway web site: http://www.ncry.org Video by Raphaël Moll Location: Niles Canyon Railway, San Francisco bay area. © 2019 All rights reserved.