So, to catch up on a few things raised in this thread...

1. McCloud engine question from Nudge. That would have been the #37, it broke a rail in March 2013 after delivering a cut of propane tank cars back to Mt. Shasta City. It sat there until May 2013, when a Mike Williams crew got it rerailed. Some parts were stripped off of it, mostly a headlight or two and some fuel out of the tank, and I think the batteries, but whatever else ailed it they fixed on site as it returned to McCloud under its own power and then a short time later took the two ballast hoppers to Mt. Shasta City.

2. Remaining roster question from RobL- funny you should ask, I do have a listing of what is left on the property...here goes.

Four diesels, MR 30 (Baldwin S-12) and MR 36,37,38 (SD38). #30 has not run since coming back to the railroad about 1996 and has been outside that entire time. #36 succumbed to electrical problems in 2005 and has been cannibalized for parts since. #38 suffered freeze damage right as the dinner train shut down. #37 is the only one close to operable, and it has leaky radiators among other mechanical ailments.

Two cabooses, the MR 101 and 102. 101 was extensively damaged in a yard switching accident about 1997, a couple parties associated with the Shasta-Cascade Rail Preservation Society bought it about ten years ago, it has yet to be removed. #102 has broken windows and has suffered a lot of other vandalism.

Two ex-VIA Rail passenger coaches. These had been used by McCloud Railway heavily in their excursion program. Williams Group gave them to the Yreka Western several years back, who moved them to Mt. Shasta City in preparation for eventual movement to the Wallowa-Union Railroad, back when the YW had that operating contract. After that fell through they were eventually moved back to McCloud, but not before one or more homeless people had lived in them for extended periods of time. In addition to that, vandalism.

Three other ex-VIA cars, a duplex sleeper, baggage/dorm, and cafe/lounge. McCloud bought these about 1995, they have been pretty extensively trashed since.

The lounge and generator car used on the dinner train, sitting at the depot. No brakes underneath it, generator seized, and the wood siding applied over the steel carbody cannot have done good things to it after all these years.

Two of the ex-Illinois Central heavyweights, one is the depot building in McCloud, the other (used as a dancing car near the end) is behind the shops.

The double deck passenger flat is in the old Sprint Reload building, it was getting pretty tired and needed a lot of the wood replaced there towards the end.

Work equipment: Orton locomotive crane (MR 70); crane tender (50' boxcar frame); one 50' flatcar, former equipment transport flat but with ramps and the like removed; three ex-SP ballast hoppers (two in McCloud, one looks like it is in the scrap line, the third in Mt. Shasta City and may have been sold to Lake Railway); one ex-GN ore jenny; one old side dump hopper (ex- Bay Point & Clayton, available, possible preservation efforts underway); one bucker/flanger, derailed at Signal Butte since about 2012; two Jordan spreaders, McCloud's original machine and an ex-SP model; one 8,000 gallon fire service tank car, owned by Oregon Coast Scenic and awaiting shipment; two ex-Missouri Pacific bunk/outfit cars.

Miscellaneous freight cars: Some of these are wreck damaged, others are MR-marked cars that have made it to McCloud for one reason or another. Mt. Shasta Yard: one MR bulkhead flat, spotted in yard by UP about a year ago; Cooper's Mill spur in Mt. Shasta: one UP gondola, two ex-Incentive Per Diem boxcars; McCloud yard: one UPFE refer, one MR insulated boxcar, one UP gondola, three ex-SP chip hoppers; Ash Creek Junction (Run-Around): one AARX tank car; three centerbeams; two chip hoppers; three incentive per diem boxcars (one on side).

In addition to the above, there is also one privately owned passenger coach that has been stored in McCloud since coming to town for a stillborn movie shoot in the middle 90s. Parts of the old Great Western Railway Museum's collection is also still scattered about around McCloud, consisting of three BNMW baggage cars, one BNMW passenger car, a UP coach, a SP&S baggage, a SP&S R-P-O, an ex-SP/MR "Harriman" passenger car, a GN tender, and an old McCloud bucker plow that is in really bad shape.

3. Prospects. First, I doubt the remaining railroad could be sustained on passenger operations alone, though I could sure see them coming back and being popular, especially given the proper exploitation and operations. One thing McCloud/Mt Shasta still have going for them is that it is still a major tourist draw, same could not really be said of Yreka. As for freight, McCloud Partners is determined to get things going in the old McCloud sawmill site, the potential is there they could attract one or more rail shippers to the site, that is definitely the direction they want to go. What form that traffic would be, and what kind of industry might be involved, is at this point anyone's guess, but they have been exploring trying to buy the remaining railroad themselves for this purpose, but the last I knew the prices quoted to them, plus the amount of money it would take to get the line operating again, are far above and beyond what they can afford.

Respectfully submitted...

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV